Rhyldryn Mae'tyl

[Bladepit]

 A story which started mid February 2018 has come to an end and although the ending was not what Rhyldryn wished, it was an ending I am satisfied with. After all, it is very rarely that characters in EFU get to live long enough to reach their final goal.


I have plenty of screenshots from the road but I am afraid I am too lazy to categorize and explain them in detail. So if you are really interested to check them out, you'll have to do with the massive unnamed and messy bulks, and decrypt them as you scroll through.  =)


I did sort out the last event that led to his death and you can see the screens here.


Here is his [hide=Backstory:]

(Sob story) Rhyldryn Mae'tyl was abducted as a child by the noble house of Jultar when they destroyed most of Rhyldryn's minor drow family about 180 years ago. Branded by the Jultar, he was forced into their fighting pits for the family's amusement. He grew in despicable conditions but those days also made him excel in battle. Even though he later became a warrior to be used in Jultar's missions, he was always treated treated as 'a lowborn property' in their eyes, barely above rivvil slaves.

(Freedom) When Traensyr and the drow matriarchy fell apart, he managed to escape the chaos and made his way to the Dark Lake. There, he was for the first time able to taste freedom from the restraints of his old masters. He joined a band of pirates and raided with them across the Dark Lake, mostly on the other side of it. Although he found the life among the pirates to be better than the slavery he had endured, this seemed to be lacking a purpose and he began to fester a troubled mind.

(New life) Then upon an unfortunate raiding mission on the dark lake, the crew's vessel was shipwrecked near the Blue Mushroom. Unsure if any other crew members had survived, Rhyldryn swam to the shore. There, wet and and barely alive, he decided this was as good as any moment to start fresh - search for a purpose not for prerogative drow nobles or treasure thirsty pirates but finally for himself. A meaning that he would carve with his quick blade if he had to...

Rhyldryn (translated roughly as "Branded Weapon" or "Slave Blade") is the name given to him by his Jultar masters. Although it was a source of endless mockery during his times of slavery, he has continued carrying it and turned the meaning into a pride he cherishes. He indeed shows openly the Jultar slave brand burnt on his arm.

Mae'tyl is a second name he chose as he took upon the pirate life (roughly tanslated Raider's from the Pit/Arena). He also has some pride left from these years as a pirate and, although he now has set upon a path of his own, he considers (once) being one of them. He does not know the name of his destroyed family (nor does he care to) [/hide]

Rhyldryn evolved a fair bit from the original drow pit fighter who washed ashore. This was all because of the unforeseen events and characters that ended up influencing him IG. Finding the tome that detailed the Secret Fighting Styles of the Seven Houses of Traensyr became though his ultimate obsession and it eventually led to his death. (Thank to DM Howlando for running all this)


Rhyldryn had various motivations why he wished to defeat all the Seven Weapon Masters from Traensyr. At the end, he became assured that it was because he was 'denied' the chance of freeing himself from his own slavery when the Dread were indirectly the cause of Traensy'r Fall. Hence he now used this journey as his way of earning a freedom with his own blade or die trying.


When it came to other PCs, there were a lot of different people who I interacted with and many of those interactions were indeed quite amazing.


Plenty of PvP battles and duels, of which only one Rhyldryn ended up losing when going all in - this was against a crazy Dhimani experiment gnome PUMPAM1 who subdued Rhyldryn in the Crone. Unfortunately for PUMPAM1, Chuckling Bill cleaved her down at the same instant. So in actuality it ended up being a draw as we were both thrown out of the Crone subdued and never saw each other again.


Indeed, I was surprised to have lived so long with a drow PC. Perhaps it was partly because of Rhyldryn's untypical lack of murderous cruelty as a drow and bladesman's honor that kept him out of deadly revenge ganks. I regardless had to subdue dozens and dozens of PCs, many who attacked me unprovoked (aside from being openly a drow running around) and only had to permanently kill two other PCs - both of them during the same event. I had from the start a little bonus game for myself seeing how long I could play him without needing to kill anyone.


Most importantly I enjoyed the countless talks and RP sessions with many. many other PCs who shaped Rhyldryn a lot.  In truth, a reticent character like Rhyldryn always needs more livelier characters to accompany with to bring out the best the RP. Thus, thank you for all those who delved deeper into him with your questions and involved me in your plots. There were however three very important PCs on Rhyldryn's route to whom I'd like to express my special thanks for our many hours of game time spent together:


[hide=Zendrae]For being a first drow ally and friend of Rhyldryn. Because of her, the recluse Rhyldryn was involved in a lot of messes (of her make) – much to his displeasure. I myself as a player though enjoyed immensely the adventures and troubles we had together.[/hide]

[hide=Daeis] Rhyldryn's Weapon Master student. With this player we spent countless hours talking about blademaster philosophy and other topics. I truly enjoyed our training sessions and your willingness to go all in. Through our discussions I also honed the character of Rhyldryn.

To give a glimpse of how hardcore this player went with me is perhaps shown by the task where I made him crawl through the webbed tunnel without using any magic (he was a spellsword) nor any healing devices on himself. He was poisoned to the bone and thus very low hp, getting constantly smacked down by spiders to bleeding while his only lifeline was Rhyldryn walking behind him and occasionally healing him when he dropped to bleeding.

He was very close to fugue many times during that crawl but somehow he survived. It is unfortunate he did not manage to defeat his WM challenge to earn the prestige class (which he in my opinion had earned many times over in Rhyldryn's ruthless training sessions).[/hide]

[hide=Blathnaid]Just when I thought Rhyldryn had fallen into a boring zone, I met another drow with whom Rhyldryn became to form a strong relationship. With her shenanigans to keep me interested in the game once more, I was even able to truck through the pain of Withering that Rhyldryn had caught from his trip to the surface (which he with hopes to earn an audience with Temrariel).

I could go on for ages about the various discussions we had with Blathnaid but let the screenshots talk for me. There should be plenty of those there and many missing I am sure. Regardless, Blathnaid almost managed to complete Rhyldryn's bonus romance goal which I had written on his application but never seriously expected to actually come true – I had added it there as something ridiculously unlikely to pursue in case the stars align.

Their 'love' did not come to be and tragically it may be that Rhyldryn's own actions ended up being the death of Blathnaid when he was trying to save her while simultaneously refusing to accept that this wicked drow girl had slowly begun to replace his blade as his most important companion.[/hide]


Without further dragging this forth, here are the rest of screens in two parts (but not in any particular order)


Part 1


Part 2


Feel free to add any of your own screens to this thread, I am surely missing plenty good ones and would be interested to see them myself too.


Thanks for the amazing 2018 EfU and see you again next time!

[Chiaroscuro]

Hm.

EPIC. Just an epic PC in every sense of the word. One I had the fortune, with Bláthnaid, to interact with consistently and closely for a long time whose story partly intertwined with Rhyldryn's.

They had an amazing dynamic. You made my experience playing her so much richer, more fun and unexpected. A huge thank you both for your achievement in creating this legendary PC and playing it so consistently, and for giving me a wonderful time with our RP.

Screenshots with Rhyl n' Blath:

[hide=That time Bláthnaid and Rhyldryn broke into the Garden of the Elves.][/hide]

[hide=Practicing wilderness survival.][/hide]

[hide=Embarrassing older brother.][/hide]

[hide=Showing the others at the bar how it's (not) done.]



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[hide=Rhyldryn tries to impart some profound insights on Bláthnaid. It doesn't go well.]

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[hide=A tribute to Zendrae.]



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[hide=A conversation on the subject of pets and of pests ...][hide=1][/hide]
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[hide=Rhyldryn ties up some loose ends at Vhuln, but ends up owing his life to Bláthnaid.][hide=1][/hide]
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[hide=Rhyldryn talks Bláthnaid down from her plans of insane vengance.]

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[hide=Rhyldryn literally sold Bláthnaid into slavery. It ... put a strain on their relationship.][hide=1][/hide]
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A few hours earlier ...

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Ten days later ...

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[derkot]

[many sad smiles]

Always liked to watch battles and trying speak about future and hope.

[Stranger]

I was never part of Rhyldryn's saga, but even seeing it from a distance was immensely satisfying.

He was cut from the cloth of a "classic," old school EFU that I had only read about in dusty forum archives—as though he had stepped out of the legends that had captured my imagination when I arrived here. I could spend all night waxing lyrically about it. I think that the pictures already posted, however, have spoken more eloquently than I ever could.

[LoveLess]

I still remember when Rhyldryn grabbed Kani/Mell and had her go adventuring with him because she was handy with locks. She was a bit dumbfounded having never met a drow before. For hours, we just explored random places I had never been to before OOC and it was a overall a great experience. Especially since it was my first month in the server.

Everyone just thought Mell was an idiot for walking about with a drow she couldn't remember the name of, some slaver that just gave her a huge bag of berries and she got into his "van," questing underground.

[The Uncommon Law]

Rhyldryn and Blathnaid's abusive relationship...  :'( 

[SN]

What Stranger said.
And so much more.

[Still Trying]

I loved this character and now that you've met your end I can tell you that Miira was actively plotting to have Rhyldryn killed...the Coronal wouldn't have approved, but due to their rivalry I persisted none the less! Rhyldryn came very close to figuring it out a few times...though I spoke to him I was always on the edge of my seat every time!
RIP to the greatest blade in the underdark! Loved this character!

[goate]

Very cool.