Kingdom Under Fire Wiki:Rick Blood

Overview

Rick Blood, The Dark Emperor of the Dark Legion during the Second War of Heroes. He is a usable hero for the Dark Legion campaign in 'Kingdom Under Fire: A War of Heroes' and the deluxe version 'Kingdom Under Fire: Gold'.

• Main Weapon: 2 Handed Great sword
• Main Skill: Melee

Abilities	Effect
Cone of fire	The ichors flowing through Rick Blood's body allows him to breathe a cone of fire.
Awe	By channeling the power of the Ancient Heart. Rick Blood is able to release a powerful awe aura that makes all units within range forget everything and wander mindlessly.

Background

This unidentifiable person used his strong powers and charisma to gather together all the evil forces. He took over Hexter, and even Likuku became his follower.

With the help of Amaruak and Richter, he managed to rally all the dark races to fight for his own cause. No one knows where he comes from or what goes on in his mind. However, everyone knows that he hates humans, and that's probably a good enough reason for the dark races to join as his followers. - Excerpt from the game manual.

Rick Blood used to be known as Rick Blood Miner before he was resurrected into the immortal Dark Emperor in the events of the Second War of Heroes. He was a member of the Xok Knight's in the First War of Heroes and lead an ambush on the Dark Legion leader Keeliani at that time. The heroes' plan had resulted in failure as Keeliani had predicted this ambush. Rick Blood Miner had then been slain in the process. With the alliance in distress, Moonlight hatched a desperate plan to resurrect Rick with the unimaginable power of the Ancient Heart, his plan was a success and Rick Blood Miner had been brought back to life, he was then known as Rick Blood. With his new found strength he encountered Keeliani once more and destroyed him, along with the Altar of Destruction. This put an end to the First War of Heroes, after these events Rick Blood disappeared and he was not heard from for 100 years until the events of the Second War of Heroes.

Kingdom Under Fire: A War of Heroes

He is first introduced in the Dark Legion campaign, accompanied by Richter in the Ruins of lost souls. After the failure of the first invasion in human territories, The Dark Emperor was forced to re-evaluate the strength of the humans. Rick and Richter enter the Ruins of Lost Souls to obtain the Amulet of Hamhike which he can hand to Amaruak to magically dissipate the arcane fog surrounding the Essex Woods and more importantly gain access to the Ehlonna temple which is used to safeguard the Ancient Heart. They discover the Amulet deep in the ruins but as they obtain it they unknowingly release a succubus she-demon named Lily, she is of little concern to Rick so he suggests leaving her to her fate and carrying on with the plan. Lily feeling offended by this, attempts to charm Rick with her magic. Rick explains that her type of magic has no effect on this walking corpse and with that, Rick begins to leave. Taken back by the power that radiates off of Rick, Lily decides to accompany him and essentially joins the Dark Legion.

With the Amulet of Hamhike in his possession, Rick commands Richter to assault Essex Woods to buy time for him to seize the Ancient Heart from the Temple of Ehlonna. With the aid of Amaruak's dark magic, Rick and Lily managed to dissipate the fog that covers the Essex Woods and entered the Temple. They reach the altar within the temple which housed the Ancient Heart, they discover it is being protected by Cellin. Cellin is shocked to see Rick in this state as she had not seen him since the end of the first war. Rick provides her with an ultimatum, give the Ancient Heart over to him or be killed. She refuses to hand it over to him and they engage in combat, she is quickly brushed aside as Rick slays all of her guardians and delivers her the final blow. Rick comments on this new found power coursing through his veins and describes it as immense and unimaginable upon claiming the Ancient Heart.

Leaving the temple of Ehlonna, Rick encounters Moonlight within the edge of Essex Woods. Rick states he doesn't have the time to deal with him and that he must complete what was started 100 years ago. As Keither goes in to strike, Amaruak teleports them away.

After successfully stealing the Ancient Heart, Rick begins to build the Altar of Destruction as suggested by Amaruak. Knowing that the Humans will attack the altar, he ordered Likuku and Richter to position their armies on the way to slow their advance. By the time the alliance managed to break through the defensive lines the altar is almost complete.

By the time the alliance fought their way to then reach the Altar, it had been completed. Rick encounters Moonlight and Keither and goads Keither into a duel saying that he can never be killed and that trying is pointless. Rick at first has the upper hand in the duel but soon realizes that Keither can not be killed either, the same power is coursing through his veins. They continue to do battle and unbeknownst to Rick, Moonlight seizes this opportunity to obliterate the Altar of Destruction. Startled, Rick protests, his power had been drained from him and he had been significantly weakened. Unknowingly to everyone else, Amaruak takes this opportunity to kidnap Rick and keep him bound in his weakened state. The Dark Legion is in tatters until his rediscovery.

Amaruak keeps Rick bound in the Dungeon of Lava. Richter was able to learn this information as his scouts reported many of his undead surrounding the area. He suspected that this dungeon might have some relationship with the disappearance of the Dark Emperor and he decides to investigate this personally. He discovers that Rick had been chained up somewhere deep in the Dungeon of Lava, Richter then rescues him. Rick explains that Amaruak is responsible for this, when he lost his power when the Ancient Heart was destroyed, Amaruak teleported him here and left him to rot for all eternity. He vows to destroy the undead lich.

Rick Blood and his Dark Legion march towards the newly constructed Altar of Destruction by the hands of Amarauk, along the way he loses the control of his ogres due to a ritual taking place in the vicinity. These Ancient candles were the source of the problem and he seeks out to destroy the five within the region. He ultimately succeeds and regains Likuku and his ogres loyalty. It is at this point Richter suggests that he should split from the forces and destroy the remaining ancient candles in the area, Rick accepts this plan and continues to march towards the Altar of Destruction without him.

In the final battle, The Dark Legion and the Human Alliance come to terms that their real enemy for the time being is Amarauk and his army of undead, they form a truce and both forces fight towards the Altar of Destruction. Rick has a final confrontation with Amaruak before Nible the Ancient Dragon explodes out of the Cavern of the Ancients which is close by. Nible lays waste to the land and Rick disappears entirely, the only thing that remains of him is his great sword impaled into the ground.

Human Campaign Point of View

In both campaigns there are subtle differences involving Rick Blood in the similar missions of the game.

• When clearing out the Dark Legion forces of Essex Woods, Curian, Moonlight and the Mysterious Knight encounter Rick Blood and his accomplices. He orders Likuku and Richter to deal with them before teleporting out of sight with Lily and Amaruak.

Dark Campaign Point of View

• When at the verge of escaping the Essex Woods, Rick Blood encounters Curian, Moonlight and the Mysterious Knight, before the Mysterious Knight could strike at Rick he teleports away with Lily and Amaruak.