Tyhjä Karhuntaloh

Razed by the malice of the Witch-king in T.A. 1304, the deserted Berning steading of Tyhjä Karhuntalo stood midway between Talath Uichel and the Herd Tundra. Prior to its destruction, Tyhjä Karhuntalo had been a many-towered wooden fortress, strong in arms and men. The great and noble House of Bernabalth that once had ruled this citadel maintained a long-standing friend- ship with the Lumimiehet of Talath Uichel, trading often with one another or joining forces to hunt Orcs, their common enemy. Bernabalth's descendants however, who later inhabited the shores of Bear Lake in their exile, held these same Lumimiehet to be their betrayers, laying upon them guilt for the destruction of their home.

Tyhjä Karhuntalo was a collapsed, burnt-out husk of its former strength, and served as a lair for Orcs, Trolls, vanquished Eriadorian bandits or deserters from the Witch-king's army. The Lumimiehet avoided the area completely, fearing Bernabalth's curse and not knowing what may be lairing in the rubble. Rumor of Berning treasures still buried in the debris of the fallen citadel continued to circulate, but few had the courage to investigate the veracity of such stories. In truth, all larger objects of value had long since been looted from the rubble. Explorers would have still found a "tidy sum" by careful checking and digging, but the ruin was seldom unoccupied, as various visitors shifted its blackened stones, contriving for themselves such lairs and shelters from the sun, wind or cold as possible.