Stonetalon Mountains The Stonetalon Mountains , aka Stonetalons , are a range of peaks that lie west of the Barrens , south of Ashenvale , and north of Desolace . The mountains are traditionally the homeland of the harpies , but their numbers have dwindled as the bird - women spread east and south . Stonetalon Peak , the largest mountain in the range , has long been a sacred place for both the night elves and tauren . The night elves maintain a barrow and a glade at the top , where they commune regularly with the spirits of nature . The mountains further south are less forested , although some sparse evergreens grow in certain spots , particularly the Greatwood Vale . The Venture Trading Company have put a heavy toll on the land , cutting down almost all the trees in Windshear Crag and filling the air with soot , spoiling the area ' s water with oil and waste much to the fury of the orcs and tauren . The tauren have a holding in the centrally located Sun Rock Retreat and the Darkspear trolls have a settlement further south at Malaka ' jin . The mountains are also home to kobolds , spiders , and wyverns , while Charred Vale holds several especially dangerous kinds of beasts and elementals . History . The Stonetalon Mountains were once a low set of hills giving a gentle view to the ocean waves in the west . The Sundering that tore apart the world drove great sandstone cliffs and mountain peaks high in the air . Water from the eastern coast poured into the newly created chasms and gorges . With the aid of erosion from the Blackwolf River , the Stonetalon Mountains have expanded into a vast network of canyons and cliff openings that invites adventurers and beasts alike to explore the virgin lands . The Stonetalons rise in central Kalimdor , south of Ashenvale Forest and north of Desolace . The mountain range feeds into the bleak expanse of the Barrens to the east . The atmosphere of the Stonetalon Mountains can best be described as extreme . At the lower elevations it is windy , hot , and dry . It is a harsh place where food cannot grow and flash floods are commonplace in the early summer months . Moisture from the ocean builds up into huge rain clouds , but the towering peaks are too high for the clouds to pass inland . They crash against the mountains ’ western side and pour massive sheets of water upon the slopes to run through narrow canyons and back into the ocean or into a valley to dry up in a marshy sink . When the weather turns to rain , the ground grows slick and gray . Walking on a slope or a cliff in the rain is treacherous — water seeps through the sandstone and threatens to send even careful travelers plummeting to their deaths . Oftentimes , when the clouds expel all their moisture , hot winds push them farther up the slope , surrounding the Stonetalon Peak in a shroud of thundering mist . An immediate feature any visitor notices — aside from the sheer cliffs and deep crevasses - is the constantly blowing wind . Sometimes a gentle breeze carries fresh air in from the ocean and other times a violent gale stirs up vicious dust devils or brings a storm in from the western mountains . The rugged mountains are home to many wild beasts and only a few civilized habitations . Hippogryphs roost near Mirkfallon Lake in cave complexes high on the slopes . Their nests are defended by large bramble hedgerows , making access nearly impossible without flying . Other creatures found throughout the mountains are striders , hyenas , kobolds , swoops , crag panthers , and even rock elementals and the rare sabertooth cat . Further up the Stonetalon Peak , on its eastern side , are the chaotic lands of the wyverns and drakes . These ancient “ flying lizards ” have long been rivals for supremacy of the skies . Every once in a while , when other races threaten to interfere , the two will set aside their differences long enough to deal with the interlopers . Agents of the goblin - run Venture Company have also been sighted in the area , searching for potential tracts to deforest and streams of precious ore to plunder with their mining machines . The mountains are known for their Ill Winds . The winds whip through the Stonetalon Mountains with great force , slowing travelers ' progress and throwing up clouds of grit and dust that can confuse the best sense of direction . Small and lightly built individuals have even been flung off a mountainside by a particularly forceful gust . The wind in Stonetalons seldom drops below moderate even on a calm day and can change from a steady breeze to a brutal windstorm without warning . Stonetalon Mountains have traditionally been the area of Kalimdor where night elves and tauren coexist and forms a border between the two peoples . Stonetalon Peak has long been a sacred place for the two races , and was historically the home of the immortal Oracle , the being who saw the strands of fate as they were woven by the Earth Mother . During the Third War , the mountains hosted human and orcish camps , and it was at Stonetalon Peak that the Alliance and the Horde temporarily united in order to fight the Burning Legion . Cataclysm . The Stonetalon Mountains will be a 25 - 30 zone . Streams of lava will flow in the Charred Vale , and it ' s been hinted about a path to the coast . < br > The Venture Co . goblins at the Windshear Crag will cut through the mountain and make a passage into Ashenvale , part of finishing logging the entire area . Areas affected : Getting there . Alliance : From Astranaar in Ashenvale , head to the southern mountains of Ashenvale and find Talondeep Path . Go through it to enter Windshear Crag . Head north into the mountains to find the Alliance outpost Stonetalon Peak . Horde : From the Crossroads in the Barrens , travel west along the road to Honor ' s Stand and continue west turning north into the mountains . About halfway to the peak , the road to the Horde outpost of Sun Rock Retreat branches off to the west . Geography . The Stonetalon Mountains lie between the forests of Ashenvale to the north and the bleak Desolace to the south west . The highest peaks of the mountains are thickly forested with evergreens , though the forest thins with lower altitude . The logging of the Venture Company has also further thinned the forest , with clear cutting in and around Windshear Crag . The mountains boast a lake known as Mirkfallon Lake , around which wyvern s make their nests . Charred Vale , once a lush and beautiful area , is now a desolate ruin full of fire elementals . There are no instanced dungeons nor PvP battlegrounds in the Stonetalon Mountains . The micro dungeon Talon Den can be found here . Travel hubs include Sun Rock Retreat for the Horde and Stonetalon Peak for the Alliance . Maps and subregions . Topographic map of Stonetalon Mountains Notable characters . Stonetalon Mountains are home to several characters of note . At Sun Rock Retreat , Braelyn Firehand seeks to employ Horde adventurers in her quest to staunch the chokehold the dryads and night elven druids have put upon the area . Other NPCs in Sun Rock send Horde players to battle against the harpies in the Charred Vale . The Grimtotem clan of renegade tauren have seized a village near the border of the Barrens and taken a few hostages . At Windshear Crag , Ziz Fizziks aims to strike directly at the heart of Venture Company ' s local team — the leprous gnome Gerenzo Wrenchwhistle . And in a small camp nearby , Kaela Shadowspear and Gaxim Rustfizzle organize the Alliance ' s opposition in the rugged crags , with particular aims at the nearby goblin invaders and the monsters of the Charred Vale . At the very border of Stonetalon and the Barrens , two Horde NPCs send you into Windshear Crag with similar intentions as Kaela and Gaxim . Quests . Both Horde and Alliance quests in the Stonetalon Mountains revolve around driving out the Venture Company presence and restoring the area , including the Charred Vale . In addition , each faction has a few quests to interfere with the other . Quests in the area range from level 17 to level 29 .