The Blue Bear tribe of Uthgardt barbarians is thought to be extinct, its spirit mound a haunted place best avoided. In truth, the Blue Bears prowl the
Mere of Dead Men and the nearby Svalich Woods, doing their best to remain hidden. Their members visit Stone Stand infrequently, and only under the cover of night.
Stone Stand is situated upon a lonely hill north of the Mere of Dead Men. Atop this hill, the Blue Bears built a mound upon which they planted a branch of the Grandfather Tree. This branch grew into a towering oak tree, which today is surrounded by a raised inner ring of cairns and a broken outer ring of mounds with more cairns atop them. Beneath these cairns lie the mouldy bones of the tribe's ancient dead.
Ancient Relic
Early followers of Uthgar buried a relic of giantkind under the central mound, believing that its magic would empower and protect the oak tree. The tree's roots wrap around the ancient relic, which is actually a source of unrest for the Uthgardt ghosts that languish here. A
Detect Magic spell cast within range of the tree reveals an aura of necromancy magic emanating from underneath it. To reach the relic, a person must dig under the tree and hack away at its roots. This exercise takes a single person 40 hours to accomplish; multiple people working together can reduce the amount of time accordingly. The buried relic is the skull of Gurt, Lord of the Pale Giants, a frost giant that Uthgar defeated in single combat at the site of Morgur's Mound. The skull weighs 100 pounds. If it is taken from Stone Stand, the ghosts that haunt the spirit mound are finally laid to rest.
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