Kelvin's Cairn
Kelvin's Cairn was a mountain in Icewind Dale.
Points of Interest
Dwarven Valley
Stretching south-south-west for several miles from the south face of the Cairn is a deep trench known locally as the Dwarven Valley. It consisted mostly of underground mining tunnels and relatively austere living quarters made from expended mining tunnels.Bruenor's Climb
Bruenor's Climb was a 15‑foot-high (4.6‑meter) column of stone that offered a vantage point over Termalaine and Maer Dualdon. It was a favorite place of reflection of Bruenor Battlehammer and Drizzt Do'Urden. It was located 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) south of Kelvin's Cairn, on the east bank of the valley. The Climb was destroyed in 1356 DR but the dwarves reconstructed it in Bruenor's honour.Bruenor's "Temple"
The spot where Aegis-fang was forged was tucked up against the southern flank of the mountain's base at the northernmost point of the valley. Viewed as a sacred place by the dwarves, many have visited the site to forge their own masterworks.Daledrop
The main method of ingress to the valley was a natural switchback at the base of the Cairn's southern face. It was also used by the dwarves as a choke-point against attacks from marauding orcs or Reghedmen.Verbeeg Lair
Above the Dwarven Valley on the south face of the Cairn was a covered cave entrance that was once an outpost for the dwarves but had since been overrun. Orcs, bandits and giants have used the cave as a fortified lair over the years, but it was known among the Ten Towns as the Verbeeg Lair after a famous battle with Biggrin's verbeeg who were using it as a lair in 1356 DR.Geography
Kelvin's Cairn was a free-standing 1,000‑foot-tall (300‑meter) mountain fronted by a river valley about as deep as the mountain was high. The mountain top remained covered in snow year-round. The mountain was the only peak within a thousand square miles, even though it appeared as merely a pile of loose boulders.
History
Reghedmen legend held that Tempus defeated the Frost Giant Kelvin in this spot and gouged out the rocks here and piled them on top of his corpse. Many mining tunnels in the Dwarven Valley had to be collapsed when the army of Akar Kessel attacked in 1356 DR and it was atop the Cairn that Akar Kessel conjured up fiery magic with Crenshinibon, subsequently melting the ice and snow around him, which caused an avalanche. Most of the Dwarven Valley was abandoned when the location of Mithral Hall was rediscovered but some of the dwarves who'd left for the Hall returned to their homes beneath the Cairn.
Over a century later, in 1484 DR, the corpse of Akar Kessell was discovered upon the Cairn's summit by an expedition from Luskan. It had been transformed into a wight and came to live in some of the deeper mines beneath the Valley. Kessell's wight helped a dwarven stone-carver named Baerick Hammerstone to distribute black ice, which corrupted those who touched it, altering their behavior to be more evil. This resulted in a divide forming between the dwarves living in the Valley and Kessell himself raised many zombies to harry those dwarves who weren't corrupted. Eventually, Kessell was driven off by adventurers but shortly afterward, the Valley was invaded by a drow force led by Tiago Baenre.
Type
Mountain / Hill
Location under
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