Daggerdale The Time of Troubles & Era of Upheaval The current period of time for our Forgotten Realms campaigns are set during the 1st and 2nd edition era. Inspired By Ed Greenwood

Daggerdale is a rugged and isolated region of the Dalelands, lying between the brooding heights of the Desertsmouth Mountains and the broken country of the Dagger Hills. Known in ancient days as Merrydale, the land bears little resemblance to the pleasant name it once carried. Thick forests cover much of the dale, interrupted by rocky hills, narrow valleys, cold streams, and scattered stretches of farmland wrested from the wilderness by generations of stubborn settlers. Dagger Falls is the dale's only large settlement and serves as its center of trade and government, while most of the population lives in small villages, lonely farmsteads, hunting lodges, and isolated homesteads scattered across the countryside. Travel between these settlements can be difficult, particularly during harsh weather, and there remain large portions of the dale where a traveler might walk for days without seeing another soul.

The folk of Daggerdale are hardy, independent, and notoriously suspicious of strangers. Generations of bandit attacks, marauding monsters, raiders, and interference from the Zhentarim taught the Dalesfolk that outsiders often bring more trouble than opportunity. Farmhouses are commonly built with stout doors and shuttered windows, and even an apparently friendly traveler may find himself watched carefully until the locals decide what sort of person he is.

Hospitality certainly exists, but it is rarely given freely to those who have not earned it. Most Daggerfolk would prefer simply to tend their fields, raise their livestock, hunt their forests, and be left alone. Those who prove themselves dependable, however, can discover a fierce sense of loyalty beneath the people's guarded exterior, and a stranger who earns the trust of a Daggerdale community may eventually be treated almost as one of its own.

Much of Daggerdale's modern character was shaped by the long struggle against Zhentarim domination and the return of Randal Morn. In the Year of the Gauntlet, 1369 DR, Morn finally reclaimed the dale and thereafter relied upon his famed Freedom Riders to hunt down Zhentarim agents, destroy bandit gangs, and drive dangerous beasts away from settled lands. Mercenary companies were sometimes employed to supplement their numbers, particularly when isolated farms or distant villages came under threat. By the Year of Deep Water Drifting, 1480 DR, this tradition had developed into the Lord's Retinue, a permanent force of roughly 150 mounted warriors based primarily at Castle Daggerdale and Dagger Falls. Their patrols travel the dale's roads and settlements, while village militias can be called upon whenever a threat is too widespread for the Retinue to face alone.

Life in Daggerdale remains largely rural, and its economy depends upon what its people can coax from the stubborn land. Farmers grow mostly subsistence crops, while hunters and trappers bring furs and hides from the surrounding forests. Livestock is especially important, with sheep commonly seen grazing upon cleared hillsides and rough pastureland throughout the dale. Dagger Falls serves as the principal marketplace where farmers, shepherds, hunters, craftsmen, and visiting merchants exchange their goods.

Notable Locations
• Dagger Falls

Regional Locations
• Dagger Hills

Many manufactured items must be brought into the dale from elsewhere, making merchant caravans important despite the locals' general distrust of foreigners. Considerable mineral wealth may also lie beneath the Dagger Hills, where deposits of beryl suggest that valuable emeralds could be mined. Few have successfully exploited these deposits, however, for the hills have long been associated with monsters and particularly dangerous lycanthropes, making prospecting an occupation for either the exceptionally brave or exceptionally foolish. Despite the relative stability brought by its defenders, Daggerdale remains a frontier land where civilization never feels entirely secure.

Wolves and worse things stalk the forests, abandoned trails disappear beneath tangled undergrowth, and old ruins lie forgotten among the hills. Farmers occasionally vanish from distant homesteads, livestock is sometimes discovered torn apart in the night, and travelers still disappear along roads considered safe only days before. The Zhentarim may no longer openly rule the dale, but memories of their spies and agents have ensured that suspicion remains deeply rooted among the population. For adventurers, Daggerdale offers no shortage of opportunities: missing travelers, isolated ruins, monster-haunted forests, unexplored caverns, forgotten mines, and communities too small to defend themselves against whatever has emerged from the wilderness. To those who live here, however, these are not adventures. They are simply part of the price of calling Daggerdale home.