Hi,

When my group played "the Marsh Bell", they left in a hurry to escape the mewlips. However, they would like to come back for the treasure, and possibly to explore the ruins in more depths. I often mentioned rumours of people wanting to reopen the Old Road, and they are very interested in taking part in that reopening, and possibly in the rebuilding of a city at the end of the road.

I don't think Tolkien wrote anything about the city that was there before, but I'd be happy to read any references or any ideas you might have regarding what could be found in the ruins beside mewlips. I told my group that a previous expedition had disappeared (while they were doing other stuff on the other side of Mirkwood). I'm thinking of playing it like a short version of "beyond the moutains of madness" (from Call of Cthulhu) where they go on the trail of the previous expedition.

I don't think there really is much information available with regards to the Marsh Dwellers or the city. (Not that I'm aware of, but I'm lacking in HoMe knowledge.)

The fact that their is a city is canon; everything else about it is only approximately so. Tolkien mentions the city's existence and in passing, without providing solid details of any kind. So basically the city could be located anywhere in the vicinity of the the river, road, and marsh coming together. Other than that, I don't believe there are any canon facts about the city.

The Marsh Dwellers are a thinly-veiled variant on the Mewlips, from a poem in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil; they conform to that poem and are in that respect correct but for licensing constraints are not technically canon.

Here is a thread that might have potential info and/or ideas. I thought there was more speculation on them and following up on the idea, but I cannot seem to locate it.

Follow Ups - Loremasters Only, Potential spoilers

My players in my first The One Ring campaign pretty much avoided the Marsh Dwellers when they rescued the Dwarves - they went straight to the correct doorway. They then wanted to return to explore and hunt for treasure, as yours do now.

Edited chat logs are included on a Google Drive folder. It's the "Return to the Marsh" set of sessions.

Thanks Valarian, maybe it's your info that I am recalling. I thought someone else had tried expanding on the Marsh Bell / Mewlips. (Besides myself and Osric.)

The Hobbit in the party was a scholar and recalled the poem. The player had that to refer to on the return journey.