Deadstone Cleft

Deadstone Cleft was a dead-end canyon in the foothills of the Graypeak Mountains. Populated by Stone giants, the canyon was a sacred site to the creatures. It contained an ancient temple dedicated to their god Skoraeus Stonebones and a magical stalactite, the Steinfang, into which the giants carved questions.

The petrified bodies of stone giants were embedded in the canyon’s hundred-foot-tall gray walls. As cold wind passed through the canyon, it produced a moan that seemed to issue from the gaping mouths of the bodies, giving the canyon an eerie atmosphere. Dotting the canyon walls were several openings that lead to stone-carved tombs and other chambers, some open to the sky and others beneath hundreds of feet of stone. Carved stone bridges also spanned the canyon. Human and dwarven miners avoided the canyon for fear of antagonizing the stone giants known to dwell at Deadstone Cleft. The stone giants did't tolerate uninvited guests in their hallowed halls, attacking them on sight.

History
Deadstone Cleft's first thane was the stone giant known as the Skodkong, or "Fog King".

Some time after the War of the Silver Marches, Deadstone Cleft was inhabited by the stone giant Thane Kayalithica and her clan. The giantess used the sacred sight as her lair, launching raids to destroy various settlements and structures around the area in order to please her god. By this time, many stone giants avoided the cleft, believing it to be a haunted place. Kayalithica had also forged an alliance with the Blue Bear Tribe, and a number of the barbarians lived in caves in and around the cleft at this time.

The Steinfang
Deadstone Cleft contained a magical stalactite, the Steinfang, into which the giants carved questions. The carvings faded on nights of the new moon and were replaced with answers. The giants believed that these replies come from Skoraeus Stonebones himself, though in truth they were produced by earth primordial, Draunn, trapped under the Graypeak Mountains since the dawn of time.

Statue of Skoraeus Stonebones
At the back wall of the canyon sat a 150-foot-tall statue of Skoraeus Stonebones, depicted as a powerfully built stone giant with spikes protruding from his head and shoulders.

The Great Stillness
A stone giant of Deadstone Cleft could enter a meditative state that left the creature petrified for a time. When the petrification ended, the giant would awaken with tremorsense and the ability to cast a handful of spells for a limited time. Stone giants refer to the petrified state as Olach Morrah, which translates as The Great Stillness.

Inhabitants

 * Thane Kayalithica, Stone giant thane.
 * Hydia Moonmusk, daughter of Kriga Moonmusk and chieftan of the Blue Bear Tribe in Deadstone Cleft.

Getting There
Travelers could find the canyon by traveling upstream along an arm of the Loagrann River. This great flow once carved the canyon out of the rock that now surrounds it. Time eventually reduced it to a stream that tumbles along the canyon floor before widening and continuing its long journey southwest, where it merges with the Delimbiyr River on its way to the sea.