Murder in Dahl Ferry

Murder in Dahl Ferry is an out-dated Dungeons and Dragons 5th ed. campaign. For the current version visit Reign of Malice.

Introduction to Dahl Ferry
Murder in Dahl Ferry begins at the start of winter, with the Player Characters (PCs) heading north to Dahl Ferry - in Folenlund - for the 5-day long Tar der Fora celebration.

The Boat-house of the ferries is owned by Burna Ashford, a dwarven woman, and run by her sons Jerome (older) and Donnovan (younger). Burna is proudly wearing a silvered breastplate with a flat, fist-sized deep-red gemstone inset infront of her heart. She informs the PCs that she was part of an old adventuring troupe along with a few other townsfolk.

The PCs enter The Dahl Inn, a three-story tall building with a large tavern on its bottom floor, stable at the back, and rooms for nightly rent on the upper floors. The front door is on the eastern edge of the town square and has a sign depicting a pretty Halfling girl sitting on a low stool with her hands forming a love-heart shape, with the title The Dahl Inn above her.

They meet the Inn Keeper Aslow, a friendly halfling who always seems to be polishing an earthenware mug.

They meet the Drow alchemist Yana. She is selling potions of whimsy, a creation of her own which can have various effects depending on the user. She also seems rather non-empathetic.

They meet the dwarven blacksmith Garret. Garret carries an ornate war-hammer with a deep-red gemstone behind the head. He asks the PCs to travel to the nearby village of Karren Field, to the west, to find his brother, Brunor. Brunor would never miss Tar der Fora in Dahl ferry with his brother, so it is worrying that he hasn't arrived. Garret would go himself, but his foot was broken when his apprentice dropped a hammer on it.

Leaving Dahl Ferry the PCs have a run-in with a young halfling boy trying to steal a coin-purse. The boy is taken away by the town guard.

The Karren Field Incident
The PCs arrive in Karren Field - 7 houses, a two-story inn, and a windmill - to find the village overrun by dwarven zombies. One of the homes has been burned down and there is a thin line of smoke rising from it.

Inside one of the remaing homes the PCs find a dwarven woman hiding under her bed. She informs them that a necromancer came to the town in the night and slaughtered the village. As far as she knows she is the only survivor. She also informs them that Brunor was the landlord of the inn at the west end of town.

The PCs fight their way through the town to the inn, though the front door won't open from the outside. There is a balcony above the front door leading to a reading room on the upper floor of the inn. From here the PCs are able to enter the inn.

The inn has a few dwarven zombies inside too. Their are three small room on this floor. The stairs lead down to the tavern section of the inn which occupies the entire ground floor of the inn, except for a kitchen and larder. The inside of the front door has been chained shut.

In the kitchen the PCs find the beheaded body of a dwarf wearing an apron with a signet ring on his left hand. Taking the ring, the PCs then head down stairs to the cellar.

From the cellar they hear chanting and find a black-robes man summoning inky-black smoke from a crystal orb. The smoke forms into a Shadow-demon which then kills the necromancer. It then turns its' attention on the PCs, and they defeat it.

Murder in Dahl Ferry
Returning to Dahl Ferry and to Garret to tell him the bad news about Brunor, they notice the halfling boy from the previous day in an alleyway. He is cradling a poorly bandaged hand, he is missing fingers. Presumably punishment for theft. They give the child a coin and head on their way.

Later, the PCs find Garret dead in his own home/shop. Searching the home for clues the PCs find his war-hammer though the ruby has been removed. They also find two short, odd, blue sticks next to a bloodied knife, though there is no blood on Garret.

The PCs go to the Dahl Inn to decide what to do next, when they are interrupted by a scream from the Inn's stable. Rushing through the back door they find Burna with her throat slashed and the ruby missing from her breast-plate. Yana, the Drow alchemist, is close behind them and sees Burna's dead body besides the PCs, she suggests they leave before an angry mob decides they are guilty and kills them.

Yana leads the PCs through the town square and towards the temple. As they approach the temple's doors, a body falls from the sky and lands, dead, feet in front of Yana and the PCs. Yana Identifies the male halfling's body as Orsik, the town's Mayor. The PCs head inside the temple to get to the roof and find the killer. Heading up a spiraling staircase the PCs hear footsteps descending towards them getting louder, until the footsteps stop entirely. There is no one on the stairs or on the roof.

Returning to Yana she says no one left the temple, but Orsik's body is missing the short, display saber he usually carries with him. She then says that her master will know what to do.

She leads them just outside of town to a cobblestone tower, Wherein they meet Grynn, an old, wrinkled, bald gnome wearing nothing but a loin-cloth. Yana introduces Grynn as a powerful wizard and diviner. Giving Grynn the blue sticks, he reveals them to be the fingers of a Doppler/Changling. Using powerful magic he is able to determine the direction in which the PCs must travel to find the owner of the fingers. Using a compass, an old map, and the strength of the 'scent' the spell revealed, Grynn determines that the Changling is hiding in the ruins of an old cult's temple near the mountains to the east.