Ruby, the Instigator

**Ruby, the Instigator** is a character in *Disco Elysium*.

## Background

**SPOILER WARNING:** Plot details for the main story follow. (Skip)

Prior to her employment with the Dockworkers' Union, Ruby worked for La Puta Madre, a crime syndicate operating out of Revachol West. While her experience proved useful for Evrart Claire and the Union, for whom she ran a drug trafficking operation, this put her in direct competition with her La Puta Madre, and made her paranoid. Because of this, she dyed her hair regularly and refused to tell others her name.

She became acquainted with Klaasje Amandou when she arrived in Martinaise, and hoped to convince Klaasje to leave town with her, as the two both had pasts they were attempting to outrun. However, these plans were abandoned once Klaasje's lover was killed. Ruby helped Klaasje suspend the man by his neck in order to fake lividity that would be consistent with a hanging, and accompanied the Hardie boys when they strung him up in the tree behind the Whirling-in-Rags.

Ruby had modified the shortwave radio in her lorry to coordinate shipments for Terminal B's drug trafficking operation, as well as to listen in on the RCM's frequency. Discovering that Harrier Du Bois (whom she believed was a La Puta Madre agent) would be travelling to Martinaise, she fled to the Coastal Shack in the Fishing Village, where she planned to kill herself with the 9mm bullet she had hidden under the floorboards, but ultimately decided against it. While Harry was in Martinaise investigating the hanged man's murder, Ruby hid out under the Feld building and built a pale latitude compressor with knowledge gleaned from a former girlfriend who worked in a repeater station.

## Involvement

Harry may initially learn of Ruby's involvement during The Jam Mystery if he agrees to look into the drug smuggling operation for Joyce Messier, but will not know her name until he has spoken to Klaasje. Ruby entrusted Tommy Le Homme with the key to her lorry in order to prevent it being broken into (and potentially searched) if the traffic jam began moving again while she was gone. If Harry forces Tommy to assist with the investigation, he will hand over the key so that Harry may search the vehicle, otherwise he can smash the window with the prybar.

Once Harry makes note of the number of boot prints near the hanged man's body (Visual Calculus check) and questions Titus Hardie about the extra set of tracks, Glen speaks of a prospective "eighth Hardie boy" they thought of hiring on.

After learning Ruby's name from Klaasje, Harry proves his authority to Titus and makes him give up Ruby's location.

Harry looks for Ruby on the coast and asks about her in the village, where he speaks to the Washerwoman who is relatively well-acquainted with Ruby. He informs her of the bullet under the floorboards of the Coastal Shack, and of Ruby's "exit plan" if things went wrong, and she points him toward the Feld building, where he is presented with a White Shivers Check. Succeeding allows Harry to enter the basement of the building, while failing brings him back to the village to work with the Children of the Big Sea.

While on his way to confront Ruby, Harry and his partner, Kim Kitsuragi, are caught in Ruby's pale latitude compressor and physically incapacitated. Upon talking to the detectives, Ruby is shocked to learn that she has not only been betrayed by Titus, but also framed for murder by Klaasje. Harry destroys the pale compressor, and Ruby puts her pistol in her mouth, believing that there is no other way out. With a successful Red Rhetoric Check, Ruby may be convinced not to shoot herself, and flees Martinaise. If the check is unsuccessful, Ruby dies.

**SPOILERS END HERE**. (Return)

## References

KIM KITSURAGI – "What colour hair?"

TOMMY LE HOMME – "Blue and violet, dyed." He answers reluctantly. "It was violet when she got here. Blue before she went."
RUBY, THE INSTIGATOR – "You've been to my lorry. You think the biggest player in Jamrock appreciates competition?"
YOU – "Who is this person. What's her name?"

TOMMY LE HOMME – "Thank god I \*don't know\*. People here call her 'the lady driver.' She kept her name a secret. From me, too. Now I see why."
KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) – "She said she's in love with me. She even asked me to run away with her, when I told her I'm a fugitive. She started developing... \*notions\* about our relationship."
YOU – "She said you wanted to run... away with her."

RUBY, THE INSTIGATOR – "That's a very sentimental way of putting it. We both had \*pasts\* we didn't want to catch up with us. And we enjoyed listening to music together. Why not go on a road trip?"

KIM KITSURAGI – The lieutenant watches her expectantly, occasionally shaking from the pain.

RUBY, THE INSTIGATOR – "Okay, fine." She rolls her eyes. "I was into her. Klaasje was into me too, for a time, I know it -- we even fooled around once. And, yeah, after that I thought maybe we could make a go of it."
KIM KITSURAGI – "For contacting an entire fleet of lorrymen, for example." He flicks a switch on the radio. "This is all shortwave, UW and UKV..."

KIM KITSURAGI – "Looks like we're dealing with an impressive organizational tool -- the nerve centre of a huge operation. With quite the range too."
KIM KITSURAGI – "I'm not sure what the ULAN frequencies are all about, but they may hold some significance. Perhaps it's a better way to connect between fleets while avoiding frequency bleed, or maybe it's used to tap into RCM networks..."

HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] – Listening in on your calls? Between you and your station? A worrying prospect...
YOU – "If you didn't kill him... why hide?"

RUBY, THE INSTIGATOR – "I saw \*you\* roll into town. I wasn't about to stick around for questioning by a goddamn La Puta Madre agent."
RUBY, THE INSTIGATOR – "A pale latitude compressor is used to sort of... make the pale more manageable. With a lot of these, you can force a radio signal grid on the pale -- literally crunch the distance across it."

RUBY, THE INSTIGATOR – "Signals are relayed across a series of repeater stations fixed to buoys." She pauses. "Not a fun job, manning those stations. All alone out there in the pale, people lose their minds in just a few years."

EMPATHY [Legendary: Success] – Sounds like she knew someone who used to man one of those stations. But she won't tell you about her. Boy, you're one empathetic police officer to have guessed even that right now.
YOU – "I found eight sets of footprints, but there's only seven of you... Where is the eighth Hardie boy?"

TITUS HARDIE – "What are you talkin' about, madman? There's no eighth Hardie boy. There's seven of us and we're all here." He sizes you up.

TITUS HARDIE – "Or what -- \*you\* want to be the eighth Hardie boy? We ain't hiring!" He shakes his head.

GLEN – "Actually, boss, we've been talking and we think she could maybe..."

REACTION SPEED [Easy: Success] – Hmmm... \*She\*? So there is an eighth Hardie and it's a Hardie girl?
YOU – "Klaasje said... you seemed to have a plan... prepared when you got there."

RUBY, THE INSTIGATOR – "What? No. Faking a lynching was her idea."

HALF LIGHT – She looks shaken. She wasn't surprised to be ratted out -- but \*framed\*?