Dunharrow

A steep, narrow, switch-backing stair served as the only way into Dunharrow from the valley below.Easily defensible, the steps cutted into the nearly sheer rock face.Daen Coentis craftsmen had carved them long ago and set guardians to watch over the way.Odd stone statues of strange gnarled men squatted at every turning on the stair.These enchanted Pukel-men, although worn with time, remained the wards of Dunharrow.Legends said they were inhabited by spirits, but the Rohirrim believeD that, with the decline of their features, these souls had departed.At the top of the Stair, a beautiful wide upland meadow stretched southeastward, back into the mountains.This was the refuge called Dunharrow (R.  "Dunharg"), and it rested in a cleft twelve hundred feet above the Harrowdale.Three mountains enclosed this narrow vale: Starkhorn to the south, Irensaga to the north, and the Dwimorberg to the east.The awesome flanks of these noble peaks protected Dunharrow from attack, making the hold virtually impregnable.It was here the Rohirrim of eastern Rohan gathered in times of war.Standing stones lined the avenue as it stretched through the meadow — the Firienfeld (R. "Mountain Field") of lore.Narrowing as it extended eastward, the Firienfeld ended at the edge of a small, dark wood, near the back of the high canyon. This stand of trees was known as the Dimholt.The road sliced through the dark spruce and pines of the quiet forest until it came to a little, grassy glen.Here the trail dissipated before a large, black pillar.