Woodland Hall

[Vladim]

Woodland Hall — Wuduseld in the language of the Vales of Anduin — is the youngest but also the largest of the Woodman settlements in Mirkwood.

 

Those fleeing the returning Shadow in the south chose this place around five hundred years ago, and they built their first home atop a defensible mound. They found that the northern forests gave good hunting, and attracted many settlers from both the southern settlements and outside Mirkwood.

 

The folk of Wuduseld are the friendliest and most open of the Woodmen. They have the most contact with the Beornings and the Elves, and are somewhat sheltered from the worst evils of the forest. However, without the protection of powerful allies like Radagast, they are especially vulnerable to the threat of the Shadow.

[Vladim]

 

1. Woodland Hall: The proper Wuduseld, the Great House stands on a steep-sided hill. Generations of work by the Woodmen cut away the sides of the hill, so now there is only a single path leading up to the flat top, making it very easy to defend. Woodland Hall is a magnificent structure, more than twice as large as any other Great Hall and richly decorated with all manner of carvings and tapestries.

 

2. Hedge and Stockade: The intricate hedge surrounding the village is the tallest the Woodmen have ever raised west of the forest. It is reinforced by an ancient stockade, raised atop an earthen rampart. The older stakes composing the wooden barrier are intricately wound with carvings, and are considered to magically protect the hall.

 

3. Caves: These caves at the base of the cliff are cool even in the height of summer, and so are used to store meat and other perishable goods. The eastern caves become partially flooded at times, and the Rivermaidens have been seen sporting there.

 

4. Watchposts: Platforms atop these tall trees provide advance warning of any approaching threat. The thick forest canopy hides most movement, but the Woodmen are adept at spotting shaking leaves or the sudden flight of birds that signal the presence of an intruder. Each look-out is trained to imitate the whistles and calls of various birds so they can communicate with each other secretly, and each watchpost has a horn to sound to alert the town below.

 

5. Tree Houses: The big oak trees in this forest support a small number of very old tree-houses of considerable size, built by the early settlers of Woodland Hall. A few solitary individuals still inhabit them, as they believe that in Mirkwood you are safer in the treetops than on the ground. Some of these Woodmen boast that they were ten years old before their feet ever touched the ground.

 

6. Docks: North of this point, the Dusky River becomes too narrow and swift to be easily navigable, but there is a wide and still pool here for the boats to dock.

 

7. Woodland Road: In years past, ambitious Woodmen dreamed of cutting a path through the forest to the north-west, to emerge close to the Old Ford. The elders of the Woodmen objected — they feared that if such a road was opened, enemies could easily follow it into the forest and the protection of Mirkwood would be lost. Instead, the Woodmen cut several sections of the road, leaving forested gaps between each section. Each section was a smooth, well-maintained path through the forest along which a traveller or even a horse and cart could move quickly, but it ended abruptly.

 

Only an experienced guide knew where the next section of road lay. Using the Woodland Road could cut the travel time between Woodland Hall and the Old Ford by several days. The Woodland Road is no longer maintained, and most of the road sections are now choked with new growth. Still, travellers in Mirkwood may still happen upon an odd long clearing that runs straight for a few miles before vanishing again.

[Vladim]

The Western Eaves

 

This tract of oakwood is the most thickly populated region in Mirkwood. Here dwell the Woodmen of Mirkwood. Their small hamlets and cottages are within a mile inside the forest edge — deep enough to offer protection from attackers, but not so far from their farmland. Their two larger settlements are hidden in the shadowy depths of the wood, and the trails to these refuges are well hidden and guarded by sentries. Whenever the Woodmen fear attackers, the farmers on the forest fringe pack up and bring their families and herds to the safety of Woodland Hall or Woodmen-town.

 

To the east of this region flows the Dusky River, which springs somewhere in the Haunted Hills and meanders west and south. The river’s water is silted and dark, hence its name, but the water is drinkable — most of the time. Sometimes, animal carcasses — rotting and curiously misshapen, as if they were mutilated before they died — wash down from the Haunted Hills, and they carry with them illness and foul water.

 

The river is navigable, and the Woodmen use flat bottomed boats to travel between Woodland Hall and Woodmen-town. The river empties into a wide lake called the Black Tarn. The still waters here are mirror-smooth and tranquil. Herons wade amid the reeds on the edges of the lake, hunting fish and eels. The southern edge of the lake is ringed by low wooded hills. Hidden trails from the northern banks of the lake run through tangled pine-woods to the forest edge and the home of the wizard Radagast, Rhosgobel.

 

Parts of the Western Eaves, especially around the Woodman settlements, are almost pleasant. The Woodmen thinned the trees, letting a little sunlight filter through the canopy. They made clearings as woodland pasture for their herds. Children play in the bushes near Woodmen-town. Still, this is Mirkwood — the pall of darkness still hangs heavy, even under the noonday sun. There is no safety in Mirkwood. One of those running children might stray five minutes walk from home, and find herself utterly lost amid unfamiliar trees.

 

Wildlife

 

Boars and deer are common on the western edge of the woods. The bows and spears of the Woodmen drove away the wolves that once hunted here. Black sparrows and pheasants live in the trees here.

 

The Woodmen keep herds of sheep, cows and pigs. The black pigs they keep in the forest, letting them forage for acorns and roots in the black oak woods west of the Dusky River. The other animals graze on the fertile lands of the East Anduin Vales, and dislike being brought into the forest. When the Woodmen are forced to bring their herds into the wood for safe keeping, they must also be on watch for signs of madness — animals from outside the forest sometimes panic and rush off into the darkness, and one bolting sheep can scatter a whole herd. Strangely — perhaps because they interbreed with the wild boar of the woods — the pigs seem untroubled by the forest.

 

Around the Dusky River, and especially along the Black Tarn, live many river-birds, and fishes in plenty swim under the surface of the waters. The river forms a natural boundary against the Spiders, who dare not cross the water. The Woodmen keep careful watch on their northern and southern borders to stop Spiders creeping around the river, and must be equally careful when boating on its surface. The Spiders cannot swim, but sometimes they crawl out onto branches that overlook the stream and dangle sticky strands of webbing down into the path of approaching boats, like monstrous fishermen.

 

Inhabitants

 

This is the land of the Woodmen. Less than a quarter of those who call themselves Woodmen actually live deep in the forest. Some live in the shadows of the Misty Mountains, at Mountain Hall, but most live on the edge of the woods. Still, Mirkwood is their home and their refuge, and the burial mounds of their ancestors are at the roots of the ancient trees.