Wick wakes strong. He does not grind for power: the gifts he takes add verbs, not bigger numbers. What he carries from the first step is a full kit, and this chapter is its manual.
The controls
| Verb | Keys | Xbox pad | PlayStation | Touch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Move | WASD or arrows | left stick, d-pad | left stick, d-pad | the floating stick |
| Strike (the chain; hold for the spin; hold on a beaten head for the blow) | Z, Space, J | A | Cross | STRIKE |
| Interact (talk, read, open, pull; drink) | E | Y | Triangle | USE |
| Beam; lead a beaten head; take a witness | X, K | B | Circle | BEAM |
| Stun burst (tap) / Bend Will (hold) | C, L | X | Square | C |
| Run (held); run and strike lunges | Shift | RB or RT | R1 or R2 | RUN |
| Swap weapons (tap) / the wheel (hold) | Q | right stick click | R3 | SWAP |
| The bat / the crows | B / V | LT / LB | L2 / L1 | BAT / CROW |
| The ledger | N | left stick click | L3 | BOOK |
Since the v67 build, the strike is only ever a blow, and Interact is only ever a word, a door or a drink. Standing by blood and pressing A swings the sword.
The weapons
He starts with two, so the swap and the wheel are live from the first step.
| Weapon | How he gets it | The chain: pace / damage | Reach | Its move |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The sword | his own, from the start | 1 / 1 / 1, then 1 / 1 / 2 | 15 to 18 px | the spin: hold A, let go, hits all round him (radius 30) |
| The axe | from the start | .75 / .75 / .6, damage 2 / 2 / 3 | 16 to 19 px, wide | the ground cleave: a wider spin (40) that bites again and throws everyone back |
| The scythe | after the Earl, whatever the Tower’s fate | .8 / .8 / .65, damage 1 / 1 / 2 | 22 to 27 px, widest | the tangle: every swing costs 0.12 mana; every foe it hits is hauled toward the blade’s point and stunned. Its spin tangles everyone toward him for 0.25 mana |
| The halberd | a find, not a reward: by default in the Tower’s armoury, before the Earl TBD: the exact spot | .85 / .85 / .7, damage 1 / 1 / 3 | long | the haft-sweep: slow, wide arc, a long shove |
The sword is the scale every other weapon is measured against. Pace above 1 is faster than the sword; below 1 is slower.
- The sword for a duel with anything that has a tell. It is the cleanest read.
- The axe when you are surrounded and can afford the slower chain. The cleave throws the ring back and buys a breath.
- The scythe for a crowd you want held still: tangle, stun, then feed on the frozen. Watch the blue orb: no mana, no swing.
- The halberd for keeping a line at arm’s length. The shove is long.
The swap and the wheel
- Tap SWAP and the next weapon is in his hand at once: no pause, no menu, mid-combo too. The next blow is the new weapon’s.
- Hold SWAP a quarter of a second and the wheel opens over the darkened field: the weapons he owns in a ring. Time slows to a quarter; it never stops. Point and let go to take one up. Let go without pointing, or press B, and nothing changes.
- The weapon in hand is carved beside the spell slot in the panel, and its name hangs over his head after a swap.
- SWAP does nothing during a scene, a form, a held thread or a death.
Sealed · Mid-gameThe arms of mercyBreak the seal to read
Every head Wick spares gives him something of his own instead of a gift from below: a weapon class with its own chain. The names and moves are the design’s working answers and may change TBD.
| Arm | From sparing | Its signature | Chain: pace / damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake-chain | the Empress | the whirl: the widest spin (40); the chain drags | 1 / .9 / .7, damage 1 / 1 / 2 |
| Crozier | the High Priestess | the long reach (26 to 30), a narrow arc | 1.05 / 1.05 / .8, damage 1 / 1 / 2 |
| Setting-maul | the Magician | the setting blow: heaviest, slowest, throws foes far back. Out of reach while the Lord President cannot be spared TBD | .6 / .6 / .5, damage 2 / 2 / 4 |
| Cane-sword | the Wheel | the quick draw: fast and short | 1.3 / 1.3 / 1.15, damage 1 / 1 / 2 |
| Carving knives | the Sun | the carve: fastest, shortest, no shove | 1.6 / 1.6 / 1.4, damage 1 / 1 / 1 |
| Grave-hook | the hunter, if he lives | the pull: the last blow hooks the foe toward him | .9 / .9 / .8, damage 1 / 1 / 2 |
The first two heads, the Earl and the Lord President, cannot be spared (see The Rites), so the merciful path’s arsenal is built from the other four houses and the hunter. With all of them spared he owns nine weapons, and the wheel spreads them clockwise from the top.
The innate kit
Three powers come with him from the grave, paid from the blue orb. Each has a room where it fails: there is no power in this game that works everywhere.
The beam (B)
- Cost
- 0.25 mana. A hit refunds 30%.
- Reach
- 120 px along his facing, from his casting hand.
- Damage
- 2.
- Stops
- at the first body in its line. It does not pierce.
- Fails
- on the Earl’s iron circle; over running water; inside a saint’s light in the Bishop’s nave; it passes under anything flying.
The beam is a bone-white line in cold blue, instant. Aim matters: a miss refunds nothing. A line of foes is the spin’s work, not the beam’s.
The stun burst (tap C)
- Cost
- 0.35 mana.
- Wind-up
- 0.35 s, planted, hand raised. A blow taken in it breaks the burst: nothing spent, nothing stunned.
- Radius
- every hostile body within 44 px.
- Hold
- commons 1.6 s, lieutenants 0.8 s, heads 0.5 s.
- Fails
- on bosses, and on anyone a rite drives itself.
Every foe in the ring freezes in its pose, three stars over its head, and any blow already coming is spoiled. It does no damage. It is the opener for everything: stun, then strike; stun, then feed.
Bend Will (hold C)
- Cost
- 0.30 mana.
- The hold
- keep C down 0.35 s and the red thread is thrown instead of the burst.
- Takes
- a human or a low foe, until it dies. Cutting the thread kills.
- Slides off
- anyone who knows. Heads, the Bishop, the priest.
Your will? Mine.
He throws a red thread tied to the heart. A bound creature is his to drive: walk a guard into his fellows, open a door from the inside, fetch a key, bring a victim to him. A thrall can walk to other screens of the same region, never out of it. A tap of C cuts the thread.
The kneel order. A bound human can also be ordered to kneel and hold. A kneeling foe is alive, counts as fallen in a rite, and is freed, remembering nothing, when that house falls. Each one holds 5% of his blood orb’s maximum until then. Mercy costs him capacity, not just time. It is how the Duchess’s wards can fall without one child dying.
Bend Will is how you find out who is in on it. The thread slides off anyone who knows what the season is for. The sharp player learns the cast by trying.
Moving
- Walk
- 58 px a second, eight directions.
- Run
- 96 px a second while held. Outruns every foot soldier.
- Run and strike
- a lunge. Otherwise every verb plants him.
Running costs nothing. It does not hide him: nothing in the game hunts by sound except where a house’s rule says so.
The held blow
A head of house, beaten, kneels and asks. Hold the strike on a beaten head in reach and the killing blow is given: a distinct, slow animation, never the plain strike. The beam button on a beaten head leads them away instead, under his hand, to the pillory. On a lieutenant, the strike kills and the beam takes a witness. Everyone else just dies.
The blow is the subject of The Rites.
