Elk Trench

Koot Nai Valley

Elk Trench, called Koot Nai Valley by the native Dwarf, is a triple deep valley in the Katiland Range of the Cutting Mountains, on the major continent of Ethae. They valley splits north, east, and southwest from its center, and is surrounded by the three mountains known as the Elk Sisters (Katiland Peak,Mount Pyere,Mount Glincore). The remote valley is overgrown and lush, with many streams running through it during the spring and summer months of snow melt. The terrain is difficult with little in the way of any flat land, ridges and ravines are plentiful, leaving travel in the valley as dangerous as it aerial gaurdians.

As the name implies elk are numerous in the valley, as are ibex, and deer. The valley is free from any carnivore that might hunt these herds thanks to the Griffin prides that nest in the valley. They great beast are known to aggressively exterminate any threat to their sanctuary and its food supply. This includes Human, dwarf, and any other creature that comes into their domain.

Duriing the Kephic Age, Koot Nai Valley was a major location of the Kephic Empire in the production of coal. The land is littered with stones carved by dwarves, and the occasional ruins. There are also many caves still remain in the miles of valley here, leading into the mines and the Kephic domain beyond. Elk Trench is, perhaps, one of the few regions in the Cutting Mountains that one can find an entrance to the vast network under the mountains known as Waterdeep, that does not have a dwarven fortress built around it. Those that seek to enter the Night Below without the dwarf's approval often find their way to this valley looking for these ancient mineshafts, risking the wraith of the griffins.

Kephic legends claim Elk Trench was a flooded fiord in the most ancient past, after the glacier melted during what is best guessed as the Randeris Period. Stonefoot Carvings also claims the waters and surrounding mountains as the realm of the mysterious Dragon known as Gissru the Shadow. It states that Gissru's lair looked over this ancient great lake, though which peak in the region was not recorded. Many would be adventurers brave the long journey to the valley and its dangers to seek this lair. More than once it has been found, only to discover what is really found is another ancient dwarven mine or natural tunnel burrowed out by the glaciers and their melt.