Vaska

Character overview

Vaska Klashe of the Drunken Klashe—competitive, determined, and quick to take up a challenge.
Vaska is one-eyed, wears an eyepatch over a magical prosthetic eye, and carries a warhammer to which she later attached a fear gem. She owns a tavern in Urgir, temporarily closed, and spent much of her early life as a hold guard.
Born and raised in the Empty Hand Hold, Vaska favors Mahja Firehair and remembers the Razor Tooth legend as her earliest orc legend. She arrived at Torrentmoot with her own tent, helped finish splitting wood, introduced herself to Grothlin, and proposed an arm-wrestling match between herself, an orc of the Empty Hand Hold, and Grothlin’s hold. After a long contest, she defeated Grothlin. She cooked on the road during the aurochs hunt and kept the Group fed; on the second day her cooking sickened several companions and hunters. That evening, she said she had supplemented the cookies, and Bonesnap warned that strong-smelling food was unsuitable for stalking aurochs. When two burrowing creatures attacked camp, Vaska charged one after Klein, struck it, and kept pressure on it before acid splashed her. She later told the awakened hunters the threat had already been handled. On the third day, she drove a hard strike and a follow-up blow into the last aurochs, killing it.
At Torrentmoot, Vaska discussed orc history with Gurnak, directed him toward Davor, and warned him to make himself useful. She split logs with Grothlin and proposed working together on Ardax’s Puzzle Box. When orc children went missing, she promised to find them and traveled east with the Group. She helped clear a cave-in, smashed a fallen skeleton with her warhammer, and fought through the tomb. The white-haired undead knocked her unconscious; Gurnak stabilized and treated her. After recovering, Vaska helped return the children and received an enchanted striking transfer to her warhammer. She later deciphered the puzzle box’s clues and struck its mechanism while Gurnak and Fizzik manipulated it, opening the box. Vaska hid reading material when approached by Grothlin, then sparred with her and easily dropped her. When an orc’s tusk was stolen, Vaska offered assistance, followed tiny footprints to hidden crates, and struck a tooth fairy with her warhammer. She scattered a swarm with spice, broke another fairy’s grip on the tusk with an acidic vial, and obliterated a weakened swarm with a reactive blow before retching from the plague dust. Ardax presented the Group with a Storm Skewermaul, which Vaska accepted. After Kar led her to a wounded survivor, she refused to let him join the peryton hunt but offered him candy for staying behind. At Broken Spears, she advanced with the maul, seized and restrained a peryton, killed its mother with a blow to the head, and wounded the fleeing daughter.
Vaska later sent a boy to buy potion and elixir formulas with six gold, then visited Grothlin and heard about her map of the gathering. Vaska described creatures The Party had fought and their pack dispute, showed Grothlin the maul, and agreed to test a returning hatchet with her friends. During an attack, she put herself between her companions and two undead bears, struck one with her maul, survived its attempt to tear off her arms, spat on the corpse, and sent The Boy back to his tent. She won three insult exchanges with Gurnak, then apologized for insulting his eyesight and warned him against insulting her cooking. Before the gathering departed, she prepared several foods, ate the charcuterie, and described the apple as a source of bright light. On the route to the overlook, she crossed needledown cactus with her armor taking the spines and climbed clear of the aurochs stampede, helping others climb. When undead attacked the stragglers in the rain, Vaska rushed toward a creature holding Fizzik, was clawed by another, charged her maul with electricity, and struck an undead creature down. She later struck and crushed the skull of the last creature in the fight. Vaska fought at the Battle of Nine Broken Skulls, where her husband died defending Belkzen from the undead.
Powers/limits

• Demonstrated strength in arm-wrestling contests and combat.
• Cooked for the Group, though her cooking sickened several companions and hunters.
• Used spice, an acidic vial, and a reactive blow against tooth fairies and their swarm; the plague dust made her retch.
• Charged her Storm Skewermaul with electricity and struck undead creatures down.
• Was knocked unconscious by the white-haired undead and later stabilized and treated by Gurnak.

Story uses

• At Torrentmoot, she helped find and return missing orc children, then helped open Ardax’s Puzzle Box.
• She offered help when an orc’s tusk was stolen and fought the tooth fairies.
• At Broken Spears, she fought the perytons and wounded the fleeing daughter.
• During attacks by undead bears and undead stragglers, she moved to protect or aid her companions.