Uncle Nibblecheek

Start-class article · First seen: s13 · Last seen: s14
Uncle Nibblecheek
the chocolate man · Nibble Dickhead
Portrait of Uncle Nibblecheek.
Character
StatusAlive
First seens13
Last seens14
FactionCandy Cottage household

Uncle Nibblecheek is the toothless hag who lives in the Candy Cottage east of Eldwythe. He eats nothing but candy “and the people he turns into candy”, in the Bubblegum Halfling’s words, and keeps a baby-doll guard, a bubblegum boy and a dragon in his house [9][10]. The party met him in session 14, when Ruin bluffed him into lifting the Gummy Mummy’s curse from Caelumn and Vasquez; he charmed Caelumn, lost the brawl that followed when Vasquez grappled him and Briochebane breathed on him, and surrendered, undoing every transformation and letting the party leave with the dragon [20][53][24][54]. He is alive in his cottage.

Overview

Uncle Nibblecheek, also “the chocolate man” to Caelumn and “Nibble Dickhead” in Caelumn’s notes until he corrected them [7][8], is the hag who runs the Candy Cottage east of Eldwythe. He is toothless, and eats only candy and the people he has turned into candy [9]. The cottage is his: Bubba Walker guards the kitchen door for him, the bubblegum boy Asger was adopted and then locked up by him, and the young dragon Briochebane is his “new assistant” [1][10]. The children’s storybook in his study says that a girl named Edith once struck a bargain with “the hag that lives in this cottage” [11].

Appearance and demeanour

“A toothless hag that is resembling a ghastly green-skinned old man in the stained baking apron”, dashing between pots of boiling sugar among chocolate toads and jars of gossamer wings [12]. He lost his teeth a long time ago and, by Asger’s account, cannot eat without his dentures [9]. He is brusque with his staff, absorbed in his work (“Me and Brioche are very busy”, [13]), delights in the thought of eating his enemies (“I do so love candy”, [14]), and is a sucker for a business proverb [15].

Abilities as played

The DM called him “a pretty powerful hag” who could break a curse “if he were so inclined” [16]. The cottage’s transformations into candy, gingerbread and taffy were his work, and he undid them all with a snap of his fingers when he surrendered [17][18][19]. He lifted the mummy’s curse by incantation, which left Caelumn and Vasquez on 1 hit point, and in the same breath charmed them with a Wisdom save at disadvantage [20]. Caelumn failed on an 11 and became his servant; Vasquez kept control and played along [21]. In the fight he attacked Brioche twice and missed, took half of Brioche’s breath on a Dexterity save of 20, and lost a contested grapple to Vasquez, 9 to 13 [22][23][24]. Chocolate cockatrices came running from the barn [25]; Terry’s later recap says Nibblecheek summoned them to defend him [26].

Relationships

  • Edith Applegarth: the girl who, by the storybook, bargained with the hag; the DM has said that the story is probably based on a real event but is not an objective record ([11]; DM ruling 41).
  • Asger: adopted by him “a long long time” ago, set to work in the kitchen and then locked in the basement [27][28].
  • Bubba Walker: his “little kid”, on “a real short leash” [9][29].
  • Briochebane: his “new assistant”, kept entranced until Terry fed him a brioche bun [30][31].
  • Gummy Mummy: the selfish prince he once cursed, and honoured with a tomb [32][33].
  • The candy goblins: his workers in the taffy room, killed by the party; he wailed over them [34].

Disposition towards the party

Hostile, but he cares more for his business than for revenge. He took Terry and Ruin for new recruits, wanted the sleeping intruders turned to candy and eaten, and gave in on terms when he was grappled and burned [35][14][36].

Notable quotes

“Don’t worry about him. He knows who holds the leash” — Uncle Nibblecheek (Nick, DM), [37]

“Oh no, they killed my goblins! Ah, do you have any idea how long it took me to find those?” — Uncle Nibblecheek (Nick, DM), [34]

“Yeah, that is my most favorite saying. That is true. Yeah. Very well. Lead me to them. Brioche, stay here. Be a good dragon.” — Uncle Nibblecheek (Nick, DM), [38]

“Grab that dragon!” — Uncle Nibblecheek (Nick, DM), [39]

“I’ll turn your friends back into normal people and you and the dragon can leave.” — Uncle Nibblecheek (Nick, DM), [18]

History in the campaign

Session 13: Bubba Walker and the Gummy Sarcophagus

Main article: Session 13

Nibblecheek is never seen, but the cottage runs on him. Bubba Walker told the party that “Uncle Nibblecheek don’t like visitors” and that he guarded the door for the candy Nibblecheek gave him [1]; bloodied, Bubba agreed to step aside if they brought him three kinds of candy [40][41]. In the basement the freed bubblegum boy described his keeper: a mean old man who ate nothing but candy and the people he turned into candy, and who had “probably killed a fair bit of adventurers” [9][42]. In the study upstairs a storybook spoke of “the hag that lives in this cottage” [11].

Session 14: The Gummy Mummy and Aurelian Eldwythe

Main article: Session 14

Asger said that Nibblecheek, “a pretty powerful hag”, could probably lift the Gummy Mummy’s curse, if he were beaten, made to or appeased [43]. Terry, still gingerbread, reported the mummy loose as a new recruit and was told not to worry [44]. Ruin then bluffed his way in as an apprentice and sold him on turning the intruders into workers [45]. Nibblecheek lifted the curse and charmed Caelumn, but when Terry freed Brioche he called for the dragon to be grabbed, and Vasquez grappled him while Brioche clawed and breathed on him [46][39][47][24]. Beaten, he offered to turn the party back to normal and let them leave with the dragon, and kept his word [48].

Session 15: The Death of Ruin and Althea Joins

Main article: Session 15

He is named only in the opening recaps, in which Terry told the table that Nibblecheek had “pleaded for mercy” and let the party walk away with Brioche [49]. The party’s loss of Caelumn’s backpack in the Aurelian ambush brought the candied dentures into play: Caelumn counted his toffee apple with dentures among the stolen things [50], though the DM has ruled that they had been returned to Nibblecheek before the snare (DM ruling 51).

Status

As of session 23. Alive in the Candy Cottage, which the party left in session 14 after he surrendered. Eldwythe has since been occupied by Aurelian forces [51]. The party kept his dentures in Caelumn’s backpack as possible leverage [52]; the DM has ruled that they were returned to him before the session 15 backpack snare, so the party holds nothing of his now (DM ruling 51).

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 13, line 178-180: Bubba Walker: "Uncle Nibblecheek don't like visitors"; he gave Bubba candy to watch the door.
  2. ^ Session 13, line 1842-1889: The Bubblegum Halfling describes him: eats "nothing but candy. And the people he turns into candy", adopted him, has "probably killed a fair bit of adventurers".
  3. ^ Session 14, line 436-473: Asger calls him a "pretty powerful hag" who cursed the Gummy Prince; Terry tells him the mummy is loose and he shrugs it off.
  4. ^ Session 14, line 792-866: Ruin's bluff; he lifts the mummy's curse and charms Caelumn.
  5. ^ Session 14, line 1010-1297: "Grab that dragon!"; the fight; Vasquez grapples him; surrender and the undoing of the transformations.
  6. ^ Session 15, line 50-55: Named in Terry's opening recap of the fight and the surrender.
  7. ^ Session 14, line 53-57: Inline citation.
  8. ^ Session 14, line 1351-1354: Inline citation.
  9. ^ Session 13, line 1842: Inline citation.
  10. ^ Session 13, line 1886-1889: Inline citation.
  11. ^ Session 13, line 1206: Inline citation.
  12. ^ Session 14, line 179: Inline citation.
  13. ^ Session 14, line 810: Inline citation.
  14. ^ Session 14, line 831: Inline citation.
  15. ^ Session 14, line 834-835: Inline citation.
  16. ^ Session 14, line 449: Inline citation.
  17. ^ Session 14, line 802: Inline citation.
  18. ^ Session 14, line 1270: Inline citation.
  19. ^ Session 14, line 1281: Inline citation.
  20. ^ Session 14, line 851: Inline citation.
  21. ^ Session 14, line 856-863: Inline citation.
  22. ^ Session 14, line 1090-1092: Inline citation.
  23. ^ Session 14, line 1202: Inline citation.
  24. ^ Session 14, line 1207: Inline citation.
  25. ^ Session 14, line 1220: Inline citation.
  26. ^ Session 15, line 55: Inline citation.
  27. ^ Session 13, line 1845-1847: Inline citation.
  28. ^ Session 13, line 1886: Inline citation.
  29. ^ Session 13, line 1870: Inline citation.
  30. ^ Session 13, line 1889: Inline citation.
  31. ^ Session 14, line 952-974: Inline citation.
  32. ^ Session 14, line 443: Inline citation.
  33. ^ Session 14, line 455: Inline citation.
  34. ^ Session 14, line 839: Inline citation.
  35. ^ Session 14, line 470-473: Inline citation.
  36. ^ Session 14, line 1270-1281: Inline citation.
  37. ^ Session 14, line 473: Inline citation.
  38. ^ Session 14, line 835: Inline citation.
  39. ^ Session 14, line 1044: Inline citation.
  40. ^ Session 13, line 896-903: Inline citation.
  41. ^ Session 13, line 918: Inline citation.
  42. ^ Session 13, line 1860: Inline citation.
  43. ^ Session 14, line 443-457: Inline citation.
  44. ^ Session 14, line 466-473: Inline citation.
  45. ^ Session 14, line 792-835: Inline citation.
  46. ^ Session 14, line 851-866: Inline citation.
  47. ^ Session 14, line 1090: Inline citation.
  48. ^ Session 14, line 1270-1297: Inline citation.
  49. ^ Session 15, line 53-55: Inline citation.
  50. ^ Session 15, line 520: Inline citation.
  51. ^ Session 14, line 1556-1561: Inline citation.
  52. ^ Session 14, line 749-762: Inline citation.
  53. ^ Session 14, line 1085-1092: Inline citation.
  54. ^ Session 14, line 1270-1288: Inline citation.