Rift Plate 002 · Gate of Stone
Veil Stalker
An unfinished spectral hunter crosses the gaps in a group's attention and becomes solid only when watched.
- Plate group
- Gate of Stone
- Classification
- Spectral
- Field account
- Recovered
Recovered natural history
Field record
Canvas sighting
There was one shadow too many.
A scrap of torn canvas opened into a figure as tall as the gate. Arms first. The head followed, its face changing before anyone could settle on a shape. Wherever someone watched, the body held. Where attention slipped, parts of it remained unfinished. Those parts reached farther.
Where attention fails
The Stalker takes time to learn a group. It watches who checks behind and who loses concentration under stress. Then it makes a distraction. When several people turn toward it together, the creature crosses the space they've stopped watching and closes on whoever is alone.
Read the environment
Signs of its presence
Count shadows against bodies. Listen after a halt: a companion's footfalls may continue for one extra step.
Torn cloth moves behind a cairn in still air.
Survival doctrine
Field precautions
01
Share attention
Have two witnesses describe the same limb aloud. That part must stay solid, with less reach. Don't let everyone follow the same distraction.
02
Use hard backlight
Put a broad lantern or the sunrise behind it. The light exposes missing edges and stops a clean fold through cover.
Recovered Field Plate
01
Primary form
A tall hooded figure whose body unravels into layered, torn edges rather than ending cleanly.
02
Detail studies
A separate head study exposes the skull-like face held inside the hood and trailing veil.
Continue through the folio
002 of 100 recovered plates