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the bl aCk door and
heart Chamber
The Long Stair does not end where
Saruman believes it to end, at the
Long Stair’s Foot. In fact, none since
Curugond’s time have known that a
cunning secret staircase—TN 40 to
detect—continues hundreds of yards
down a twisting shaft and ends in a
mighty, arched Black Door covered
with sigils of power. No knob, ring, or
keyhole is apparent, and there is none,
for the only way to enter is to destroy
the door’s power, a task requiring 20
points of Structure damage (which
would likely also collapse the shaft) or
the application of an unique Openingspell
known to no living spellcaster,
and recorded only in the White
Tower of Minas Tirith.
Past the door lies the Heart
Chamber of Morgayamar, the
bandúrhoth of Isengard. This
chamber, crafted even before
Curugond’s time, is a perfect
dome of the same dark grey of the
ring-wall, planed so carefully, a silken
thread could be run along the walls
and never snag. The floor
is perfectly level, and
made of the same glossy black stone
as Orthanc. The centre of the dome
rises to twice the height of a Man, but
seems low because the room is twice
that in diameter.
For the narrative of Curugond’s
discovery and imprisonment of
Morgayamar, see ‘The Bandúrhoth
of Isengard’ on page 96, and ‘Demons’
on pages 16-7 of Fell Beasts and
Wondrous Magic.
The Fortress of Iron
t h e e n t s ’
w r at h
‘The great arch still stood, but it opened
now upon a roofless chasm: the tunnel
was laid bare… .’
— The Two Towers
Isengard is a mighty fortress, the
material of its thick walls fashioned
by Middle-earth herself, honed and
fitted by the genius of Men when that
race was great. Yet even such strong
walls could not stand against the wrath
of the first race, the eldest creatures of
Middle-Earth—the Ents.
Long did Isengard and the Ents
stand beside one another. The
men of Westernesse,
while more expert in
stone than in wood,
valued the beauty
and strength of the forests
and respected the
power and wisdom of the
treeherders. Saruman wandered
often through Fangorn
Forest, speaking on occasion
with Fangorn himself, the two
exchanging stories and knowledge.
In this way the Wizard was counted
a friend, and a good neighbour.
But as Saruman’s hunger for
power increased, his love of beauty
left him, his imagination taken
more by metal than wood, more
by device than nature. As his
industry required more and
more fuel, he sent crews
into the Wizard’s Vale
to chop down trees for
burning. By the time
Gandalf is rescued
from atop
Orthanc, every
tree inside the
ring-wall has
fallen to axe
and fire. This
violence against
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