My wife and I ventured into the Mistlands for the first time yesterday and wound up being chased out by a rampaging 1-star insectoid/rock creature. This thing was insanely fast and incredibly pissed. It persued us well out of the Mistlands, through the Black Forest (where we had to constantly weave through trees and chug stamina potions to keep going), and all the way to our nearby temporary plains portal, where we escaped back to our base.
That portal was just on the shore near our boat, a great distance south. What is the likelihood that the creature will still be present if we return through that portal? Based on our experience with it, I suspect it will effortlessly kill us before we've even fully loaded into the other side.
If it's still there, we're probably better off taking another boat south and luring the creature away from our portal, or just abandoning that portal entirely.
Whatever that thing was it made my heart beat through my chest. It felt good to be afraid of something again.
Unless you’re playing hardcore you can just drop all your stuff and go through the portal naked.
Then when the beast comes to kill you, waggle your bits at it and hop back through the portal to safety.