The Stair of Grief is located at the northernmost passage through the Cloudspine. Formally called the Nornpass during the Wind Age, the passage was renamed in honor of Emperor Leitrim, who was killed in a battle with Moagim.
During the Great War, the Deceiver and the remnants of his army were destroyed in Thyrmir's Gorge by a legion led by Twelve Motion Jeweled Skull, Durak, and Turgeis with Burning Steel. The Fallen Lord was plunged into the Dramus River, and he swept away downstream, with his scepter sinking to the bottom. Cold weather conditions and the accumulation of snow caused the formation the Angurvadal Glacier, with only sorcery keeping the Deceiver alive.
Sixty years later, Twelve Motion led an expedition in the Stair of Grief to retrieve the lost scepter, and revive the frozen Deceiver from the glacier.