The smallest of the Agdu, the Agdu-Stein or Hall of Stone, sits in a fortified position above Endon’s Pass. Once, in days long since gone, the Stone Giants were charged with the protection of the valley cradled by the Iron Mountains, but the centuries have worn down their numbers and their reverence, until now only a handful remain and the Agdu-Stein sits almost empty. 

The Hall of Stone is the smallest of the Agdu in any case: for the Stone Giants, much like their cousins the Frost Giants, spend most of their time away from the Hall, wandering the wastes of the world and acting as the adventurers of the giants. The Frost Giants, however, are migratory due to their preference for cold temperatures, and the Stone Giants rarely venture out together as a group. 

Guard of Endon

Who knows what threats the Elder Giants considered to be great enough that they posted a guard on the mountain passes to the east? Where Endon’s Pass now sits is the easiest access to the kingdom save around the north, and even the other pass to the south of Endon is guarded by one of their constructions, the Iron Henge. But for whatever reason, the Agdu-Stein, of all of the Halls, is built primarily as a fortress. 

It shares some of the architectural peculiarities of the other giant buildings: what we would recognise as towers can only be entered from the top, rather than through doorways – an added defense against an army of smaller creatures – and the depth of the interior and the slant of the fortifications were designed to repel an attack from the air. 

Armoury of the Giants

The fortress, like all martial buildings the world over, is also stocked with armour and weaponry. But giant tradition, the old equipment is regularly updated with fresh stock from the Hall of Fire, and the old is returned to the refuse heap beneath the Agdu-Ild. Any army foolish enough to attempt to threaten the high places of the giants will reckon with the might of the Hall of Stone – but none since the early days of the Ssthessic-Vrasa have been so reckless. 

Anchor of the Himminin

One of the defenses set into the Agdu-Stein in the days of its glory was a fail-safe, in case the Stone Giant defenders were not force enough to keep their advantage. Never used, but nonetheless set in pride of place in the great tower of the Hall of Stone is the anchor-stone, a block of granite engraved with runes that can call the fortress of the Cloud Giants to it. It remains to this day one of the few places that one can gain access to the Himminin without the use of a flying mount, such as a skye-kyr. 

The summoning of the Himminin has never occurred, but the secrets of the process are carven into the interior walls of the great tower: the runestone need only have the skye rune cast upon it, and the rage of the Cloud Giants shall descend. 

Runeshields and Old Magicks

The Agdu-Stein has many defenses not seen anywhere else in the world: among them, walls built of blocks forged in the furnaces of the Agdu-Ild, enchanted by the Storm Giants, so that, when the runestone is activated, the walls are imbued with the power of a snowstorm. 

In order to activate it, all one needs to do is cast the konungr rune on the stone. However, the defenses have not been used since the days of the Ssthessic-Vrasa, when the yuan-ti pursued the goliaths into the mountain, never to return.