brokndremes Member
Sleepless One
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- Old Guild Username: Brokndremes
- Joined: 11 yrs ago
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- brokndremes 11 yrs ago
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>I also find it strange that very little mages care about what their job entails. **"Oh hey we get to find an ancient library visited by the most powerful mages of the previous era. But forget that, BANDITS! YAY!"**
To be fair, it is sort of hard to consider the implications while people are shoving pointy things at you.
Shortly after Ru had made himself comfortable, a strike of lightning struck the ground nearby, revealing a cloaked person standing before them. The man created quite an imposing figure, features hidden by the cloak and wreathed in a bright afterimage from the lightning strike. Thoughts flashed through Ru's head - stories of the great mages of old, wandering the lands wielding great powers and shaping the world with their whims. The paladins particularly liked to remind people of the scars and the great evils those ancient magi had wrought, while some in the undercity viewed them almost as saints, or gods, one day to return and save them from the tyranny of the light. Both views squabbled within Ru's mind as he sat in awe of this figure, wielding great power so casually.
At least until he spoke.
The voice that came out from under the hood in no way reflected the person Ru had been envisioning. His vision of an ancient warlock, wise and powerful started to crack. Whoever it was sounded younger that Ru! Their young-mysterious-employer pulled out a book, and began muttering what appeared to be instructions under his breath, finally announcing. **"Raenor's War Table!"** By this point, Ru's vision of a wise warlock had shattered entirely, and the event which should have been awe inspiring seem almost...comedic. With a sly smile he took a seat, listening intently as YME explained the job. He should have been happy upon learning they would get 25 Sovereigns each, his bet with Albec won, but the nature of the mission disturbed him slightly. YME sought power, and Ru didn't like being blind to his motives. As YME opened the floor for questions however, they were interrupted by what appeared to be a troop of bandits, coming in from both sides. *How did they get here so quickly?* Ru wondered. The open area around the village should have made it obvious that such a large band was coming, they should have seen them before -- His thoughts were interrupted as the bandit's head met with an arrow, and they were suddenly in the midst of battle.
Fighting was something Ru preferred to avoid. Good stuff rarely seemed to come of it, especially when fighting well outnumbered. A quick attempt at a count revealed that there were at least twenty, if not more. His count was interrupted by a battered sword swinging towards him. Instinctively, he blurred himself and dove out of the way, leaving a shocked copy of himself standing where he had been to be impaled by the bandits weapon. The grin of triumph on the bandits face quickly turned to confusion, as the fake corpse poofed out of existence, then to surprise as Ru pushed him away, sending the man crashing through a rotten thatched roof. Still heavily blurred, Ru took a moment to assess the situation. Some of their members had been hit by arrows, making the bandit archers an obvious target. Cursing, he pushed several arrows out of their flight, being careful not to use too much energy. Throwing the man had taken more out of Ru than he'd expected. But the archers needed to go, or they would be in trouble. Dashing through the enemy ranks, occasionally disabling a bandit with a well placed stab, he emerged amidst the enemy bowmen, several quick illusions and dropped his blur, making it seem as though several men had appeared from nowhere amidst their back ranks. Startled yells blossomed around him, several of which were quickly silenced before Ru blurred himself once more and tried to disengage. Although only a few were dead, most others had dropped their bows in favor of bludgeons or worn blades. One of the few remaining with a bow suddenly dropped, screaming in agony, and Ru took that as an opening.
As he dashed over the fallen man, Ru had expected to see a path through the remaining bandits, leading to open ground. Instead, he saw fire, with black smoke billowing above it. He thought he heard a building collapsing nearby, the weak wood failing under the flames as he turned to flee back to the mighty table. A strong push sent those in his way sprawling, leaving enough of an opening which he sprinted through. Once safely behind friendly lines, he sat heavily on the table. His anger at whoever had started the fires subsided into growing horror as he looked out on the battle field. The fight - if it could even be called a fight - was practically over. Screams and fire and the sound of breaking timber filled the air almost as thickly as the billowing smoke. Ru watched as one bandit knelt screaming amidst corpses, staring at his burning hand as the flesh melted off. Ru considered how lucky he was to have escaped any major injuries. The dull blades of the bandits hadn't been able to pierce his leather, leaving only bruises, and he'd managed to escape being badly burned. *Then again.* he thought *The battle isn't quite over yet.* He saw one of the bandits lunging from a roof towards a young cloaked mage (Ordore). Ru pulled hard on the man mid-lunge, dragging him down and away from his target. The unfortunate bandit's sword impaled the earth instead of the man it had been intended for, with the bandit's momentum carrying him into the hilt. Ru slumped a bit, exhausted from using more magic in such a short time than he had ever before meeting YME. Ru noticed the screams had died down, to be replaced by low, pained moans came from those unfortunate enough to remain alive as their flesh melted away, and Ru realized something. *So.* He thought to himself *This is why they hate us.*
Hey Aphelion, how do you manage to get the hovertext on the image in your sig?
D:
I hate it when that happens. It's driven me to write everything in a word document, compulsively saving it every sentence or so. Best of luck on the resurrection.
Ru gazed across the clear landscape, scattered trees leading the way to the abandoned town. Although the town of Misala now lay in obvious ruin, signs that the once bustling town had life in it once more could be seen. Small tendrils of smoke could be seen rising above the walls, and figures could be seen wandering outside. With a half smile, Albec, one of the guards travelling with the small caravan Ru had attached himself to handed over a few silvers.
**"Seems others followed that fool rumor to the middle of nowhere. Wonder if that supposed employer came too. Either way, there's more than enough for Deran to profit off of, so it makes no difference to me."** Ru and Albec chatted some more as the overgrown palisade drew nearer. Eventually, they returned to a debate they'd had since the little party had set off.
Albec initiated the debate. **"So, you still think that mysterious employer's offering 25 Sovereigns for *each* participant? 'Cause with the amount of potential employees that have shown up, no one but a noble house is going to be able to afford that, and what kind of noble would hire the sort of ruffians that follow rumors like this?"**
**"Looking to win some of that money back?"** Ru chuckled, jingling the silvers he'd won. Albec had bet that they'd find the town still abandoned. He was a rather pessimistic one, though most former soldiers Ru had met were. If they did find the place bustling, and Deran made good sale on the alcohols he'd brought out, Albec would feel the benefits. **"This *mysterious* employer of mine has asked specifically for mages, or so the rumor goes. It's not impossible to find mages for hire discretely in the undercity. So why not just use one of those? Why bring us out here, and why *bring so many?*"** Ru's voice became more intense as his brief monologue continued. That had been a large part of the reason he had come to the middle of nowhere. It just didn't make sense unless something big was going to happen, and if something was going to happen, Ru figured he may as well be at the center of the action. At the very least, life should be interesting.
They continued walking on in silence for some time, coming to through the busted gates, and were about to part ways when Albec broke the silence. **"20 silver says it's 25 Sovereigns for all of you, not each. And if it is for each, and this is as big as you thing...I'll be happy to give it to you if we make it out of this alive. Something doesn't seem right about this."**
**"And if I survive this job, I'll be happy to pay it back."** Ru replied with a smile and a wave, heading off towards the town center, where smoke could be seen rising above the ruins. Before long, he came across a group scattered around a fire. For the most part, they were unremarkable humans, generally looking like Ru himself. There were, however, two obvious oddities. The first was a green clad elf looked slightly cramped sitting on the edge of a log several of them seemed to be using as a bench. Ru liked to think himself of average height, at least for a human, but he had a feeling the elf would be able to tower over him. The other was another human, wearing a set of rather horrifying armor, whose face was obscured by the helmet. The armored one seemed rather tense, as if expecting a trap to be sprung at any second. Not surprising, considering how hard the paladins had been hunting mages. There would certainly be a response, with all the rumors floating around. Hopefully not too soon.
**"So!"** Ru exclaimed, seating himself on the other of death-armor, a few feet away **"Does anyone know whether this mysterious employer of ours is paying us 25 Sovereigns each, or we all get to fight over a pot, 'cause *I've* got a bet to win."** He thought for a moment before adding. **"Does anyone happen to know who this mysterious employer of ours *is* for that matter?"**
Yay people. How many do you want before starting Laue?
**Image: ** [His face](http://imgur.com/wPJIUkt.png). 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.
**Image: ** [His face](http://imgur.com/wPJIUkt.png). 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.
Was about to post. Didn't realize the update changed how formatting worked, but I'm too tired to fix everything at the moment, so will do so after I catch some sleep. Until then, I bid you all a good night / morning / evening / whatever.
Should have a CS posted later this weekend once I'm back on a computer and stable network.
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