Mount Eckus
Mount Eckus has a reputation for being cursed, and most of the people of the Zayira Desert makes signs of warding whenever it is mentioned. Very few of the people who have approached the mountain have ever returned from it. It is said that an angry god lives upon the peak and takes all who enter his realm as slaves to serve him for eternity. While the mountain is rumored to have a large number of sapphires, those unfortunate few that return with the gems are said to be cursed by the god and his vengeance is quick to fall on those that have stolen from him.
Geography
Located on the edge of the Zayira Desert, Mount Eckus is the north-eastern most mountain in the Khaziram Mountains. It is not as tall as some of the mountains deeper in the range, but it's presence on the edge of the desert makes it stand out. Sand dunes surrond the base of the mountain, and the sand over the years has been blown ever higher up it's rocky slopes.
Ecosystem
Strangely amongst the other mountains that border the desert, Mount Eckus is the only one that consistently has it's top covered in clouds. This makes the actual peak almost impossible to see, but the steady bolts of lightening that strike the peak can almost outline it's shape. The lower half of the mountain is now mostly desert terrain as the sands from the Zayira Desert get blown onto it's slopes daily. Above the sand line there is mostly windswept rock, offering little shelter that can be seen from the heavy winds around the summit.
Localized Phenomena
It is very rare that a day passes without some sort of thunderous storm throwing blue-white arcs of lightening down onto the peak.
Fauna & Flora
Rumors persist about large sand snakes, and other predators, making their lairs in the shadow of this mountain. Perhaps they are more true than false, as very few who approach the cursed Mount Eckus aver return. Some who have have said that there is a small lake just above the sand line, that has fresh cold water, and that around this lake, although often battered by wind storms, you can find figs and dates, and even some hardy mountain sheep with which to feast upon.
Natural Resources
The few people who have managed to see Mount Eckus up close and live to tell about it, tell of sapphires, the size of figs, lying about in the sands for anyone to pick up, obviously washed down from what must be a large vein of the rich minerals from up higher on the mountain.
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