The Vake
"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 have claimed to run interviews with the Vake, 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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