Vickers

Vickers (Made with HeroForge)

Templar who's a member of Addie's graduating class. He was sent by Simon to investigate Denver in the aftermath of Anne's (Toussaint's) exit to Mexico. With Unity control in flux, a creature known as a mist fiend, as well as a being known as "The Swarm" added to the chaos by slaughtering Unity forces en masse. Vickers found himself heavily wounded by The Swarm's foot soldiers, and was soon rescued by the New Wells Six.

## History

### Arc 9: The Goat, The Witch, and The Warden

Vickers returned to Boise not long before Daphne Dumnar, who was carrying Brad Modeen's threat to Simon. He bumped into Addie as she went to investigate the disturbance at the Temple, teasing her for how long it took her to recognize him. He had been trained as a Templar and knighted alongside Addie. He hadn't been seen in Boise for a while, and mentioned Simon had had him on scouting duty for the past week. He commented that he'd been looking into old gang haunts, and there was some sort of operation out East that was...on fire. Addie didn't press him on the details, the two making their way to meet with Simon and figure out what the roughed-up woman who'd arrived wanted with him.

After receiving the details about Brad's message and his activities, Simon told Addie he needed as many Templars in town as he could get, and asked that River remain in Boise with him and Vickers. Before leaving the Temple, Addie asked Vickers if he was confident he could hold up in town. He told her he'd manage, that he'd rather be there then fighting Modeen and his people, and that the wasn't fond of killing his classmates, unlike River. Addie in turn asked him to watch River's back while she was gone, and he gave her his word.

Vickers helped defend Boise against Combine troops alongside Simon and River while the NW6 were gone. Upon their returns, the group found him warding off undead with black hat soldiers arriving on the outskirts. Vickers greeted Addie when when all their enemies are downed.

The next day, during the ceremony to honor the Templars who fell to Brad, Vickers walked with Jo to carry a pair of ceremonial tabards from the Temple to the center of town. There, they burned them on a large bonfire as a send-off.

### Arc 13: Denver

In the time after Toussaint left for Mexico, Addie feared Denver would fall into disorder without his presence. She asked Simon to monitor Denver, and Vickers was sent to keep an eye on the city. Denver's state declined without the Unity's leader, with various factions springing up and getting in conflict with one another. Vickers, with the aid of two Agency agents, gathered information on the state of the city.

During this time, people began popping up dead in the streets, drained of blood. The cause unknown, Vickers went to investigate at Denver's Agency building along with Unity and Resistance members. He found files on a creature called a mist fiend: a vampiric being that fed off fear and blood, it had been a prisoner in the building for some time before the bombs dropped. It had woken after its cryogenic stasis was broken, and fed on the outcasts and wanderers of the city for years. With the Unity trying to restore order and take away its food source, the creature was forced to hunt outside its normal boundaries.

As Vickers was getting this information from the Agency's archives, he also came across another sinister secret: the Swarm. The Swarm was a project started by Nazi scientists in World War II: tiny machines that consumed all matter and were made to kill. They were the first nano-bot prototype, and Nazi scientists put on ice and thawed out by Throckmorton look to have recreated it. He found in the files that the creature was wicked enough that blessed powers could be used against it.

It was then, during this scouting mission, that the Swarm made its move. The Unity soldiers and Resistance members were backstabbed by infiltrators: Gale Glover and Lindsey Brewer. The Swarm moved in, and Vickers was attacked by the being's nano-bots. The stings caused him to bleed internally and rapidly age. It was by will of the Saints or pure luck Vickers was able to lock himself away to wait for help.

While in the midst of this conflict, and left without any good options, Vickers prayed to Simon for help. With Baphomet's insidious presence unable to influence Templar powers any longer, Vickers found his prayers answered: he was able to send a psychic message for help to Simon. It would be a few short days before he could confirm Simon heard him.

On September 4th, 2096, the New Wells 6 rushed into the Denver Agency building. After a brief struggle with a Swarm-possessed Gale and the being's roach-like minions, River followed Vicker's message to his hiding place. Finding him weak and bleeding out, she used her healing to stabilize him and called Addie for backup. Addie followed close behind and used her own healing to mend all his physical wounds. However, the lasting damage of the swarm was done: Vickers appeared as if he'd aged 20 years.

Relieved to be out of danger, at least for the time being, Vickers revealed to his fellow Templars what he'd found about the Swarm and the mist fiend from the Agency files. He reveals he found a blessed litany that could be used by Templars to help lock down the being, though it needs to be read accurately. He also tells Addie and River his fears that the mist fiend could be working with the Swarm, and that his Agency contacts, Hank and Harley, are in danger.

Addie carried Vickers out of the building and to the group's temporary resting camp. Vickers refused Addie's request for him to leave Denver and rest, saying he had to finish what he started, and helped Addie learn to read the litany's Latin.

After a brief period of rest, the group was interrupted by John Conner's voice over speakers, telling everyone in Denver that the HI factories had been overrun and all residents of Denver needed to head to the Saint Vrain nuclear plant and bring weapons. Vickers commented that the voice definitely sounded like John, and last he checked the Swarm had taken on the HI industries. It appeared they'd won that battle. He went with the group as they headed off toward Saint Vrain.

Vickers also accompanied the party during their return to the Agency building and journey into the old reeducation center. When Addie nearly got overrun by the Swarm near the entrance, Vickers recited the litany and got them to back off, allowing for Levy to use her metal manipulation on the creatures in their weakened state. He followed Addie's lead through the building, helping her rescue another stranded Templar by stunning the Swarm as before.

When the group made it into Saint Vrain, Vickers helped them combat the Swarm's soldiers and protect the Resistance fighters.

### Arc 14

Shortly after the Swarm's defeat and Denver settled into reconstruction, Vickers returned to Boise. Simon and his allies in Boise looked into his aged condition, trying to figure out what kind of magic had changed him and if it could be undone. Back in Denver, Addie vowed to Rat she'd find a way to get Vickers back to normal.