The Thief

The Thief is one of the main classes of Ruby Caverns. He has both a strong endgame and starting game, and with his gold and treasure bonuses he is almost guaranteed to have stable extra's during a run.

However, when not dealt with carefully, his abilities will be either be useless, or fail to help. Any reckless move, no matter how tempting, can be his downfall.

**Backstory**

The sly Thief rapidly turned the pages of an immaculately crafted spell book, amazed by the eldritch writings contained within it, but also mystified by its mere existence: wasn't magic ruled out ages ago? This must have come from an incredibly ancient era...

“So, how much is it?", he asked the Dark Sorcerer, trying to hide his interest.

“A stack of gold", the Sorcerer answered, in a tone that strongly suggested that now was not the time for bargaining.

The Thief thought about the offer for a while. This was a lot of gold. But for a spell book of this quality, and this antique? If what the Sorcerers had said was true, this spell would allow him to quickly warp to the exit of any building; an invaluable tool that would surely guarantee the success of his… project. With this in mind, the Thief let out a soft, but confident:

“Deal."

And so, armed with his delicate stone dagger and his new spell, he opened the hatch in the Imperial Palace’s roof, and saw what he was looking for: the Prince’s Three Golden Amulets. Covered in precious jewels and metals, he immediately knew that just one of these artifacts would instantly repay the cost of his expensive spell book.

It seemed odd that not a soul was present to guard these wonderful treasures; well, it was only going to make his job easier.

He quickly snatched the three amulets and began his incantation to escape the building.

In the blink of an eye, he found himself at the exit gate of the Palace, with his newly acquired treasures well kept in his pockets. This must have been the easiest heist of his life.

Or so he thought.

“This is the man that Sorcerer warned us about! Don’t let him escape!”, said one of the guards, with the sound of a thousand swords being drawn at once as an answer to his war cry.

The Thief ran away from the garrison across a gigantic maze of streets, which he knew like the back of his hand, and eventually found refuge in a dark and damp cave, already far from the city suburbs.

He was safe for now… But getting out of this place was clearly not an option. Not with the guards looking frantically for him (and for the amulets, still well kept on his person).

“This could have been the heist of the century”, he thought, with his heart beating rapidly against the cold stone floor.

Catching his breath, he lit up a torch... nothing could have prepared him for what he saw next.

Inlaid within the walls, beautiful red gems covered every possible surface. Rubies.

What was this place? It seemed untouched for hundreds, maybe thousands of years... why did nobody ever find this place? He had heard about a place, where it was said that a God was laid to rest... but naturally, he didn't believe it. Could it be?

This was the Ruby Caverns, the Holy Grail sought after by all thieves of the city. The ultimate challenge. A legend known from the lowliest highwayman to the bravest warrior... or the stealthiest spy. The Emerald Medal could be found here, deep beneath the surface of the Earth, and any person who would manage to grasp it and return to the surface with it would find themselves the holder of power and riches beyond mortal imaginings. The Thief imagined how the Medal was a billion more times valuable than all three Amulets combined, how his new abilities would allow him to force the garrison to kneel before him and how he could become the new Prince.

Perhaps the Thief lacked the strength of the Warrior. Or the wisdom of the Mage. But the Thief was convinced that with his limitless persistence, he would be the one to bring the Medal out of the Ruby Caverns. And while he may get wounded on his way there, he knew that every floor he would descend would be bringing him closer to victory. That mere thought was enough to make him feel invincible. For just a second, he even felt like his body was made from the gold he craved so badly, rendering him invulnerable to any blows he would receive during his descent.

With a smile across his face, the Thief stepped onto the ladder, beginning his journey within the Ruby Caverns. But what he was trying to find... ended up being his greatest curse.

**Abilities**

 Persistent
 Amulet
 Shady Spell

**Strategy**

The Thief is highly susceptible to chance: when there are no yellow boxes, an occurrence that isn't unlikely, all amulets become instantly useless. The extra gold can still be used in shops, when unlocked, but this yields more limited treasure, but also extra things like food. Since his abilities largely depend on the Gold he finds, it is highly recommended to unlock at least one Shop before trying to win with him. It should be noted that a lot of treasure boxes, however, can be a trap: try to get as many high tier treasure as possible, instead of wasting it on lower tier, as higher tier is guaranteed to be better early and later.

The Persistent ability, together with the shady spell, give an opportunity to quickly travel to bosses and defeat them first, to get items and resources: while this is not recommended, it can be an excellent strategy for panic situations and wanting to spare food; something that is also boosted by the yellow hearts which cause the player to not lose saturation before a few hits have been taken.

In the end, the Thief can be really good, but if the yellow hearts, the unique Spell and the helpful amulets are wasted, the potential quickly vanishes.