About Daggerdale

Daggerdale began as the happy community of Merrydale. The community's peace and prosperity ended bloodily during an infestation of vampires. People forced to stake their undead children found little merry about the dale from that point, and over a few years the appellation fell out of use. Daggerdale-a translation of the valley's original name in the dwarven tongue- eventually supplanted the name of Merrydale.

Daggerdale prospered for a long time as a trading partner to the dwarven realm of Tethyamar. When that kingdom fell, Daggerdale came on hard times. Its bustling trade vanished, and Daggerdale became a rustic backwater, little troubled by events elsewhere in the Dalelands.

That changed in 1336 DR (Dale Reckoning). Two decades after Teshendale fell to the Zhents, Daggerdale met the same fate. Randal Morn, the hereditary ruler of Daggerdale, was driven into exile in the hills. For years, he fought a grim campaign against Zhent forces occupying the dale's biggest town, Dagger Falls.

In 1353 DR, Randal Morn and his friends succeeded in killing Malyk, the puppet ruler the Zhents had installed to give the dale a show of autonomy. This only increased Zhentil Keep's determination to keep the dale beneath its boot. The Zhent's installed a series of constables and hired unsavory locals for the constabulary as an auxillary to the Zhent garrison. The fight against Randal Morn's guerillas in the hills appeared to go in the Zhent's favor, so the constables made the most of their opportunities to lord it over their fellow Dalesfolk.

Morn's personal war turned into an all-out battle in 1369 DR, when he succeeded in retaking the town of Dagger Falls, killing or driving off all the Zhents. The long battle left many scars-the war in Daggerdale was often a civil war, pitting Dalesfolk against Dalesfolk.

Captial: Dagger Falls
Population: 28,041 (88% humans, 5% dwarves, 3% half-orcs, 2% gnomes, 1% halfing)
Government: Lordship
Religions: Lathander (Mielikki, Silvanus, Tempus)
Import: Armor, books, glass, jewelry, metalwork, paper, textiles, weapons.

Daggerfolk are know to be hard, grim, and unforgiving, largerly because Zhentil Keep has been tryping to claim their land for decades, seeking to rule this dale as a client state or smash it as Teshendale was ruined. In fact, Zhent agents ruled the dale for nearly thirty years, driving Randal Morn -the dale's rightful lord- into an outlaw's life in his own land.

In 1369, Randal Morn (NG male human Ftr6/Rog4) overthrew the Zhent occupiers in his homeland and reclaimed his ancestors' seat. Barely holding his war-torn community together in the face of Zhent aggression, Randal Morn is in no shape to help other dales with their problems.

Of all the dales, Daggerdale is the most likely to offer contracts and support to adventuring parties willing to fight Zhents, clean out monster-infested mines, rescue hostages taken by bandits, kill those same bandits, or travel into the mountains after predatorey vampires. If Daggerdale is to survive, Randal Morn's followers and hired agents must pacify the dale's wildlands and drive out local monsters.

The years of Zhentarim occupation forced Daggerfolk farmers to put aside their plows and become hunter or herders. Venison and goats could be hidden from Zhent tax agents; fields planted with winter wheat and hardy cabbages could not.

Most Daggerdale communities keep their gates locked, opening them only to trusted firends or people vouched for by someone inside. Some still behave as if they were at war with the Zhents. It's possible that the roughness of current Daggerdale society will-smooth out over time, but Daggerfolk might also make themselves as ruthless as the Zhents in order to survive.