Darkwatch: Savage Threats

In which we returnth to the war-ruined city of Ravenscroft and brave its darkened streets with the men and women of the Darkwatch. This week we take a look at some of the threats and foes that the Darkwatch faces and the ways and means that the Darkwatch has come up with to counter said threats.

Source: Defoe - 2000AD

The Savage Dark

Reeks

One of the biggest left behind by the city's former occupiers is the Reeks, though also called 'stiffs', 'walking corpses' and the 'animated dead' (zombies by another name). They are a constant problem lurking in the ruins and tunnels of the city, a danger to the unwary and a tiresome foe for the Darkwatch.

The dark forces that previously held sway over the city weren't content with leaving a few dozen reeks to plague the city's new occupiers, they sent a step further and created a number of booby-traps using the reeks. The most favoured booby-trap tactic is devices dubbed 'Necro Bombs' which have been placed in graveyards or so-called 'reek pits'. These devices are either triggered by an array of conditions or are set to a timer, though they do detonate they unleash a wave of necromantic energy that resurrects the corpses in the immediate area and raise them as reeks.

So counter this, the Darkwatch sets up incendiary devices, called 'coffin mines', triggered by trip wires round a site suspected to contain a necro bomb. Usually a flare is rigged up, the intention is for the flare to alert local Darkwatch forces.

Shades

There is a big question over who or what the Shades are, but it is generally agreed that they serve as the assassins and infiltrators of the dark forces that only recently occupied Ravenscroft. They are able to move unseen from shadow to shadow, hence their name, and the first a person knows of their presence is the sharp edge of a dagger. They have been associated with unexplained deaths and mysterious 'accidents' that have plagued Ravenscroft's contribution to the continuing war effort.

To date, the only real effective of trying to combat the Shades is the use of guard hounds who can at least warn of a possible Shade in the area.

Remants

Left behind by the dark forces as their armies abandoned the city, the Remants are the dark forces foot soldiers who've taken to guerilla warfare to contest control of the city. They are split into cells who seemingly operate independently of one another, but appear to co-ordinate their efforts. They're reliant on supplies smuggled into the city, something that the Darkwatch has struggled to deal with, and raiding the new supply warehouses for the armies now being staged through the city.