Cracking Fells

The roughest ground between the Blue Mountains and the Troll-shaws. The limestone underlying the Fox Downs has here been pushed upward and shattered, leaving a pattern of jumbled boulders and jagged outcroppings some 25 miles long and 15 miles wide. The Fox Downs overlook and merge with the Cracking Fells ; water from them flows westward into the River Whiteflow (S."Nenglos"), although much of the rainfall simply drains down through the porous ground. Something violent occurred here at the time of the War of Wrath, something connected with the titanic forces that broke ancient Beleriand and sundered the Blue Mountains to create the Gulf of Lhun. Elvish trails led through the Cracking Fells and one small band of Sirannar hunted in them. The Elves said that some of the crevices and holes in the Fells led down to the Under-deeps. This mayhave been true, as ugly little goblins with sickly white eyes crawled out of the fells every few generations. On rare occasion, things even nastier than goblins appeared.

The Cracking Fells were the only obvious connection in the Shire to the subterranean world of the Under-deeps. A potent source of supernatural power lay almost three miles below the surface of the fells. Whether it was sentient or construct, male, female, or subtle device, none could say. The Elves living in the Fells communicated with high-pitched whistles and yodels that sometimes caused them to be taken for supernatural beings. The creatures known as Rockhoppers were goblins of the Under-deeps. They appeared roughly every 10-100 years, or whenever the Forces of Darkness were unusually active. Other creatures that might appear in the Fells included wraiths, giant insects, killer bats, and cave worms.