Blackdagger Bandits

The Blackdagger Bandits were a powerful bandit group that operated on the Sword Coast North in the late 15 century DR and were the most successful and notorious bandits of the area at the time. It was named for and led by the brothers Malus and Traven Blackdagger.

History
Hailing from Luskan some time in the 1400s DR, Malus and Traven Blackdagger started out as a pair of penniless brothers. They gathered a small gang and turned to banditry, and had much success. Coming to be called the Blackdagger Bandits, they became notorious and yet more bandits and other criminals went to their side.

With the rebuilding of Neverwinter in the 1470s DR, trade along the Sword Coast North swelled and so too did the Blackdagger Bandits' numbers and riches. They seized and rebuilt the ruins of Cragmire Keep, making it their fortress and base of operations. They raided caravans on the High Road, extinguished warning beacons at Raven Cliff Beach so they could loot the resulting shipwrecks and enslave the survivors, and engaged in protection rackets with businesses like Melkhor Goldseeker's Angelhead Mine, demanding from Melkhor a large cut of the profits to leave the mines alone. With the Blackdaggers posing a serious threat, Lord Dagult Neverember of Neverwinter put a bounty on the heads of Malus and Traven Blackdagger. Shortly after, the two brothers apparently disappeared and were not seen by anyone outside the bandit army. This started much speculation and rumors that someone else now commanded the Blackdagger Bandits, who remained as powerful and organized as before.

The truth was more nefarious. The Red Wizard necromancer Kallos Tam met Malus and Traven and proposed to excavate and take control of the undead army within the Cragmire Crypts, giving them the army they desired to take over Neverwinter and become lords of the land. The brothers were receptive to his offer, and, in the, he broke the magical seal of Cragmire Crypt and discovered inside some artifacts he was seeking, found the undead army still waiting there, and, he said, the means of controlling them. While Malus prepared the defenses of Blackdagger Keep and an attack of Neverwinter itself, Traven and Kallos went with some of the Blackdaggers' best fighters into the crypts to take the undead army, and they put Jareth Grim in charge of the Blackdaggers' raids.

That year, Melkhor's miners uncovered ancient ruins and statues in Angelhead Mine. Whereas previously the Blackdaggers had cared little for mining and the mines had no other value to them, they now believed they could find treasure too, broke their deal with Melkhor, and refused to make another. The Blackdaggers raided Melkhor's wagons and Krag Foultooth and his bandits assaulted Angelhead, imprisoned and enslaved the miners, and took Melkhor's niece and mine foreman Mira Thamros hostage to ensure his silence and cooperation. Marion Hexbane, meanwhile, sent some of her men to the Broken Crown inn to apply their new leverage on Melkhor.

Meanwhile, a drow spy of House Xorlarrin worked with the Blackdaggers to provide them with magical weapons and aid. An unnamed drow operative of Bregan D'aerthe learned of this and had a drow adventurer sabotage the delivery at Raven Cliff Beach to make it seem as if the Xorlarrin had double-crossed the Blackdaggers. When the Xorlarrin spy came out of hiding to meet with the Blackdaggers to repair relations, just as the operative planned, he sent the adventurer to slay the spy and her contacts in the abandoned mineshaft they met in.

Other victims of the Blackdaggers were the ghostwise halflings led by Gilern Ghostwise.

The Harpers discovered the plot and recruited an adventurer to destroy the bandits, so the adventurer infiltrated the bandit's stronghold of Cragmire Keep and effectually eliminated the bandit's leadership.

Base of Operations
The headquarters of the Blackdagger Bandits was the ruined Cragmire Keep, which they partially rebuilt and renamed Blackdagger Keep. From the security of this fortress, they launched their raids and looting efforts along the High Road and they retreated to its safety afterwards when threatened by patrols.

They also prowled Raven Cliff Beach, where they picked over and looted shipwrecks, and based themselves in a hidden cove and sea caves there.