Darrin Wade

"I've seen things that would make a normal man curl up into the fetal position and rip his eyes out. I've walked on the backs of giants and drunk from the rivers of Avalon. The simple man you see before you is only a single facet of my being."

- Darrin Wade

Darrin Wade is a black-magic black marketeer in the Rogue Isles of the M.M.O. City of Villains. Initially just one of many contacts in the Isles, Wade distinguishes himself as a one of the most significant villains in the series late in the game.

Background
Darrin Wade was once a member of the secret society known as The Midnight Squad. The Midnight Squad are a group of occultists and and magicians who have been around since the 1890s. The group was found by a, then new-age wizard, who went by the name of Dream Doctor. Dream Doctor founded the group to combat the evil cultists known as the Circle of Thorns. The Might Squad spent years learning magic to fight the Circle and because it's first members were all apprentices or constituents of Dream Doctor. The Circle of Thorns would become a much more publicly acknowledged group after being exposed during the alien invasion known as The Rikti War and with their secret cult made public the Circle of Thorns become foe of many super-heroes, allowing the Midnight Club to focus on magic as a whole with their old enemy being fought on all fronts. Since the Midnight Squad keeps it's existence secret from the public it's members also hide away forbidden knowledge. The Midnight Squad protect and study eldritch tomes, artifacts of doom and ancient golems with the end goal of understanding how they work without letting them be used irresponsibly.

The Midnight Squad except both the good and the evil magi, as long as they are both learned and responsible and as such nearly all members take their duties very seriously. The only exception shown to the club's sterling membership is that of Darrin Wade. Darrin Wade began doing research on ancient evil until he became obsessed with them. Darrin's experiments soon raised enough red-flags in the Midnight Squad and he was given a couple of warnings - when Darrin's experiments continued he was forced to go on leave, he was still a member but with his credibility eroded he was no longer allowed into the Midnight Club, The Midnight Squad's inter-dimensional library. Wade continued his research, but without his former resources they were slowed to a crawl. Darrin knew enough about the hunting process for ancient artifacts and spells from his time in the clue to begin secretly competing with full-fledged members of the Midnight Squad and collecting various items of black-magic for himself. Most of what Darrin acquired was of little use to him but he managed to sell on the black-magic-black-market in order to sponsor his continued research.

Midnight Draws Near
Darrin can be found just outside the Black Heart Hospital in the Port Recluse of Sharkhead Isle. He sells his secrets and his various magical trinkets to villains who come looking for magical origin training, eventually this may include the player villains themselves. When encountered Darrin tells the Villain of his predicament, that he is on the Midnight Squad's black-list. His first task is to find and clear-out a detachment of Midnight Squad members deployed to uncover some more artifacts. Wade does not want the competitions and requests his former team-mates be dealt with, he does not care how much force needs to be used as long as their retrieval mission is at the very least slowed down. With the success of the mission, Wade will warm-up to the Villain and trusts them for more work.

Darrin tells the Villain that his friend, Starr, was recently murdered. Darrin says not to worry about avenging his death and that he will do that, but he will need a lock of Starr's hair to scry for his killers. The problem is Starr was a member of Arachnos and as such his possessions, body included, are under lock-and-key. Upon being recovered Darrin trusts the Villain enough to offer them the follow-up job of saving him the spell by going to kill Starr's killer for him once he discovers their true idenities. This time Darrin sends the Villain to the mutated hobos known as The Lost. The Lost are humans mutated and mentally enslaved by the alien invaders known as The Rikti. While wiping out the sect of Lost the Villain will happen upon two members of the Midnight Squad being held captive by the Lost, Kadabra Kill and Sigil, a husband and wife team of magicians who have spent their magical careers searching for a way to remove a curse on Sigil. Neither Kadabra Kill or Sigil are willing to be used as leverage by the Lost let alone the Villain or Wade and so both attempt to fight off all threats.

Reporting back to Wade will provoke intrigue as Wade sees his former members have become more involved in outside affairs than he thought. Darrin decides that he should resolve his business with his old team-mates and so sends the Villain on a mission to kidnap Alistair McKnight, another member of the club. Alistair had recently been kidnapped by the occulted gangster known as the Tsoo, therefore they could "rescue" him while holding hostage at the same time, no-one would trouble him over Alistair's disappearance and as long as he eventually let him go Darrin would look like he was just doing his duty for a former fellow member. Once Alistair is free, Darrin puts him in a safe-house but uses the opportunity to get another hair sample from Alistair and uses it to create another spell. Darrin uses an advanced illusion to make the Villain look like Alistair McKnight and sends him/her/it into the Midnight Club to preform a heist. The Villain steals several of  the Midnight Squad's most treasured artifacts and replace them with forgeries. The Villain will have the option to remain in disguise the whole time and wait for breaks in security to quickly swap out the really items but if caught making the switch, or the Villain just wants to be direct and fight their way around, the various members will turn hostile and fight the Villain off. Regardless of method, once the mission is complete Darrin pays well for the artifacts, let's them keep the spell to shape-shift into Alistair McKnight and gives them a foot-hold for joining the Midnight Club as true members.

Darrin also casually admits what his research was mounting to in the first place. Darrin was a cultist to Rularuu, a cosmic horror that had been trying to break into the dimension for years. With the artifacts and spells in his possession Darrin says he is very close to unleashing Rularuu and he will gladly remember how the Villain helped him someday when his rituals are complete and Rularuu is unleashed upon the world.