Greypeak Mountains

The Greypeak Mountains, also called simply Greypeaks or Gray Peaks, was a rugged and desolate mountain range in the eastern end of the Savage Frontier in the North. The perilous peaks were famous for being exceptionally hard to traverse, home to many fearsome beasts, monstrous humanoids, and even aberrant beings that inspired terror in wary travelers. For all their danger, the Greypeaks once housed great deposits of mineral wealth, much if not all of which was recovered by men during the Golden Age of Humanity.

Description
Paths and trails across the range's mountainsides were quite precarious, appearing as little more than rocky shelves barely wide enough for man or steed.

The range of peaks formed a massive bowl of sorts that encircled what could be described as a massive bog-forest. Rather than forming a freshwater body within the ring of mountains, water mixed with eroded mountainside to form an morass of wet earth and wavering trees that appeared to float within the sinking ground.

Climate
The weather was generally pretty poor throughout the mountains. The caps of the mountains were covered in snow and ice; freezing rain falling down the eastern slopes of the Greypeaks formed the Frozen Sea region of western Anauroch.

Geography
The mountains were bordered by the Marsh of Chelimber and the Forgotten Forest to the south, the Lonely Moor and Fallen Lands to the east and northeast respectively, the Gray Vale and Delimbiyr Vale to the west and southwest,  and the Backlands of the Heartlands to the south.

Geographic Features
Back during the Days of Thunder, the Narrow Seas ran along the mountains' eastern slopes. As of the Present Age, two rivers emerged from the Greypeak Mountains: the Grayflow in the south and the Loagrann (from three tributaries) in the north.

Deep within the mounts rest the Realm of Stone and Shadow, a network of caverns and subterranean passageways dug out by dwarves from an ages-old kingdom.

The summit of Mount Hlim was located among the southern peaks of the mountains.

History
During the Age of the Proud Peoples, the Greypeak Mountains were home to the Ammarindar kingdom of dwarves. The dwarven realm thrived for some time, until it was abandoned rather abruptly in the 9 century DR.

The people of the town of Llorkh once mined for iron and silver in the Greypeaks. Their shallow tunnels riddled the mountains north and east of the town. These were old and almost worked-out, their lodes nearly exhausted, by the mid–14th century DR, but some miners still persisted in working there. After the takeover of the town the following year, the Lord's Men commandeered three worked-out mine tunnels near Llorkh to use for storage. It was told that monsters made their lairs in several other tunnels, making them hazardous.

By the, a garrison of thirty Lord's Men from Llorkh stood guard at Dawn Pass. They remained there through to at least the next twelve years, aided by a hired beholder from Dekanter, together with its gnoll minions.

A decade later in the, many goblins were driven from their homes in the mountains by the horrific acts taken by the Beast Lord in Dekanter. They went fleeing for settlements near the mountains, such as Parnast to the west.

As of the late 15 century DR, the mountains were rumored to hold caches of treasure stashed away by the Cult of the Dragon.

Paths & Trails

 * Dawn Pass Trail, the precarious trail that crossed the Graypeak Mountains through Dawn Pass, that was preferred by Zhentarim caravans.  It was protected by a nefarious Zhent-allied beholder and its gnoll minions.
 * Bleached Bones Pass, a less precarious path through the mountains further south that once connected an ancient Netherese city with the great elven realm of Illefarn.

Landmarks

 * Hunting lodge, an old stone-and-wood mountain home that was used by the Cult of the Dragon in the late 15 century.
 * Seshrentor, a tower that stood in the Greypeaks, north-northeast of Llorkh.
 * Temple to Annam, an ancient place of worship built upon the highest of the mountains, in honor of Annam All-Father, patriarch of the giant pantheon.
 * Vale of Whispers, a shrine of Shar that was formed within a secluded cave in the mountains.

Settlements

 * Deadstone Cleft, the canyon home of a stone giant tribe that believed it sacred to their god Skoraeus Stonebones.
 * Dekanter, the ruined mines of ancient Netheril that became the site of an arcane laboratory, and eventually the domain of the horrifying Beast Lord.
 * Parnast, the small village set at the base of the mountains along the Dawn Pass Trail.
 * Thousand Faces, another stone giant settlement; this one having been wiped out by beholders.
 * Xonthal's Tower, a small settlement built around its namesake tower, at the base of the Mount Hilp along the southern peaks of the range.
 * White Fate, a colony of beholders was located in a valley in the mountains somewhere south east of Llorkh.

Inhabitants
In the 14th century DR, many monsters inhabited the range including goblins that dwelt in keeps, along with their allied barghest chieftains that commanded large packs of worgs, orcs, galeb duhr, a hive of beholders, and many young dragons, including at least one family of red dragons.

The easternmost peaks of the mountains were said to house the greatest known population of griffons in all the Realms. Giant owls were also known to make their nests within the tallest of the Greypeak's mountains.

The Greypeaks were named after the grey-skinned stone giants that lived within and amongst the mountains. While they were seen as "partly civilized" to outsiders, having enough care not to openly assault travelers that merely passed by, they in fact had a rich culture centered around strongly-held spiritual beliefs. Cloud giant castles were known to float over the Greypeaks, especially in the skies above the eastern peaks.

Notable Inhabitants

 * Draunn, the baleful earth primordial trapped deep within the mountains that was worshiped by the giants of Deadstone Cleft.
 * Garrathmaw, the fearsome gray dracolich.
 * Malaeragoth, the sapphire dragon that laired in Realm of Stone and Shadow in the Underdark beneath the Greypeaks.
 * Zorkh, a mute stone giant that lived a solitary life tending goats.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Storm King's Thunder
 * Novels
 * The Nether Scroll • The Summoning
 * Video Games
 * Baldur's Gate • Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate
 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * Storm King's Thunder (Treasure of the Broken Hoard • The Black Road)
 * Uninvited Guests • Giant Diplomacy • Parnast Under Siege
 * Uninvited Guests • Giant Diplomacy • Parnast Under Siege
 * Uninvited Guests • Giant Diplomacy • Parnast Under Siege