Wick has one resource, and it is also his life. The red orb in the status panel is his blood: his health, the price of his forms and the fuel of his gifts. The blue orb beside it is his mana, the dark he carries, spent on his powers. There is no other currency in the game. Nothing drops coins. Nothing sells potions.
The two orbs
- Blood
- health. Drains slowly on its own, about 0.004 of the orb a second, and with every blow taken.
- Mana
- the dark he carries. Refills by itself at 0.02 of the orb a second.
- At zero blood
- Wick falls. The voice below brings him back. See Death.
- Low blood
- under a quarter, he says so, and the flock warns before a take-off.
How to feed
Feeding is the Interact button, never the strike.
- Get close to blood: a body, a fount, a downed or held man. A gold FEED prompt shows while blood he may drink is in reach and his orb is low enough to want it.
- Press Interact to start. He roots where he stands and the blood comes to him through the air.
- Hold it to keep drinking. Let go, or be struck, and the drink stops.
- Over a beaten boss the prompt reads DRINK, and it works whatever his blood. That is how the bat is taken from Andrevel.
Every verb except moving plants Wick in place, and feeding is the longest plant in the game. Never start a drink with a group close by. Clear first, drink after.
The sources
| Source | What it gives | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A slain human | about half an orb, until drained | a body stays a source until it is dry |
| A stunned or dying human | blood, while it lasts | the cleanest meal in a fight is the man you just stunned |
| The bat’s bite | 0.3 of the orb from a lone body, 0.4 from one in company | see the bite, below |
| Fonts | fixed, slowly refilling | the churchyard font is the first; some fonts are tainted |
| The haven’s rivers | resting on the throne restores him | each killed house’s river thins, each spared house’s runs dry |
| The council’s channel | one river of the city’s own | on the merciful path, so a sparing Wick is never starved |
| Townsfolk | blood, at a price the city remembers | never his mother; never children |
| A downed boss | a full orb, when drunk | Andrevel, the Penitent, Ambry |
Dry bones. There is nothing here to drink.
The undead have no blood. Skeletons, the risen and anything that has been in the ground give nothing. Fight them for the road, not for the meal.
The bite
Once he has the bat, its one attack is the latch-and-drain: a shriek, a lunge onto the nearest foe, wings wrapped round him like a cloak, and the blood pumped out.
| Foe | What the bite does |
|---|---|
| A lone common man (no other foe within 96 px) | drained in 0.9 s for 0.3 of the orb, safely |
| A man in company | drained in 1.7 to 2.3 s for 0.4 of the orb, but while latched Wick cannot move and every blow lands at 1.5x |
| The bloodless dead | bitten and shaken off: 0.4 s, a dry rattle, thrown back and dazed |
| Lieutenants and heads | thrown off at once, hurled back and open to a blow |
Alone, they go quickly. Never let them gather.
The bite is superb on the man at the back and ruinous in a crowd: three men on him through one slow drain cost as much blood as the drain gives. The bat run in the King’s garden teaches it on purpose: the gardeners work one to a walk, never two together. Spend blood on the straight, eat at the end of it.
Feeding on the town
He may feed on the townsfolk of the gutter. The game lets him, and the city keeps the account.
- The ward’s lantern gutters where he fed.
- The washerwomen’s talk turns to fear. They say “Wick” and lower their voices.
- The watch adds a patrol.
- Fewer people come to the great feast in the church later on: the crowd is thinner by every townsman he drank.
- His friends notice. The hunter says it once. The outlaws of the Greenwood remember who.
They found a man bled white in the lane last week. I’ll say it once, Wick. Not the poor.
His mother cannot be fed on: the prompt never appears on her, and the voice below remarks on it once. Children are never prey, anywhere.
Mana: the dark he carries
The blue orb pays for his powers and refills on its own. Nothing he owns refills it while he spends it: every power costs more than it ever gives back.
- Beam (B)
- 0.25. A hit gives 30% back, so a hit costs 0.175.
- Stun burst (tap C)
- 0.35.
- Bend Will (hold C)
- 0.30.
- The scythe’s swing
- 0.12 a swing; its tangling spin 0.25.
- Gifts
- 0.30 to 0.35 a cast. See Gifts of the Dead.
The powers themselves are in Arms and the Kit.
Blood that other things cost
| What | Cost |
|---|---|
| The bat’s dash | about 0.008 of the orb a second, on a long straight |
| The crows’ take-off | 0.06 of the orb each time the flock rises; nothing in flight |
| A kneeling foe (Bend Will’s kneel order) | 5% of his orb’s maximum, held until that house falls |
| The armed dead | their upkeep, and his own blood once the mana is dry |
| Dying | part of what he carried, left where he fell. See Death |
| Acid (the Assayer’s works) | 3% of his blood a second while he wades it |
| The tide (Focalor’s gift) | blood to enter running water |
Sealed · Mid-gameTainted bloodBreak the seal to read
Some sources are tainted. The cup in the orphanage is the first you will meet: a fount that gives less than its due. Zagan’s gift, transmutation, makes a tainted source clean again, and turns a living foe’s blood to poison; a poisoned corpse still feeds Wick, but at half, and everyone near it sickens while he drinks. In the King’s hall, while the King’s cup is raised, every drop of blood in the room is wine: nothing feeds, nothing can be turned. Feed on his rhythm.
Sealed · Mid-gameWhere the rivers goBreak the seal to read
A killed house’s river thins because its tithe has become an offering: it flows uphill now, to the saint’s church. A spared house’s river runs dry because nobody is taking anything at all. The council’s channel, on the merciful path, is blood freely given: the tithe’s opposite. At the very end, only what Wick took himself still flows into the hall.
Habits that keep him alive
- Drink after the fight, not during it, unless the man is alone.
- Stun, then feed. The stun burst freezes a group; drink the nearest frozen man.
- Count the room before the bite. One body: bite. Two or more: the sword.
- Use fonts on the way in, not on the way out.
- Rest on the throne whenever you pass the haven. It is free and it saves.
- Keep a quarter before the flock rises. The toll eats what is there.
- Never wade acid for long. It burns 3% a second.
- Skip the dead. Bones have nothing for you.
- Leave the town alone if you want a full church and a friend at the tavern.
- Go back for what you left. Your blood lies where you fell, until you die again.