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.*