Ryld Argith

Ryld Argith was a drow fighter and Master of Melee-Magthere in Menzoberranzan in the 14 century DR.

Description
Ryld was unusual for a drow, owing to his large and burly build, with a height and broad chest that were odd for any elf, and especially a drow male. He stood about 5.5 feet (168 centimeters) tall. Quite unlike a typical male drow's sense of vanity, Ryld had a warrior's pragmatism and kept his hair close-cropped to prevent foes from grabbing it during combat.

Personality
Although Ryld worshiped Lolth, he was not particularly religious. He was not overly fond of the spider motifs dedicated to Lolth that were so prevalent in Menzoberranzan. He was a sava master. He apparently had a liking for duergar brandy, which he snuck out of Gracklstugh and carried with him on his journeys.

His pragmatism made him prefer simple clothing and manners. He preferred to use heavier weapons and armor than was typical of drow.

Early Life
Ryld was a commoner who grew up in the poor district of Braeryn in Menzoberranzan. When Ryld was six years old, he was involved in one of the nobles' notorious Hunts through Braeryn that ended in a massacre by fire. He was badly burned and buried under dead bodies.

As a youth, the twenty-year-old Ryld by chance met Szarr'tham Ilplarl, the weapons master of a minor merchant house, who forced him to enroll into Tier Breche's Melee-Magthere. He attended Melee-Magthere and decades later became a lesser master there, the highest rank he could achieve with his non-noble status. However, he later grew bored with his position.

Ryld learned concentration at a young age. At Melee-Magthere, students had to maintain concentration naked while masters dropped poisonous centipedes on them. If students gasped or cried out when bitten, they were punished. On the first breach, they were rapped on the head. On the second breach, they were rapped harder. On the third breach, they were expelled. In Ryld's class, only he and five others passed. After graduation, he served in some of the hardest mercenary companies and merchant houses of the city. For the next several decades, he roamed throughout the Underdark, honing his skills in the service of others.

During his teaching years at the academy, Ryld befriended Pharaun Mizzrym, a mage from Sorcere of noble birth. They had as close a relationship as any drow could have. During Pharaun's and Ryld's third year at the academy (as teachers), they hunted down a cloaker lord and 67 other chasm rays in its raiding party.

Ryld once encountered a ghost of a man whose throat had been slit and was dripping blood.

War of the Spider Queen
In the, Pharaun was assigned by Gromph Baenre to track down a number of missing drow males and Ryld agreed to assist his friend. Unfortunately, their friendship did not prevent Pharaun from leaving him to fend off and presumably die at the hands of pursuers while in a hideout that belonged to renegade drow and driders led by the alhoon Syrzan. Although he survived the encounter, it set a deep rift between them.

Ryld was then chosen for a party led by Quenthel Baenre sent to investigate the Silence of Lolth. During the cataclysmic fall of Ched Nasad, the party met Halisstra Melarn and Danifae Yauntyrr, priestesses of Lolth. Halisstra, doomed survivor of a fallen house, had no choice but to follow the Menzoberranyr to find out the fate of their silent goddess. She fled with them through a portal to the surface land of Anauroch. After a grueling fight against lamias, Halisstra revealed her secret knowledge of drow bardic music, or baeq'ueshel, to pull Ryld from the brink of death.

After visiting the Abyss and losing hopes of ending the Silence of Lolth, Ryld and Halisstra eventually left to try and find a different life devoid of drow corruption. On the surface, they were attacked by a troll and rescued by Eilistraeans. In order to save Ryld, Halisstra claimed to want to convert to the worship of Eilistraee, but the claim quickly became her true desire and she joined the dancing priestesses. This left Ryld feeling isolated and doubting his decision to follow Halisstra to the surface. In his view, there were three reasons to return to Menzoberranzan: 1) he was an outcast from the Eilistraeeans for killing a giant sloth, 2) he was not a worshiper of Eilistraee, and 3) he was male. There was only one reason to stay: Halisstra.

While Halisstra was being judged by Eilistraee, Ryld encountered a young werewolf boy named Yarno who had bitten Ryld while transformed. Yarno's grandfather gave Ryld belladonna to ward off the lycanthropy infection, which Ryld later ate as the full moon rose and he began to transform. Ryld relied on the deep breathing meditation technique honed in Melee-Magathere to keep his control against the lycanthropic bloodlust. During his inner battle, Ryld hallucinated that a naked female drow was watching and judging him before a werewolf leapt through the figure, then laid beside him as he passed out. When he woke, Yarno was cooking rat and claimed not to remember anything of the night when asked about the woman. Ryld saw similarity between Yarno and himself, from eating rats as a street urchin to being hunted by drow nobles, as Yarno was hunted by Eilistraean priestesses. Ryld protected Yarno from Halisstra when the two met and Halisstra was compelled to follow through with her newfound sacred duty to cleanse the forest of monsters. After expressing his sympathy with the boy's situation and its similarities with his own past, he asked Halisstra to “choose between what is wrong, and what is right." Halisstra followed her emotions and let the boy go without sounding the hunting horn.

Halisstra was given the task to retrieve the Crescent Blade in order to kill Lolth. She intended to retrieve the blade alone, but Ryld secretly followed her to the Cold Field. There they encountered a purple worm, which poisoned Ryld and swallowed Halisstra. Halisstra was able to escape, using the Crescent Blade she found within the worm to cut herself free, and carried Ryld to the edge of the moor, where the priestesses Uluyara and Feliane found them and healed them.

When Danifae contacted Halisstra and Ryld, Halisstra went to meet her and the draegloth Jeggred Baenre, despite Ryld's warnings not to trust her. Danifae ordered Jeggred to kill Ryld in a battle that slaughtered an entire house full of loggers in the Flooded Forest. Ryld was able to cut off one of Jeggred's hands, but the draegloth used an enchanted axe (taken from a soldier killed in the midst of the struggle) to break Ryld's sword and slay him. The draegloth then ate Ryld's heart.

Later, in the Astral Plane, while searching for Lolth, Halisstra encountered Ryld's spirit as she came upon a procession of souls moving to the new Demonweb Pits. He told her that he loved her, but he nevertheless chose to go to the afterlife with Lolth.

Abilities
He was a fighter specializing in the greatsword.

Equipment
Rather than wearing chain mail under the traditional piwafwi, as most drow did, Ryld wore black duergar-made mithral plate mail and enchanted vambraces, which were in dauntlets of dexterity. He also wore a belt of giant strength and boots of speed. Ryld had a magical portable hole made of phase spider silk. Ryld had a portable hole made of phase spider silk.

He wielded a magical greatsword known as Splitter. Splitter was deceptively light for its size, was capable of penetrating nearly any material, and dispelled magic with a successful hit. Ryld liked to attend to his sword, having convinced himself that the sword (though not sentient) appreciated it.

Ryld also employed a wickedly sharp +3 ghost touch short sword for close encounters. He also carried a crossbow, but rarely used it.

Ryld had two magical rings. When he left Quenthel's expedition, he gave the lesser ring to Danifae to "prove" he was returning. The greater ring known as the Master's Ring had a dragon on it and marked him as a master of Melee-Magthere, and made his skin as tough as a dragon's. Ryld carried a Melee-Magthere emblem. The emblem allowed him to levitate similar to a noble drow's house insignia.

Halisstra Melarn
During their travels, Ryld grew close to Halisstra Melarn of Ched Nasad, developing a relationship and even coming to love her. He abandoned his task in the Underdark to live on the surface at her request. While Ryld was hesitant to develop a trusting relationship with her, being wary and hardened from the betrayal of his once close friend Pharaun, the two developed trust after an encounter with a troll on the surface where Halisstra stayed behind to help Ryld despite the certainty of their death. Ryld mused on these feelings that were atypical to his prior experiences with female drow, and wondered if Halisstra had cast a spell on him and even tried to dispel it with his enchanted sword. He felt out of place on the surface and in the company of the Eilistraeans, but he remained for Halisstra. He worried over her safety and followed her into the Cold Fields despite her insistence on going alone, and later vocalized the likelihood of a trap set by Danifae. Despite these feelings of love for Halisstra, Ryld remained a pragmatic drow of the Underdark. He never understood the Eilistraeans' displeasure over the giant sloth's death, calculatingly dispatched the half-orc ferryman that overheard their conversation (to Halisstra's displeasure), and dispassionately killed the unlucky humans in the logging village during his battle with Jeggred. He died loving Halisstra, but nevertheless was unable to change his drow nature as she had, and chose to go to the Demonweb Pits for an afterlife with Lolth.

Pharaun Mizzrym
Pharaun Mizzrym was a close friend of Ryld's who was also atypical among male drow. They were also fellow instructors at their respective schools. Pharaun provided Ryld insight into decent drow nobles and many connections that benefited the lone mercenary. Before 1372 DR, the close friends shared many dark adventures in the Underdark.. However, during the Silence of Lolth, their friendship fell apart.

Appearances

 * Novels:
 * War of the Spider Queen: Dissolution • Insurrection • Condemnation • Extinction • Annihilation