Vanstrom Klause

Vanstrom Klause is one of the brutal henchmen of Lord Drakan, member of the Vyrewatch who rule Morytania from the capital, Meiyerditch and a former Myreque member. Vanstrom is the main antagonist of the Myreque quest series, and is responsible for the murders of at least two Myreque members.

History
It is unknown how old Vanstrom is, or who his parents were. In the Return to Canifis novel, set in the year 164/165, he appears as a middle aged Human, and a very prominent member of the Myreque, so he is presumed to be anywhere between 25 to 40 years old by the current year. As he is now a Vampyre, he is now immortal, however in | Postbag From The Hedge, issue 40, he recalls the days of the Mahjarrat, although this may simply be from a secondary perspective.

As a member of the Myreque, he was highly valued, seemingly able to easily travel between Meiyerditch, the Myreque base at Hope Rock, and Canifis with great ease, and always accomplishing an escape if captured, leading some to cast doubt on his status as a commoner from the slums. He is first encountered by the Misthalin Embassy, of which consisted of Kara-Meir, Sir Theodore, Doric, Castimir, Arisha, Gar'rth and Lord Despaard, amongst several others. At this time, he is imprisoned by Malak, along with Pia and Jack to serve as a sacrifice to the Werewolves of Canifis. After a daring escape led by several members of the embassy, he leads them to the Myreque hideout on Hope Rock.

At the plateau of Hope Rock, it is discovered a band of escapees from Meiyerditch reside, along with the infamous Master Peregrim, a Gnome who had gone missing some years prior, after his hot air balloon like contraption broke free of its tether in Varrock and carried him over the River Salve. Using nets made from the Giant Snails that reside nearby, the band of escapees, about 50 in number, had constructed a large net underneath the balloon to carry them westward over the salve. The plan goes ahead, with the balloon nearly ready to take off, when a sudden ambush by the werewolves of Canifis leads to a desperate scramble to get the balloon off the ground. In the midst of fighting a werewolf which had managed to climb on board before the balloon took off, Vanstrom secured himself to a rope, and jumped overboard with his attacker. When on the ground, he severed the remaining mooring line, setting the balloon free, carrying the others with it and ending any hope of his escape as he left to fend off the ravenous wolves.

Nothing is heard of his time after the escape at hope rock, although it is presumed he was not killed, and was instead taken to Drakan or the Black Prince to be converted. In the four years since his conversion, he appears to have gained considerable power amongst the vampyres, seeming to be a direct underling to Drakan, possibly an advisor. {C

As a Vampyre
Vanstrom was first met by the player in the Hair of the Dog tavern in Canifis on a mission to locate the Myreque to supposedly give them weapons. However this was a trick of his, used to determine the location of the Myreque's hideout in the Hollows.

After the player located the Myreque in the In Search of the Myreque quest, Vanstrom revealed that he had used the player to discover the Myreque, and murders two Myreque members, but due to the assistance of the player, the rest managed to escape and flee.

He is later seen telling Gadderanks to collect blood from the villagers of Burgh de Rott. Vanstrom is believed to have ordered Vampire Juvinates to ambush Ivan Strom on his way to Paterdomus, as Veliaf mentions Vanstrom wanting to capture him. This attack failed, however, and Ivan was able to reach the Temple.

After returning to Meiyerditch he was last seen discussing plans with Ranis and Vanescula Drakan before spotting the player who was standing on the wall at the time, having just finished sketching Castle Drakan for Safalaan. He descended upon the player and initiated battle. However, the Vyrewatch possess the unique ability of foresight, allowing them to anticipate attacks and block them before they can be hit. Because of this, the player was not able to hit him, and was defeated. Vanstrom was about to kill the player, but Sarius Guile, a human servant to the Vampyres, stopped him. He then disappeared into the night and has not been seen since.

During In Search of Myreque quest, Vanstrom is shown without any facial hair in his human form, but during a cutscene in Darkness Of Hallowvale, he is shown with a beard and moustache. This is to disguise himself as vyrewatch are known to be able to shapeshift into humans to look differently.

Vanstrom in Combat
Vanstrom, in the Darkness of Hallowvale quest, finds the player spying on Castle Drakan on a mission for the Myreque leader Safalaan. He attacks the player on the walls of the castle and a brief battle is initiated. Vanstrom is shown to be level 169 and fights unarmed, but it is impossible to kill him as he is a member of the Vyrewatch. Instead, whenever the player attacks him, a strange mind-shield appears around him and the player's attack deals no damage. It is thought that, now that the player possesses the Ivandis flail, they will be able to kill him in the next installment of the Myreque quest series.

Trivia

 * During the cutscene where Vanstrom Klause reveals himself for his true self in quest In Search of the Myreque, a graphical bug occurs where he does not appear to have a mouth and just an empty space.
 * He is one of the few NPCs to be sitting in a chair.
 * Vanstrom will probably be featured as a fight in the coming Branches of Darkmeyer master quest, as hinted in the August BTS article.
 * It is possible, that Vanstrom might be related to Ivan Strom, as his first name is in Ivan's. (IVan-Strom')

Vanstrom Klause