Nanny Pu'pu

Nanny Pu'pu () was a green hag and the lone inhabitant of Mbala in Chult as of the late 15 century DR.
==Description==
She appeared as an arthritic old crone, with skeletal features and sallow skin. She wore yellow clay streaked over her dark skinned face in an apparent design of a skull. She walked with such a pronounced hunch that she appeared almost bestial.
She was a worshiper of the deity Myrkul.
==Personality==
Nanny Pu'pu played the role of an old wise woman perfectly even as she conspired to kill and eat any travelers she met. Her preferred method was to isolate individuals from their friends and pick them off one-by-one in order to avoid direct conflict. She used trickery and illusions to lure potential victims to Mbala.
Those who sought out Nanny Pu'pu for her magical aid or for her knowledge had to be prepared to perform multiple, often dangerous favors for her: she never offered anything for free.
==Abilities==
Nanny Pu'pu was proficient in necromancy, notably the raising of zombies and the creation of crawling claws. She was the only person in all of Chult who knew the specifications of the Rite of Stolen Life, a ritual that could raise an individual as an undead that retained all of its memories and skills.
She was also able to use illusions to disguise not only herself but the whole of the ruins of Mbala to lure unsuspecting travelers into her clutches. She could throw her voice within Mbala, allowing her to speak to or taunt intruders without revealing herself to them. 
==Possessions==
Within the remains of Mbala, Nanny Pu'pu made her home in a "hut" southwest of the town entrance. This structure was in fact the rib cage of a massive reptile that was covered in thatch and animal hides and festooned with windchimes made of made of animal skulls, shells, feathers, and other totems. She maintained a small root garden as well as animal snares for food.
If she acquired any treasures, such as gemstones or spell scrolls, she did not store them in her hut but instead stashed them in a sack made of human skin that she hid in a secret, flooded compartment in Mbala's old cistern. At some point, she came into possession of ten adamantine ingots from Hrakhamar.
==Relationships==
Nanny Pu'pu had a flesh golem guardian that she kept in a shallow grave outside her hut. She also used a number of flying monkeys to gather food and other items. Her monkeys were known to ambush and steal from travelers near Mbala.
She was hated by the jungle guide Eku, who regarded her as one of Chult's greatest villains and encouraged goodly adventurers to slay her. She was also known, at least by reputation, to both Blaze Liara Portyr, leader of the Flaming Fist at Fort Beluarian, as well as to Commander Niles Breakbone, leader of the Order of the Gauntlet at Camp Vengeance. Nanny Pu'pu was interested in acquiring bits of Commander Breakbone's hair and nails for use in her nefarious magics, and one of her charms ended up in his possession. She also had evil designs for Saja N'baza, the guardian naga of Orolunga, and desired Saja's scales for use in her magic.
She wished to destroy a flock of twenty pterafolk that had taken up residence on the southside of Mbala, and this flock was sufficiently scared of her that they wore protective charms in the shape of her effigy. Similarly, she wished death on a local tribe of Batiri goblins who coveted her magic and would attempt to steal things from her in hopes of acquiring shamanistic power.
When Valindra Shadowmantle took up residence within the Heart of Ubtao in the late 15 century DR, Nanny Pu'pu wished to be rid of her.
==History==
She was well-known as a powerful witch doctor among the people of Chult, and was said to have been around for as long as anyone could remember.
At some point, Nanny Pu'pu killed and ate the inhabitants of Mbala while posing as an old witch doctor, slowly winnowing their numbers as she consumed them one-by-one. She kept their skulls at the entrance to the settlement. Over the years, the town fell into ruin and the skulls bleached in the sun. By the late 15 century DR, this was a sufficiently distant memory that it took her a few moments to even recall that the villagers had called her "Nanny Pu'pu". If visitors arrived at the ruins, she claimed to merely be an old woman who was the sole survivor of a yearslong massacre by the nearby pterafolk.
When the worldwide death curse was identified as originating in Chult during the late 15 century DR, many suspected that Nanny Pu'pu had knowledge of the curse's origin. In truth, she knew little about it, although she did know of Omu and of the Tomb of the Nine Gods—if not their precise location— and shared this information with one group of adventurers in exchange for their help driving Valindra Shadowmantle from the Heart of Ubtao. Meanwhile, she aided another group of heroes by "reviving" their companion Celeste with the Rite of Stolen Life in exchange for them retrieving her stolen juju bags from a tribe of Batiri.
On or just before the 14th of Alturiak that followed the appearance of the death curse, she waylaid a merchant caravan on its way to Camp Vengeance and fooled the survivors into following her to Mbala to seek refuge. There, she killed and either ate or reanimated the whole caravan with the exception of a tabaxi minstrel named Birdsong, whom she kept in a cage for her entertainment until a rescue party arrived.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
===Appearances===
===External Links===
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===References===
Category:Green hags
Category:Worshipers of Myrkul
Category:Inhabitants of Mbala
Category:Inhabitants of Chult
Category:Inhabitants of the Chultan Peninsula
Category:Inhabitants of Southwest Faerûn
Category:Inhabitants of Faerûn
Category:Inhabitants of Toril