Regroupé à l'extérieur d'un vieux village brûlé, au-delà d'un ensemble de statues de cristal bleu terrifié, se tenait un étrange groupe d'hommes et de femmes, d'humains et même de quelques elfes. Il y en avait dans les groupes, tandis que certains se détachaient seuls, soit dans la conversation, soit dans la contemplation des événements récents. Ru se trouvait parmi l'un de ces groupes, ceux qui s'étaient rassemblés pour scruter avant les autres. *Le Ranger de l'elfe Eddy, mystérieux assassin Misala dont le nom est coïncidant le même que la ville que nous venons de détruire, Ordore notre chef masqué, et bien sûr moi-même. Ça fait 4.Ru pensa à lui - même, arpentant ceux qui étaient rassemblés. Un autre avait montré, Nero, Spelsword du Manoir, bien que Ru n'ait jamais entendu parler d'un tel titre. * La connaissance de la région serait agréable cependant, et il semble prêt et prêt à se joindre, donc faire que 5.* Le groupe de scouts avait grandi un peu plus grand que ce qu'avait prévu Ordore, mais il y avait encore un important contingent de mages dans le groupe principal. Le gardien de la taverne Ordore avait mentionné plus tôt serait soit extatique ou terrifié d'avoir autant sous son toit. Probablement en fonction de la quantité d'ale et de nourriture qu'il avait accès.
En retournant vers le groupe, il a remarqué un elfe vert - Darthalia, il pensait que son nom était - allant vers eux. L'elfe difficile de la fin de la bataille, Akali, se tenait à une courte distance derrière, regardant intensément Darthalia, ressemblant brièvement à un enfant bouillant avant de calmer et de nourrir un écureuil. *Un peu bizarre.Il pensa, puis sourit. *Bien sûr, nous sommes un groupe de personnes assez étranges.Peut-être qu'être mage né avait tendance à rendre les gens un peu moins sensés. Quoi qu'il en soit, Darthalia les avait approchés, demandant timidement s'ils pouvaient rassembler des lys bleus tout en scrutant pour donner une vision nocturne. **« Rassemblez les lillies bleues, consommez pour la vision nocturne. C'est bon."** Ru répondit joyeusement, tournant légèrement pour lui faire face. **"Vous avez la carte."** Il observa après un bref moment, puis se tourna une fois de plus vers la tête pour trouver Ordore. Si Darthalia avait la carte et les pierres magiques et le papier, elle serait probablement à la tête de la fête principale, surtout si leur pseudo-chef Eddy rejoignait la fête de scoutisme. Ordore aurait donc besoin de lui montrer où était la taverne.
Ru sentit une humeur quelque peu sombre émanant d'Ordore alors qu'il s'approchait, et renversa son exubérance habituelle. Face au village ruiné, ce n'était pas dur. Ru murmura une courte prière pour ceux qui étaient tombés, espérant que la garde d'Albec ne serait pas comptée parmi ce sanglant nombre. Enfin, il s'est approché d'Ordore. **"Le plan est d'envoyer le groupe principal vers votre taverne, pendant qu'on scrute devant? Si c'est le cas, vous devrez montrer Darthalia ici où elle les mènera. En fait, il serait probablement préférable que la partie de scoutisme sache où elle est, au cas où nous nous séparions. Quoi qu'il en soit, nous devrions probablement partir avant qu'il ne commence à sombrer."**
**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.