Candy Cottage

Start-class article · First seen: s12 · Last seen: s14
Candy Cottage
the candy house · Nibblecheek's cottage · the gingerbread house
Candy Cottage — portrait.
Location
StatusActive
First seens12
Last seens14
FactionUncle Nibblecheek's household

The Candy Cottage is the magical-conjuration confection-cottage in the eastern woods of Eldwythe, home of the toothless candy-eating hag Uncle Nibblecheek. Pink wafer planks, sugar-glass windows, licorice-thatched roof, peppermint tower, fruit-leather doormat reading “Please wipe your feet.” Food regenerates ten minutes after consumption. The party fought through it across sessions 12-14, surviving the Gummy Mummy and the seven-foot cyclops baby-doll Bubba Walker, rescuing the Bubblegum Halfling (later identified as Edith Applegarth’s long-lost brother), and walking out with the small dragon Briochebane who had been mind-controlled in the kitchen.

Overview

The Candy Cottage is a magical-conjuration cottage made of confection in the eastern woods of Eldwythe, at the end of an hour-long magic candy trail. The structure is conjuration magic for its entire frame (Ruin’s Detect Magic, [5]; food regenerates ten minutes after consumption [6]. It is run by Uncle Nibblecheek, a toothless candy-eating hag who eats candy and people-turned-into-candy.

The party cleared the cottage in three sessions (12-14) and emerged with Briochebane (the small red-gold dragon Nibblecheek had mind-controlled into kitchen-assistant duty), a +1 Greataxe, a candied apple with dentures (probably Nibblecheek’s), a crooked broom, a bubblegum halfling restored to halfling form (Edith Applegarth’s long-lost brother), and the curses on Caelumn and Vazquez lifted. They did not kill Nibblecheek; he surrendered and is presumed still in the cottage.

Geography and appearance

Pink wafer planks, sugar-glass windows, licorice-thatched roof, peppermint tower behind, chocolate plank barn (east), chocolate plank outhouse (north). A fruit-leather doormat reads “Please wipe your feet” — and animates to ambush trespassers who don’t, shouting “GASMUS WHITE FEET!” [7].

Recorded rooms:

  • Foyer — animate doormat ambush.
  • Sitting room — candy furniture, candy kettle, teacups, doilies, hearth.
  • Playroom — toys, toppled cradle, rocking horse that emits “HOT DOG HOT DOG HOT DOG” with each rock.
  • Taffy puller chamber — three buckets each holding ~100 wrapped pieces of saltwater taffy, an unstretched blob by the west window. Vazquez was extruded through the puller and transformed into elastic taffy form here in s12 [8].
  • Peppermint hallway — flour-dusted, magical pin-roll trap that turns failed-Dex-save victims into gingerbread [9].
  • Bubba Walker’s antechamber — outside the kitchen door; the cyclops baby-doll guards the door.
  • Orchard courtyard — four peppermint-bark trees with candied apples, three tree-spirits with Vine Whip and Charm Monster (encountered s13).
  • Rock-candy library / study — curved bookshelves of rock candy, ornate claw-footed desk, a children’s storybook depicting young Edith Applegarth visiting the cottage and “betraying her brother” [10]. Looted: a candied apple with dentures (cursed), a crooked broom.
  • Basement tunnel-dungeon — accessed via hidden hatch under a rug; sugar-glazed walls, candy-cane cages.
  • Cottage tunnel — corridor branching from the basement; a +1 Greataxe-wielding skeleton; a ladder back up.
  • Sarcophagus treasure room — hard-candy sarcophagus, two crystalline-sugar statues, a trove of gold, inscription “May death curse all who interrupt my rest.” The Gummy Mummy (the Gummy Prince) emerged here in s14.
  • Kitchen — massive wood-fired metal oven festooned with rubies, chocolate toads, jars of glittery still-fluttering Gosma wings, “bizarre-looking ingredients” on cluttered countertops; Briochebane slept on the oven [11] under mind-control.
  • Kitchen-tower stairs — chocolate-plank staircase from basement to kitchen.

Government / control

Uncle Nibblecheek runs the cottage. His staff:

  • Bubba Walker — seven-foot cyclops baby-doll, made of wood, kitchen-door guardian.
  • Three candy goblins (deceased s12) — taffy-puller workers.
  • Three Gingerbread Steves (deceased s13) — basement tunnel guards.
  • Briochebane (mind-controlled until s14, then freed and rescued).
  • The Bubblegum Halfling — kitchen labour, kept in a cage in the basement; rescued s13.
  • The animate flying rug (deceased s12).
  • The orchard tree-spirits (driven off, not killed, s13).
  • The Gummy Mummy (the Gummy Prince) — undead enforcer in the sarcophagus.
  • Frosting-imps (deceased s14).
  • Chocolate-cockatrices (summoned in the final fight, dispelled when Nibblecheek surrendered).

Notable features

  • The taffy puller — magically transforms victims into soft elastic taffy retaining their dimensions. Vazquez, s12.
  • The pin-roll trap — magical rolling pin descends, transforms failed-Dex victims into gingerbread. Hugo, Terry, Ruin, s13.
  • The animate doormat — ambushes trespassers who don’t wipe their feet; “GASMUS WHITE FEET!”
  • The Gummy Mummy curse — cannot regain HP, max HP -13 on first hit, 3d6 max HP loss every 24 hours until death. Caelumn and Vazquez were cursed in s14 and the curses were lifted by Nibblecheek as a condition of the party’s exit.

History in the campaign

  • Session 12: Party arrives. Animate rug killed. Three candy goblins killed. Vazquez taffy-form’d.
  • Session 13: Pin-roll trap. Bubba Walker bargained with three kinds of candy. Tree-spirit ambush in the orchard (party retreated). Rock-candy library looted. Three Gingerbread Steves killed. Bubblegum Halfling rescued. +1 Greataxe looted. Sarcophagus voice cliffhanger.
  • Session 14: Gummy Mummy survived (curse-on-hit on Caelumn and Vazquez; party retreats up the tower stairs). Bluffed past Uncle Nibblecheek as “new recruits” (deception 18, persuasion). Curses lifted. Uncle Nibblecheek’s mass-charm only catches Caelumn. Terry feeds Briochebane a brioche-bun from Phil’s Bakery, breaking the dragon’s mind-control. Combat. Vazquez grapples Nibblecheek; Brioche breath-attacks; Nibblecheek pleads mercy and lifts all curses, transformations, and mind-control. The party leaves with Brioche.

Status as of session 16

Active. Uncle Nibblecheek still in residence (the party did not kill him). The Gummy Mummy is back in its sarcophagus. The Bubblegum Halfling was restored to normal halfling form before leaving. Bubba Walker is presumably still in his room with the third piece of candy. The cottage is presumed to retain its conjuration magic. Future hostility from Nibblecheek toward the party is likely.

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 12, line 832-866 — Cottage description; conjuration magic; food regenerates.
  2. ^ Session 12, line 961-1325 — Animate flying rug; candy goblins; Vazquez taffy-form'd.
  3. ^ Session 13, line 102-2146 — Pin-roll trap; Bubba Walker; bubblegum halfling rescued; sarcophagus cliffhanger.
  4. ^ Session 14, line 76-1293 — Gummy Mummy survived; Uncle Nibblecheek bested; Brioche recovered; egg fails to resonate.
  5. ^ Session 12, line 853 — Inline citation.
  6. ^ Session 12, line 856 — Inline citation.
  7. ^ Session 12, line 961-1027 — Inline citation.
  8. ^ Session 12, line 1317-1325 — Inline citation.
  9. ^ Session 13, line 132-145 — Inline citation.
  10. ^ Session 13, line 1206 — Inline citation.
  11. ^ Session 14, line 179 — Inline citation.