Page 74 - Tomb of Annihilation

NANNYPU'PU
NANNY Pu'Pu
If the characters explore the ruins of Mbala, read:

The only structure still intact is a lone hut about a thou-
sand yards southwest of the gate, at the edge of a boul-
der field. The hut is made from thatch and animal hides
stretched over the rib cage of an immense reptile. Animal
skulls, wind chimes, and totems offeathers and shells
rattle in the breeze, and smoke drifts from hut.
A creature shuffles slowly around the hut, hunched
over in an animal-like posture. You realize it's a human
woman: impossibly old, crippled by arthritis, blinded by
cataracts. Her dark face and bald pate are outlined with
streaks of yellow clay suggesting the shape of a skull- or
perhaps it's her shriveled flesh creating that illusion.

Nanny Pu'pu, a green hag, plays the part of an ancient
crone to the hilt. She claims that all the other villagers
were killed over the course of many years by winged
creatures that live on the south side of the plateau.
She is the only survivor-too stringy or too wily for the
predators. She lives on the roots in her garden and the
few birds and lizards she catches in snares. If asked her
name, she needs several moments to recall that the vil- oid. If characters are unwilling to sacrifice one of their
lagers called ber Nanny Pu'pu. own to save a fallen comrade, Nanny Pu'pu recommends
The hag wants two things from the adventurers: for they capture a goblin, a grung, or other humanoid and
them to destroy the nest of pterafolk on the south side bring it to her. Nanny Pu'pu kills the sacrifice, captures
of the plateau (see "Pterafolk Nest" below), and then to its spirit in the gemstone, and magically embeds the
become her meals for several months. She's not likely stone in the dead humanoid's forehead. After Nanny
to attack them openly. She'd rather get them off their Pu'pu speaks a prayer to Myrkul, the spirit of the sac-
guard and pick them off one by one, as she did with the rifice gains the knowledge and the personality of the
villagers. humanoid to which it is bound, in effect imitating that
Nanny Pu'pu isn't entirely alone. With a whistle, she humanoid's spirit. When the ritual is complete, the dead
can call forth 2d6 flying monkeys (see appendix D) humanoid awakens as if from a deep slumber, though it
that live in the trees, and she has a ftesh golem bur- is not alive.
ied in a shallow grave outside her small hut. The hag A character transformed by this ritual into the walking
uses the fiying monkeys to gather food and supplies, dead regains all its hit points and retains its statistics,
but they won't fight for her. The golem will, however; it except as noted here:
erupts from the earth as a bonus action if commanded
• The character is considered an undead, not a human-
to attack.
oid, and is subject to all effects that target undead. The
character doesn't need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe.
R ITE OF STOLEN LIFE
• The character's hit point maximum is reduced by ld4
Nanny Pu'pu is a worshiper of Myrkul, the Lord of
at dawn each day, representing the physical decay
Bones, and knows a ritual of transformation that can
of the body. No spell or effect can halt or counteract
turn a dead humanoid into a zombielike creature. Char-
this decay.
acters who bring their dead comrades to Mbala can ask
• If the character's hit point maximum drops to 0. the
Nanny Pu'pu to transform them into the walking dead.
gemstone embedded in the character's forehead
However, she does nothing for free. Wiping out the nest
shatters, and the character becomes a corpse
of pterafolk is the least payment she'll consider for this
once more.
ritual. She might also request a lock of Commander
Breakbone's hair and a few of his fingernails (see A character that is turned into the walking dead and
"Camp Vengeance," page 47) or one of Saja N'baza's later raised or resurrected loses all memory of being
iridescent scales (see "Orolunga," page 80). Either an undead creature, but it doesn't lose any levels or XP
would certainly be used in casting evil magic. gained while it was undead.
Nanny Pu'pu is the only creature in Chu It who can
perform the Rite of Stolen Life. The ritual takes 1 hour TREASURE
to complete and requires three things: a mostly intact The green hag keeps nothing of value in her hut. Her
humanoid corpse, a gemstone worth at least 100 gp, treasure is hidden in a cistern in the old village. Anyone
and, most disturbingly, the sacrifice of another human- who moves through the ruins notices the cistern. The
CHAPTER 2 I THE LAND OF CHUl.T