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."

"When the Vake is mentioned, everyone goes quiet. No-one has any boastful stories. Why?"

"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."

The Vake is a fearsome batlike monster that has a ridiculous bounty on its head.

Death from Above

No one in the Neath wants to mess with this thing, not even the most daring monster-hunters. This is mainly because the Vake's primary prey is the people who hunt it, seeking to Bag a Legend.

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. Probably.

What is it?

"Are you quite sure you want to know this?" Beyond this point lie major spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies, or Mask of the Rose. This may include endgame or major Fate-locked spoilers. Proceed at your own risk. You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.

"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 wouldn't even consider worthy prey in its prime. 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. 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, so the word about the mysterious creature and a bounty on its head spread quickly.

Particularly sharp hunters figured out that the Vake is Veils, but rather than wanting to die, it began preying upon those who would seek to slay it. It lured unwary into Parabola through the use of 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. With the Vake's identity established, most wonder if it is even possible to kill such a vicious, supernatural creature.

As if the task of defeating the Vake couldn't get any more daunting, it turns out that it predates the Fifth City by a wide margin. Memories about the Vake, however, were mostly wiped out when the Fourth City collapsed. But bits and snippets still remained in the Neath. One witness, or rather, participant of those events is a mysterious servant of the Vake with an uncanny ability to impersonate, who has been assisting it in tracking down Vake-hunters for a very long time. Meanwhile, far from London, in foggy waters of Shepherd's Wash, an opposing faction settled down on a rocky island. Known to most as Abbey Rock, it is a home to enclosed community of nun-warriors with single goal in mind: to kill the Vake. The Convent is lead by a person known as the Mother Superior who is a foremost authority about the Vake, and apparently spent centuries spent in constant training, but even that was not enough to bring it down.