The Paths of the Dead

The Paths of the Dead is a haunted and forbidden route that winds beneath the White Mountains, a passage that has been closed to the living since the arrival of the Rohirrim in the land that would become Rohan. It is the dwelling place of the Oathbreakers, the Men of the Mountains who swore allegiance to the heir of Isildur in an age long past, only to break their vow in the hour of need. Their punishment was to linger in the world as the Dead, unable to find rest, guarding the dark way that leads to the Stone of Erech. The road is thus not merely a geographical feature but a place of ancient judgment, a physical manifestation of a broken promise that has festered for centuries. Its very name carries a fell weight, and even the boldest of the living speak of it with dread, for it is a path that only the dead may tread freely, and any living soul who dares to enter does so at the peril of their own life and sanity.