"On long evenings at the Medusa's Head, where the monster-hunters drink, they brag about the beasts they've bagged - the Cantigaster, the Eater-of-Chains, the Spider Council, Jack-of-Smiles in his many bodies. But no-one tells stories about the Vake: the Vake, for whose head the Department offers a standing reward of four million Echoes. Four million."[1]
"What is the Vake? They say it's not a monster at all. They say it's a man who dresses up as a bat. To, ah, prowl the city by night. But that would just be stupid."[2]
The Vake is a fearsome batlike monster that has an astronomical bounty on its head.
Death from Above[]
"When the Vake is mentioned, everyone goes quiet. No-one has any boastful stories. Why?"
No one in the Neath dares confront this beast head-on, not even the most daring monster-hunters. After all, the Vake's primary prey is the people who hunt it.[3]
Some of the stranger newspapers of the Neath claim to run interviews with it, but these are, for the most part, with persons under the influence of Black Wings Absinthe.[4] Probably.
What is it?[]
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"The Mother Superior settles into your comfiest chair. "The Vake is a Master," she says. "Perhaps you'd already guessed that.""
More wild and irrepressible than the other Masters, Mr Veils suffered greatly from being trapped inside a dark and musty cavern, surrounded by creatures it would not even consider worthy prey in its prime.[5] And then it came up with an idea. One day, the Department of Menace Eradication received a staggering new commission: four million echoes for the head of "the Vake," a giant winged creature that threatened the carefree lives of London's citizens.[6] The reward was so immense that some thought it a joke, but its authenticity was backed up by Veils itself. The Department even received a considerable sum in advance,[7] so the word about the mysterious creature and a bounty on its head spread quickly.
Particularly sharp hunters had already figured out that the Vake is Veils; rather than wanting to die, it began preying upon those who would seek to slay it. It lured the unwary into Parabola using Black Wings Absinthe - a brew that grants a feeling of flight, visions of a hunt between stars, and eventually, glimpses of something winged following the drinker in the night.[8] Eyewitnesses of the Vake were mostly wiped out or scattered when the Fourth City collapsed, hence the fresh and exciting bounty on its head - but far from London, on the little island of Abbey Rock, lies the headquarters of a Sisterhood that has been training and preparing to kill this Curator for millennia.[9]
The Vake is just one of Veils' identities, but it has taken a forefront for the past few decades, and Veils' identity as a Master of the Bazaar has faded into the background.[10] This had almost no effect on its reputation in London; after all, it has always been cryptic, and Mr Wines might be the only one who notices that anything has changed beneath its heavy cloak.[11]
It's Baaaack![]
"The hunched shape continues to climb the chain, wings sweeping behind it. It meets your gaze with a furious glare. There is nothing behind those eyes except an intense and sincere desire to murder you and everyone you know."[12]
The Vake left the Neath alongside a few of the other Masters.[13] It roosts in the Tower of Chimes (formerly the House of Chimes)[14] and has completely given itself over to bloodthirst[15] and brutal hunting games.[16]
References[]
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