Vladamira Torunn

Communist Woman

**Vladamira Torunn**, more commonly known to the original party and the League of Mothers as **The Russian Lady**, is an NPC antagonist/anti hero created by RoxyVelma, who has appeared in two campaigns set within the Velmaverse continuity, those being the Lost Mine of Phandelver and the Tomb of Annihilation campaigns. She is portrayed as a stereotypical strong Russian bodybuilder due to being heavily influenced by the 'Kick Ass' villain 'Mother Russia'. Her class is a level 15-20 Monk and is known for being the Champion of Communism. She is a highly mysterious character in the continuity as it's not clear what her backstory truly is and to whom her allegiances lie with, as both RoxyVelma and Kelloggs have used this character, giving their own twist on her during their campaigns. During the Tomb of Annihilation's epilogue session, Capillary Cliton, also known as 'Miss America', was revealed to be the Russian Lady's arch nemesis, due to Vladamira's strong hatred for capitalism. If it isn't clear enough already, Vladamira has a strong bond with communist values and enforcing her beliefs upon others. Due to her famous appearances and legacy, she is regarded as probably the most iconic character within the continuity.

**Lost Mine of Phandelver**

She was first introduced during the third session of the Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign. As the party were investigating the murder of the high-elf Porico Cophaxath in a tavern in the town of Phandalin, Seranas used her brutal interrogation methods against Vladamira whilst investigating the murder. To Seranas's surprise however, it turned out that Vladamira was actually a famous pit fighter (level 17 monk) and upon Seranas trying to plant her knife into the Russian Lady's hand, though failed, beat her and the entire group into submission and left them for dead inside of the tavern. Though they would survive that encounter, they would never forget her and remembered not to go so hard on everyone they saw. During the final session, she would return just as the OG's had finished wiping out a band of orcs and were returning to Phandalin, upon being ambushed by her in the forest. To put it short, she was ultimately successful in killing the entire original party without much hassle, gaining another nickname, 'The OG's Bane'. She also looked after the half-orc Gogdor's daughter Danielle for a while, due to killing her father. However, it is still not completely clear why she returned, but there are some guesses. Theories include that it was because the OG's weren't actually hero's anymore and had completely forgotten what they were supposed to be doing, but now a company of drug lords and owning a chain of whore houses, thus making them capitalist pigs and gaining heavy competition. RoxyVelma putting in the DM notes of the campaign how "*Vladamira was by this point working as a powerful operative for the Lords Alliance and she was manipulated by corrupt courtiers to eliminate the party as they threatened some city businesses. Vladamira found this out which is why she ended up taking care of Danielle for a while."* Another theory is that during the Cragmaw Castle Altercation, Seranas was forced to pick from the Deck of Many Things and chose 'demon', thus implying that the Russian Lady herself was the demon that would eventually kill all that Seranas loved and belonged to, though this theory is slightly flawed as Seranas didn't really love anyone (not even Durnehviir) and was also killed, not spared, to add that Vladamira does not come across as a full on demon. The final theory though is simply that RoxyVelma (the DM) just had enough of the campaign and wanted to end it, bringing back his great creation to TPK the group (this is the most likeliest of the lot).

#### **Tomb of Annihilation**

Years after her first encounter, she would once again return during the final session of the Tomb of Annihilation campaign. Here she was searching for the murderer of a little boy's parents who had been killed recently in one of the poorer districts of Port Nyanzaru. She came to investigate the inn of 'The Thundering Lizard', barging in and putting an end to a concert being performed by Camila, Dave and Danielle, whom the Russian Lady would instantly recognize. Once all of the tavern patrons had left, Vladamira gave a quick smile and nod towards the half-orc, hinting that shit was gonna go down and so she packed her things and left. Then Vladamira would interrogate the gnome Zook, knowing that recently he had been causing trouble and mayhem (not knowing he had been framed). However with the help of the little boy, she was made aware that it wasn't the gnome who was guilty, but rather the tabaxi Camila, who had just rushed into the kitchen to avoid her inevitable punishment. However before she could go into the kitchen herself, a giant balor had been summoned by the demon Barbara and due to its enormous size, it destroyed half of the building, revealing itself to the Russian Lady. Here both her and the balor would battle it out above the sky of the city, though still causing great damage to many of the city's districts and thus played a major role in the iconic event known as the Destruction of Port Nyanzaru. After the giant meteor had been sent by the Lord KB to either kill the balor or just to troll the people of Port Nyanzaru, the Comrades would be horrified to see that the balor appeared to be still alive, though in a very bad shape. As it approached the party it stopped, gagged and suddenly split open into two, with the Russian Lady revealing herself from the inside, now covered in it's gore, simply remarking *"Now that's finger licking good."* As the dust began to settle and after the dwarf Jaffie had given each member of the party a chance to draw from the Deck of Many Things, the gnome Zook picked the card 'throne'. As this happened, suddenly a brand new keep magically appeared on one of the hills of the now ruined port city. Here Zook allowed many of the city's surviving population a chance to take refuge and shelter during an intense struggle to combat the forces of the Chultan jungle, whom now thought they had an opportunity to attack now that its defenses were down. Though the Comrades did defend as best as they could, it was only with the help of the Russian Lady that they survived the battle. Vladamira, now seeing how bad the ruined port city was, tasked Zook that as long as the gnome installed heavy communist laws, he would become the leader 'Port Nyanzaru Two: Electric Zookaloo' and would become Czar Zook. With the encouragement of the tiefling Alistair, the gnome accepted and would thus become the supreme ruler of the new port city, held under communist control. Some time after she left, she found a new pupil to mentor in the ways of communism, this being the Bear and quickly became her companion.

Once again, Vladamira would reappear during the epilogue session of the Tomb of Annihilation campaign. About a month after the final session, she would return to check up on the new port city and its ruler Czar Zook, making sure he was keeping his state inline with communist values. As she first appeared, landing through a great hole in the roof of the palace, she approached Czar Zook, questioning him on the whereabouts of the tabaxi Camilla. To intimidate the czar, she brought out her servant/side kick, the Bear, being a large man with a large warhammer and bearskin covering his head, with one eye showing, glowing red. They would leave tasking the Comrades to find the tabaxi or else there would be hell to pay. After an attempted assassination attempt on Czar Zook, Acererak would appear out of nowhere, stating he had plotted all the heroes there to die by his hand. This ultimately led to the Comrades and the others there being transported to Acererak's Tomb of Annihilation. She helped fight Acererak with her old nemesis Miss America. After the litch's defeat by UwU, they would make a deal with each other that she could have the tabaxi for a limited time for punishment for her crimes, taking Camila to a different plane of existence.