Blackwood Hill

This was a long-enchanted place, a favored spot for the Wood-trolls of the Old Forest to summon powerful magics and scry places across the river. Awakened Trees avoided this hill, fearing some powerful evil said to be buried beneath it. A Riverman trading post occupied the south slopes, and folk of various sorts , including Orcs , traded here. It s owners and hirelings, going back four generations , all tended to drink heavily to deal with unsealing dreams an d evil feelings. Most had, at least once a year , a nightmare about the hill tearing itself open and a deep , dreadful voice murmuring an invitation for them to walkk into the black depths of the crevice so formed. One of the things the Orcs of Cardolan and the Wood-goblins of the Old Forest traded for was living sacrifices. The Blackwood Hill settlement was a demordized one, and every so often one of it s Riverman inhabitants succumbed to temptation and a kidnapping occured in the Shire.