The Shrieking Stones

On the northeastern border of the Gadian Empire, where the mountains slope down into the arid dunes of the Wasteland, a granite quarry sits abandoned despite it's seemingly plentiful supply of speckled white and gray stone. There are a handful of tales about the mountainside and the reasons for the desertion of the worksite - the bunkhouse left open with food on the table, the foreman's office desk still piled with contracts - but they all agree that not long after work started on the promising rock deposits, an eerie noise filled the air. It started as a low whine, but over the course of a few days it grew into a screaming shriek that echoed off the stones and shook the walls of the work buildings. It was too much for the quarrymen, who took to their heels and ran, likely finding new employment far, far away from the mountains.
Some said that the stones themselves were alive, and had cried out in pain as blocks were cut away. Others said that this particular mountainside was really the back of an ancient, sleeping stone giant, so old that trees had grown from the dust that settled on his limbs. Curled up at the base of the granite cliff, he began to turn into the stone against which he slept, but was woken by the sharp sting of hammers. Another tale grew from a rumor of strange magic, and the claim that a dryadic archfey, unhappy with the disruption of the natural landscape, warded the rock to incite a deep fear in anyone who came too close.
Whatever the cause, the quarry still lies abandoned to this day. Despite some scattered commercial interest, not a single investor returned from the site without a cold sense of fear and uncertainty. In the end it was decided that for everone's safety and sanity, the mountainside should be left alone.

Type

Quarry