Wick (Chibiloft)

First introduced in Quoth the Raven Issue 28 as a character in the Chibiloft comics. Wick is a human Wizard and Wizard of High Sorcery from Krynn. For several reasons, he has no desire to return to the Prime Material Plane.

Krynn

Wick was born on the continent of Ansalon on the world of Krynn in the year 337 AC. The son of a married couple of mercenaries, he spent his early childhood travelling with his parents from one job to another, and learning swordplay from his parents. More than anything else, he wanted to become a swordsman like his mother and father, so they could all live and work together.

Wick's childhood dream was shattered when the little family met a Wizard on the road. The old man tested Wick, seemingly on a whim, and declared that he might be able to become a Wizard of High Sorcery if he received the required education and applied himself. From this point on, Wick's parents (who wished a better future for him than endless travel from one fight to another) saved every coin they made to sponsor their beloved son's education. Though Wick was reluctant, he kept his doubts to himself and studied hard, so as to honour his beloved parents' wishes and effort.

After thirteen years of study and effort, Wick was allowed to take the Test of High Sorcery at the Tower of Wayreth. He managed to pass his Test without being permanently crippled, was inducted into the Order of the Red Robes, and received the magical silver dagger Silverwolf as a graduation gift. Because the dagger was presented to him with the remark that it would 'replace the sword he must now give up forever', Wick was less than fond of the weapon and largely ignored it instead of familiarize himself with its full power. He dearly wished to go see his parents to share his success with them, but his elders in the Order bid him stay at the Tower; Wick had a rare knack for Conjuration, and they wished for him to conduct high-level research and develop new spells for the glory of the Order and in devotion to Lunitari. Again, to honour his parents' hopes for him, Wick acquiesced.

Eight years later, Wick met a member of the Order of the Black Robes at the Tower. The Evil Wizard was openly wearing a necklace Wick recognized as belonging to his father. When he questioned the Black Robe, the man gleefully admitted to killing 'two broken-down old mercenaries' and looting their corpses, after they had stood in his way while doing the work of Takhisis.

The laws of High Sorcery forbade violence between members of the Orders while at the Towers, which were common ground. In his grief and rage, Wick deliberately broke those laws as he drew Silverwolf and stabbed the Black Robe to death before the man could cast a single spell. Rather than face the judgment of his brothers and sisters in the Order, Wick cast one of the Conjuration spells they had him ordered him to create, and fled to a different world: Toril.

Toril

At first, Wick was delighted by Toril. He appreciated how this new world had no taboo about wizards carrying and wielding swords. Again ignoring the potency of Silverwolf, Wick reacquainted himself with the use of a longsword while he travelled and studied. Toril also had many exciting forms of arcane magic for Wick to study, and he happily partook of what seemed to him almost a paradise after the unhappiness and loss he had suffered on Krynn.

Twenty-nine years passed, and Wick had grown quite powerful. He had made cautious overtures to Lunitari over the years, seeking her forgiveness for breaking the rules of High Sorcery, but he came to appreciate and eventually worship Mystra during his stay on Toril. When he found himself in Aglarond and received an invitation from one of Mystra's Chosen, the (in)famous Sorceress known as the Simbul, he went without hesitation. First to Wick's confusion and then to his horror, the Simbul offered Wick a position as one of the Chosen of Mystra, 'so he might embody and promote magic above all other things forever'. Seeing the offer as nothing but another attempt to steal his agency from him and deny him the freedom he wanted, Wick loudly cursed both Lunitari and Mystra and frantically cast the same spell that had brought him to Toril.

Perhaps due to Wick's act of blasphemy just before he cast the spell, the magic delivered him to a place where neither goddess could directly touch him: the Demiplane of Dread...

Demiplane of Dread

When the Mists cleared, Wick found himself on a lonely road in Barovia. The instant his boots touched the ground, the silver dagger Silverwolf shattered in its sheath.

Standing next to Wick was a woman he would come to know as Slice. Running towards him was a girl, Comoară, with some thuggish-looking people after her. Had he but known it, but Wick was about to become a member of the Chibiloft Crew.

On the whole, Wick has been fairly well-pleased with the latest turn his life has taken. He once again has the freedom of the roads, and the two goddesses who he blames for twisting his life away from what he wished it to be apparently cannot touch him in the Demiplane. He has even found romantic love with his teammate Aubert. While Wick has resumed his worship of his two patrons, he has made it clear that he does not wish to face them again until he has died.

Wick's main quibble with his current life is that team leader Slice frequently orders him to keep his sword sheathed and focus on using magic in combat. He refuses to acknowledge that old age has robbed him of much of his strength and dulled his reflexes, believing that he can more than compensate for this with some simple Transmutation-spells. Regrettably, Slice's insight is keener than his in this respect.

After Wick discovered that Silverwolf had been shattered, he somehow acquired a supply of black mithral and blended it and the dagger's silver into a unique alloy, out of which he forged a longsword he named Leadenwolf. This second act of blasphemy against the rules of the Orders of High Sorcery caused Wick to fail a Powers check; the skin of his face has become dark and shrivelled, and he can generate supernatural fear in those who behold him once a day. Wick has taken the change in stride, insofar as he even cares to acknowledge it.

Secret

Wick is ignorantly flirting with damnation. Lunitari was not responsible for his decision to mutely honour his parents' wishes, rather than speak up; Wick swore his oaths to the Orders of High Sorcery of his own accord, then grossly and repeatedly violated them. Mystra extended an invitation, one with hidden meanings and burdens, but the old Wizard could have simply refused, rather than cursing the goddess and hurling himself into the Demiplane. Even his supposed worship of the two goddesses is little more than a calculated act of appeasement, meant to keep them out of his life, rather than an honest attempt at apology.

Path of Corruption

Wick has entered into the Path of the Pharaoh. Associated transgressions:

• 1. Blasphemy against his oath as a Wizard of High Sorcery by reforging the dagger Silverwolf into the longsword Leadenwolf and wielding it.

Statistics

True Neutral male human Illusionist / Wizard of High Sorcery (Red Robes) (Opposition schools: Abjuration, Enchantment (3rd), Necromancy.)

Alternate interpretation

If one accepts the reality of Madego, Wick could be - or be represented by - a Chi-Folken. If he is Chi-Folken, his past on Krynn and Toril would be personal false history, as he has been created out of the Mists.