The Mountain's Heart

Summary

The mountain folk say Grandfather Stone, asleep in Mount Ghakis, is walking, since the count's men cut a quarry in the mountain's south face.

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

Both ways in need party level 10:

• Freydis at the foot of Yester Hill, once you've laid her grandmother in her mound (The Barrow on Yester Hill). Talk to her again at level 10. Grandfather Stone, the spirit asleep in Mount Ghakis, is walking. The count's men cut a quarry in the mountain and dug out something that shone, and her cousins are chained up there cutting stone.
• The mountain folk's cairn by the road at the bottom of the cliff road on The Tsolenka Pass. From level 10 it's cracked down the middle, with GRANDFATHER WALKS. THE COUNT'S QUARRY. SOUTH FACE. scratched at its foot.

Either one starts the quest at Asked and puts The Ghakis Quarry on your travel map, 2 hours round the mountain from the Tsolenka Pass.

Step by step

1. Go to the quarry. Raw stone terraces, abandoned tools, a wagon with a crate glowing red at the seams, and six of the mountain folk chained to a ring in the floor beside it.

   

2. Talk to the captives. One of them speaks as you come near. The overseer ran when the floor started walking and chained them next to the crate as bait. The crate holds Grandfather's heart, and whenever anyone goes near it, he comes up out of the floor looking for it. You have three options, and they all end at the crate:
   • Religion DC 14: ask what the mountain folk do when Grandfather walks. They put a stone on the cairn, say his name and wait. Learning this adds a moment to the good ending; a miss changes nothing else.
   • "(Break their chain first.)"
   • "(Go to the crate.)"
3. The fight. Inside the crate is a stone the size of a barrel, red and veined like meat, beating slowly, and the quarry floor stands up.
   • Grandfather Stone comes alone (185 hit points here, AC 18, CR 11, 7200 XP), with the quarry's lair actions.
   • He slams twice. Every so often the Ground Shrugs: four of you within 30 feet make a Dexterity DC 17 save against 4d10 and being knocked prone.
   • He can burrow through the rock, is immune to poison, and has Legendary Resistance twice a day.
   • He is vulnerable to thunder, so thunder damage is the thing to bring.

   Winning moves the quest to Stilled. He isn't dead (you can't kill a mountain); he's tired.

4. Decide about the heart. Talk to the captive again. "It's yours to say. You stood in front of us."
   • "(Carry the heart back into the quarry wall where they dug it out.)" The rock closes over it, and somewhere a closing pass opens again. If you learned the custom, you put a stone on top and say his name. The captive gives you her father's belt, a Belt of Giant Strength (Stone Giant), and points you to the overseer's pay chest under the wagon: 400 gp. Liriel +3, Godrick +2, Thistle +2, Wren +1.
   • "(Keep the heart. The count only wanted it to build with.)" It cools into a fist-sized stone that hums near the ground: a Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals. You also get the 400 gp. The captives leave without a word. Liriel -2, Thistle -2, Godrick -1, Kip +1.

   Either choice ends the quest at Done.

Choices and endings

• Done, the heart home (success): the Stone Giant belt, 400 gp, and a quarry already healing over.
• Done, the heart kept (success): the Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals, 400 gp, and a quarry that's still and cold for good.
• Either way, the mountain folk's cairn by the road on the Tsolenka Pass has a new, warm stone on top when you pass it again.

If you're stuck

• Neither Freydis nor the cairn has anything for you? Both need party level 10, and Freydis also needs The Barrow on Yester Hill finished.
• There's no way to take the heart without the fight. Touching the crate is what wakes him, whichever option you pick.

Rewards

• Belt of Giant Strength (Stone Giant)
• Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals
• 400 gp

What your companions think

• Liriel Dawnsong: +3 you gave the mountain back its heart; -2 you kept the mountain's heart
• Godrick Pendlebrook: +2 you gave the mountain back its heart; -1 you kept the mountain's heart
• Thistle: +2 you gave the mountain back its heart; -2 you kept the mountain's heart
• Wren Featherfoot: +1 you gave the mountain back its heart
• Kip Smudgewick: +1 you kept the mountain's heart

Fights

• The quarry floor sits up, and then stands up, three times a man's height, with a hole in its chest., in The Ghakis Quarry: Grandfather Stone.

Journal

Related

• People: Freydis, Mountain Captive
• Places: Yester Hill, The Tsolenka Pass, The Ghakis Quarry
• More in Mount Ghakis: The Warm Snow