Krydle

Krydle () was a half-elf thief and poet who lived in Baldur's Gate in the late 15 century DR. He was estranged from his nobleman father Coran and hated the politics of the city, particularly the schism between its upper and lower cities.
==Personality==
Despite being estranged from his father and his hatred of the city's nobles' machinations, Krydle was very familiar with politics and knew its inner workings well.
==Relationships==
Throughout his life, Krydle was a member of the city's vast criminal network. In his youth he was a member of the gang known as the Blades of Burgust, alongside Dorjo, Lily Swift, and Burgust himself. 
As an adult, he shared his hidden underground safehouse with his halfling friend and trusted ally Shandie and formed a group of adventurers with Minsc and Delina.
Krydle and Shandie shared a close bond, both wanting little more than to continue their life of crime. As they saw it, their lifestyle benefited the poorest and most unfortunate Baldurian citizens.
==History==
===Early Life===
Krydle youthful independent streak led to him joining a group of outcast criminals known as the Blades of Burgust. He thoroughly enjoyed a life of what he saw as justified crime and constant thrills, stealing from greedy nobles and unscrupulous merchants. When their leader Burgust began transforming the group from a gang of ne'er-do-wells to something more akin an thieves' guild, the extra notoriety led to its founding members being killed, and Krydle left the group. 
Unfortunately this decision came back to haunt Krydle as Burgust ordered the death of his mother as revenge. Krydle carried the burden of his mother's death with him for years.
===Starting Adventure===
Sometime in the late 15 century DR, Krydle ran into Minsc and Delina, finding them at odds with the city watch. Krydle felt compelled to aid them, taking them to his hidden safehouse. After hearing their tale, he agreed to help smuggle them from the upper city to the lower city, where they could not be easily found, and to try to get information on Delina's twin brother, Deniak. He also revealed that the tensions between the lower and upper cities were the worst they had been for some time.
In order to aid them, he negotiated a deal with the Fetcher, who agreed to provide safe passage in exchange for a message to be delivered to Coran. Krydle agreed, swearing and muttering to himself. After an ambush by a splinter faction of the Cult of the Dragon in an alley, he started to realize the danger the duo was in, so he decided to go alone to a Parliament of Peers revel to deliver the letter.
At the revel, he found his father and angrily gave him the letter. Coran tried to talk to his son, ultimately his "guidance" being rejected as "manipulation". When asked why they could not have a conversation, Krydle angrily responded he did not have anything to say, calling his father "part of the city's illustrious oppressors" and saying he "rejected [his father's] principles at every turn" and "Mother would be so proud".
A battle ensued as Delina recognized one of the ambushers. The battle then moved to the rooftops, where she was captured by the Cult of the Dragon while the party in turn captured one of cultists.
Taking information from the captured cultist, they traveled back to the Fetcher. Krydle manged to get the location of Deniak and attacked the Cult, but did not manage to stop the ritual that turned Deniak into a red dragon.
Chasing a transformed Deniak holding Delina in his claws, Krydle and Shandie acted quickly to get up on a high tower and throw a grappling hook through the dragon's wing. The dragon crashed into the tower and became stuck under the rubble, where the party finished it off. Back to Krydle's and Shandie's hideout, the party talked about the future of Delina as she planned to leave, but her newly found allies made her stay in the "City of Misfits and Outsiders", while also pondering that their new lifestyle as adventurers would require a cleric.
===The Domain of Dread===
The group would find someone to fill that role when they took on a job from father Alby at the local temple of Kelemvor. After defending the temple from a pack of werewolves, Krydle and his companions were transported to the realm of Barovia, alongside the Kelemvorite cleric Nerys.
While trapped in the otherworldly plain, Krydle and the rest of the party were given shelter at the Wizard of Wines by Adrian Martikov. That night, Krydle suffered horrible nightmares regarding his deceased mother, slipping into a state where he was inadvertently being choked by Delina, who was suffering hallucinations of her own. After a brief respite, the group continued on together, Krydle managing to snag a bottle of Red Dragon Crush. 
Eventually the group made their way to the fortified settlement of Vallaki, they squared off with the werewolves they encountered back in Baldur's Gate, along with their new vampiric master Sangin, eventually drawing the ire of Baron Strahd von Zarovich himself. The heroes assailed the powerful vampire lord and Krydle was even able to sink a dagger through his neck while Minsc acted as a distraction. Just as it appeared Strahd could easily decimate the group and take what he desired, his cursed past sapped his power away, and Delina the wild mage used her magic to transport the everyone to safety.
===Adventures in the North===
Krydle and his friends, along with the injured Nerys, found themselves in a snowy land obviously farm from the twisted Shadowfell, the Spine of the World mountains in the Frozenfar. They were forced to fight off a marauding band of ogres, before meeting a new ally in the dragonborn Saarvin, who accompanied them to the nearby town of Fireshear. For the first time in quite a while, the Heroes of Baldur's Gate could get some actual rest, giving Krydle the opportunity to chat up and meet new friends in town.
When a band of frost giants led by Lord Gryttmort assailed the snowbound settlement, the heroes valiantly came to its defense. Krydle managed to sneak aboard the giants' longboat and free the chained white dragon, turning the tide of battle in their favor. They learned of Gryttmort's scheme to steal an orb of dragonkind from a dragon's lair at Cold Crag Peak, and set out on the dangerous journey to stop them. Krydle was reunited with the white dragon he had freed in the previous battle, named Nilanthe. An agreement was made to recover Nilanthe's stolen eggs from the frost giants, in exchange fore safety of Fireshear's residents. Unfortunately for them all, the frost giant raiders broke into the dragon's lair and used the orb of dragonkind to compel Nilanthe with caving in her own lair, giving the heroes short time to escape.
Krydle and his companions formed a plan with their new friend Saarvin and his ally Dasharra Keldabar, along with local leaders to formulate their plan. By riding atop griffons over the sea, they snuck aboard the giants' longboat and silently infiltrated their floating glacier fortress. Krydle adeptly recovered Nilanthe's eggs, just before the frost giants were alerted, and a fierce battle broke out. Krydle protected the white dragon eggs long enough for enough for Nilanthe to be freed from the orb's powers and take her revenge on the evil giant raiders. The group returned to Fireshear as heroes, and Krydle and Shandie were especially ready to return home to Baldur's Gate.
===Return to the City===
After sailing back to Baldur's Gate together, the party returned to their old hideout before parting ways for a time. Krydle and Shandie reconnected with Heltur, one of his old associates, learning that the Fetcher of Undercellar had been kidnapped by his old gang leader Burgust. Krydle and Shandie tracked down the Fetchers captors, just in time to learn that Burgust was on his way to a secret meeting of the Parliament of Peers at High Hall to kill the retired adventurer Coran, Krydle's father, in a final act of vengeance.
Burgust and his blades set off a smoke bomb at High Hall, distracting everyone long enough to go in for the kill. Fortunately for Coran, Krydle arrived just in time to hold back the killing blow. Father and son fought Burgust alongside one another, putting aside their differences and even bonding as they finally pun an end to the man that slew Krydle's mother. Krydle and Shandie snuck away during the commotion and traveled back to join their friends.
One night at a tavern, after a fight got out of hand, Krydle and his band came to discover that their newest member Nerys had been afflicted with lycanthropy while in Barovia. They worked with Father Alby to perform a ritual that would free Nerys from the curse. With great effort, Krydle and Minsc were able to retrain the transformed and raging Nerys, while Father Alby exised the taint from the young cleric, and she could reunite in peace with her new friends, from whom she drew so much strength. 
===Descent Into the Hells===
Some time during the , Krydle, Shandie, and Nerys were introduced to Aubree Lucent, a paladin from Elturel what was recently rescued from a hell knight by Minsc and Delina. The young warrior sought to glean information about her missing friend, using the only clue she had, a mysterious infernal puzzle box. Krydle and Shandie tracked down a scholar named Fremin Greer, an expert on much to do with the lower planes. They learned that they could find more information from Sylvira Savikas, one of the Great Readers of Candlekeep.
Arriving at Candlekeep, the group met with Sylvira and began investigating the puzzle box. During their discussion, one of Delina's wild surges transported everyone to the city of Elturel, just as it was dragged down to the plane of Avernus in the Nine Hells. When a band of devils assailed their part of the city, Krydle and Shandie became separated from the rest of the group, and the young halfling rogue was captured by a gang of chain devils.
The devils offered a bargain to Krydle: offer his soul in order to spare Shandie's life. Unfortunately for those fiends, the erinyes Oreasha claimed what was rightfully hers as a more powerful devil. Acting on behalf of the former archdevil Bel, Orishas tasked Krydle with using a devil talisman to nullify the infernal contract signed by the Amnizu Thavius Kreeg and stop archdevil Zariel's to secure the city of Elturel on Avernus, in order to protect the lives of all his friends. Krydle agreed to the deal, and took Shandie to safety to reunite with their friends. After rallying together, the heroes fought against Thavius Kreeg's devilish soldiers, and Krydle discovered his talisman had no effect on the contract. Eventually Zariel herself descended upon the city, and the group was forced to defend themselves for a time, until Elturel ascended up from the Hells to Toril.
After a few weeks back in the Heartlands, Krydle had the words "soul debt" inscribed in infernal script upon his left forearm.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
===Appearances===
===Gallery===
Image:Krydle, concept.jpg|Concept art for Krydle, by Max Dunbar
Image:Krydle, alternate.png|"Krydle of Baldur's Gate" showcase art from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, by Jeff Dee
Image:Krydle, Idle Champs.jpg|Krydle as he appears in Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms.
Image:Legends_of_Baldur’s_Gate_-_3_-_Cover_by_Sarah_Stone.jpg|The cover of Legends of Baldur's Gate 3, by Sarah Stone.
===References===
Category:Half-elves
Category:Thieves
Category:Adventurers
Category:Rogues
Category:Poets
Category:Members of the Blades of Burgust
Category:Members of the Heroes of Baldur's Gate
Category:Inhabitants of Baldur's Gate
Category:Inhabitants of the Sword Coast
Category:Inhabitants of the Western Heartlands
Category:Inhabitants of West Faerûn
Category:Inhabitants of Faerûn
Category:Inhabitants of Toril
Category:Inhabitants