West Anduin Vales

The West Anduin Vales are wild indeed. South of the Road, the land becomes much more difficult. The western part of the district is dominated by rolling hills; the east is a wilderness of rush-cloaked marshes and thickets.The Woodmen of Mountain Hall are cousins and oathbrothers to the Woodmen of Mirkwood, and live in a long steep-sided valley near the head of the river Icewater. Their Mountain Hall — Firienseld in the language of the Vales of Anduin — is an easily defended burg in the shadow of the mountains, built atop their mines. It needs every wall and trench, as the Goblins often threaten the Hall.
To the south-east of the Hall, the land becomes more treacherous as you approach the River Gladden, so most travellers go north-east across the stony hills before turning east for the Great River or north for the Road, avoiding the middle-marshes.
The middle-marshes are not so tangled or confusing as the golden maze of the Gladden Fields, but can be hard going for a traveller. The River-folk live and fish in these marshes; they build small huts on stilts above the waters. The forest in the south of this region lies on a highland overlooking the Gladden Fields. Called the Wolfswood by the folk of the Vales, it is home to wolves and outlaws in great number.

Wildlife

The marshes of the east swarm with fish and birds, including the infamous corpse-eating Grim Hawks (see page 125). The Woodmen of Woodland Hall keep herds of goats and sheep in their sheltered valleys, and breed sturdy mountain ponies. Wolves often slip down from the north to prey on the herds of the mountain-folk.

Location under

Vales of Anduin

Included Locations

• Mountain Hall