Finalement, la recherche a été organisée et ils sont partis pour trouver où leur Misala disparu avait fini, peut-être pour jeter un coup d'oeil à la ville comme ils l'ont fait. De petites discussions éclatèrent au milieu du groupe, se dirigeant inconsciemment vers le centre de la ville et le palais. Un sujet souvent récurrent était celui d'un rêve étrange que quelqu'un avait vécu la nuit précédente, souvent avec d'autres qui chantaient à propos d'un rêve similaire. Enfin, avec l'arrêt du groupe, un sondage a été fait pour révéler que non seulement ils avaient tous eu des rêves similaires, mais que leur rêve avait été le même. Il n'est donc pas surprenant que le groupe suive les chemins mis dans son sommeil.
Plus ils avançaient, plus les corps s'empaillaient de haut en haut, comme pour montrer la dernière position du défenseur. Ce n'était pas le palais, mais vers le grand dôme qui était intact, des traces de feuille d'or qui brillent à travers le grime. Rappelant le rêve, Ru se demandait indifféremment si les défenseurs avaient essayé de garder ce qui était enfermé, ou de le garder libre? Le rêve avait une sensation malveillante à elle, comme si tout ce qui avait été - était toujours enfermé là-bas était censé rester là.
Comme le rêve les avait tous menés là, ce n'était pas une surprise quand Ru entra dans le Dôme et vit Misala. Ru jeta ses bras dans un mouvement exagéré, se moquant de la vue. "Tu sais, ça aurait été sympa de laisser une note ou quelque chose, plutôt que de disparaître comme ça. Nous--err, certains d'entre nous... étaient... inquiets." D'après ses paroles, Misala se tourna vers le groupe pour y jeter un coup d'œil. Son visage, plutôt que de garder un masque cool et calme, semblait fissuré, des lignes d'inquiétude se balançant sur son front, et un regard intense dans ses yeux. La voix de Ru s'est enfuie après avoir vu l'état de Misala. Son incertitude l'effrayait plus que tous les murmures qu'elle signalait, plus que tout ce qui était enfermé derrière cette porte. Il y avait beaucoup plus au travail ici que Ru ne pouvait le voir, et il n'aimait pas ça. Contrairement à la croyance populaire, ce que l'on ne sait pas, c'est souvent ce qui se fait tuer. Ru avait le sentiment que s'il restait trop longtemps ici, ces choses inconnues sortiraient à la recherche de proies fraîches. Malheureusement, Misala semblait vouloir copier des marques de pierre, plutôt que de rester en vie. -- Eh bien, dépêchez-vous avec votre copie pour que nous puissions sortir de cet endroit.
Faute de quoi que ce soit de mieux à faire, Ru a fait une promenade dans la pièce, puis, considérant Misala était encore en train d'écrire, l'a marché encore quelques fois. Il n'arrêtait pas d'être attiré par les écluses au centre de la pièce. Ru pouvait se souvenir de les ouvrir dans le rêve. La mécanique précise de la façon dont il a été fait était un peu flou, mais les serrures étaient quelque chose que Ru connaissait. Je parie que je pourrais les ouvrir. Il a pensé qu'après tout, les serrures sont censées être ouvertes... Il s'est pris, la main planant sur une grande serrure en métal, entrelacé entre les chaînes. Les chuchotements semblaient plus importants dans la tête de Ru, bien qu'il ne puisse pas tout à fait dire ce qu'ils disaient. "Je me demande ce qu'il y a derrière cette porte...?"Il a baissé la main, laissant la question en l'air.
**Image: ** ( Ru wears simple leather clothing, tougher than wool or linen, but still comfortable to go about both daily, and nightly business. When travelling, he carries a pack and a worn, but still water resistant cloak which sometimes acts as a pillow.
**Name: ** Ru
**Gender: ** Male
**Race: ** Human
**Age: ** 21
**Alignment: ** Mage
**Personality: ** Ru tries his best not to take life too seriously. Wandering between Meridian's outlying towns, he has made many acquaintances, and also a decent amount of enemies, and has grown to believe that as life gives, so it takes away. Ru likes to take things at face value, but knows that others often will try to deceive him. A somewhat ironic trait, coming from a thief and an illusionist, but past experience seems to teach that constantly wondering whether the people beside you will later betray you simply becomes tiring. So long as he still has his life and a mostly intact body, why not live and let live? The paladins are the exception to Ru's uncaring nature. Their presence is a threat to his way of life, for if they knew him as a mage, he would surely find himself dead, or worse, trapped.
**Bio: ** Ru was born to a denizen of Meridian's underground, into an unremarkable, and rather unfortunate family with far too much to worry about already. By the time Ru could walk, it seemed he had wanted to get away. Not from his family, who he loved, or the life they had, which, while not great, could definitely be worse, but from the undercity. His early years were fairly unremarkable, but as he grew, he came to discover more about the world around him, and the more he glimpsed of the sunny world above, the more the undercity felt like a prison. For a time, he resented being born down here in the dark, away from the light and the open plains. But when he discovered he was a mage, he came to realize he should be grateful. Had he been born above, and lived above, and been discovered above, his world would have changed to make the former prison of the undercity seem as wide and open as the entire world. And he also knew that it would be dangerous to stay below, for although the luminous knights would never fully purge the criminal and magical element from below, each time they tried, a few wouldn't be able to flee fast enough. And so after one such raid, Ru fled, taking everything he could and made his way to wander the surface, free.
**Initial Spells/Techniques: **
- Replicate: Ru creates a short lived illusion of himself. This copy has very little physical strength, and can easily be revealed as merely an illusion upon touching it, or destroyed if hit with sufficient force.
- Blur: Ru makes his form harder to distinguish, blending into his surroundings and becoming hard to focus on, as if you were looking at him with your eyes crossed. When heavily blurred, people seem to have an aversion to looking in Ru's direction. His illusions can also do use this ability.
- Telekinesis: Ru can move objects magically. It is easiest to simply *pull* things closer, or *push* them directly away, and while he can rotate objects and move them in other directions, it takes more concentration and willpower to do so. Ru cannot seem to affect himself with this power.
**Skills: ** Ru is quite handy with daggers, but is also familiar with short swords and crossbows. While he won't be winning any fair fights against a trained swordsman, Ru prefers to fight with as many advantages on his side as possible. Locks of all sorts are no match for his skilled fingers, allowing Ru to enter and leave without a trace - other than the valuables that leave with him. Ru is accomplished at scaling buildings in order to reach more discreet points of entry, and those skills can be applied to climbing other surfaces as well. Of course, Ru would be a rather poor thief if he had no skill concealing himself, a skill which is greatly enhanced by his magic. Although he has a small collection of poisons, he prefers not to use them, and most, though debilitating, are non-fatal.
(In short, *Familiarity with daggers, short swords, and crossbows, lock picking, climbing, moving stealthily, and poisons.*)
**Combat Strategy: ** When forced to fight, Ru tries to use anything he can to his advantage. When blurred, blows that opponents thought would land can easily pass through empty air as their eyes deceive them. He uses this quite effectively with his replicates, exploiting peoples tendency to block blades they see coming towards them, even if they aren't particularly real. His telekinesis is used to destabilize his opponents in battle, making them trip up or lose balance. As a thief, not an assassin, Ru prefers not to kill, only to occupy his opponents long enough to escape.
**Unique Equipment: ** Ru keeps several daggers and lock picks hidden on his person with a dingy short sword strapped to his hip. His crossbow and bolts tend to remain hidden within his pack along with whatever food and other possessions he has at the time. Although there have been times he could have purchased better equipment, he still carries on with what he has.