Ch--- / Chantrelle Pittypat / Charity Milkbath / Cherry Merrybottom

Born on the 2nd day of Winter, 787WA, Charity Milkbath (nee Cherry Merrybottom) is the official chef of the The Ladies' Hiking Club.

Personal History

Born in the Warrens of Hundred House, Cherry Merrybottom lived a wholesome and happy life in the hospitality business. After a number of decades refining her craft and saving up a considerable stash of coin in the hustle and bustle of the subterranean Warrens, Cherry and her husband Bobbin bought out the retiring owners of the Double Pudding Pub in the remote suburb of Cricklewood.
Under her management, the Double Pudding went from an unremarkable rest-stop for travellers on their way to and from The Corran Empire to a destination in its own right, and a warmly welcoming local favourite.

An Unusual Encounter at the Double Pudding

Just after the dawn following Stille'en in 866WA, Ch--- had a vivid recollection in the form of a dream. She dreamed about the time she was closing up the Double Pudding and two guests, diminutive even for Hobbits, were disinclined to leave. They were drawing out their dessert and picking away at it long after closing, while Trish cleaned upstairs and her husband Bobbin played the clarinet. While in the process of encouraging their exit, the two acted faux-scandalized at seeing candles snuffing themselves out and brooms releasing themselves from the closets, while maintaining an undertone between themselves of being not at all surprised at these events.
When Dozer Findhaven re-entered the pub in search of mittens left on the hearth, he spotted the awkward situation and encouraged the cackling guests to leave. This seemed to be the cause for even further mirth as one -- Gary -- suggested to the other -- Greg -- that Dozer seemed to think they should leave quickly. This was for some reason hilarious to Greg, who encouraged Gary to go on. Gary called out to Dozer as he left, "You know, if you lived here, you'd be home by now!" This patently unfunny remark sent Greg into hysterics.
After a couple of whip-smart remarks, both crafty and commendably assertive, Gary was prevailed upon to go. He complimented Cherry's charm, fortitude and the pub itself, and gathered up his colleague to go. As he left, he gestured to Bobbin, encouraging Cherry to "mind that one", and wished them some wonderful years together. On the way out, he stepped over a turtle that had found its way to the doorstep, half-buried under Dozer's cap.
Two things stood out to Cherry about this dream. First, she'd nearly forgotten these strange men that had left a tip in the form of six gold nuggets the size of corn kernels. She was now more familiar with those tokens as the prizes they'd achieved for success in the games run in the Seelie Court. Second, while she did have this memory, it was tainted somehow by the deterioration of Bobbin. His normal pipeweed coughs grew extended and awful, and over the course of the episode with the guests he seemed to age horribly and lose a drastic amount of weight. Still, by the time Gary left Bobbin was looking fresh as a daisy. She is still struggling with what her mind, or whatever weird forces influence dreams, was trying to tell her with the addition of that unsettling detail.

Death of Bobbin, Departure for Adventure

When her husband died at the fairly hale age of 82 under unfortunate and personally traumatic circumstances, Cherry found herself untethered. Running the inn just wasn't the same. She did not have any children, though she cared for her brother's, and little to tie her to the Double Pudding save for her love of hospitality and gossip, and the employees that she considered a second family.
On the 27th of Summerfall, 866WA, Cherry made up her mind, loaded a pack and headed out for the wild unknown. She was undertaking a daring adventure to Bridlip, the nearest Human city about a day and a half away on foot. She intended to have an adventure there for a few days, pick up some new ingredients and recipes, and then see where her feet would direct her next.
She was in Booth's Charcuterie buying new spices when the first horns sounded, heralding the Siege of Bridlip. In all the commotion, she found herself shoved into a stable for safety along with the elderly, the infirm, the infants of the town and the other future members of The Ladies' Hiking Club.

Adventuring Career

Introduction to Adventuring in Bridlip

Together with the rest of the ladies of the Club, Cherry survived the initial assault on the town and took shelter inside catacombs that turned out to be a Yishanim "Lighthouse" buried below the local temple. She found herself nearly useless in combat at first, but through an abject fearlessness and a steadfast determination not to let her newfound friends down, she found herself to be quite handy with a dagger.

Killin' and cookin' aren't that different, except one involves moving a little more. Meat is meat, after all. - Cherry Merrybottom

That did not appear to be her only skill, however. She proved to be not only handy with a dagger but caught up in strange coincidences involving offensive magic. Cherry tended to stab people hard enough to blast them backwards into walls. When she was injured, she sometimes blacked out only to find her enemies splattered to paste. She was aware that she had some rudimentary magical capability, nothing too uncommon for those that put some effort in -- but over time her friends became increasingly suspicious that she may be possessed by a demon, some archfey noble or (possibly worst of all) some form of wild magic.
Cherry fared the worst of the four in the Lighthouse in terms of luck, being only inches from death twice. Once when a flailing, blinded Hobgoblin commander cut her nearly in half with a sweeping stroke from a greatsword; and again when facing The Silent Man in the Lantern chamber in the deepest part of the Lighthouse. He nearly strangled her to death, and his deft maneuvering resulted in one of Clytemnestra "Fanny" Glitters's knife thrusts intended for him being buried deep in Cherry's side. She still has nightmares about the frenzied, hungry look on his face as the knife was buried and he anticipated her death. In both cases, magical blasts lashed out at her assailants, beating them against the nearest hard surfaces. Similarly, however, in both cases Cherry was scarcely aware of them.
When the adventure beneath the surface was over and the catacombs appeared to be cracking, she left with her new friends and resolved not to go home. In her estimation, her adventure was far from over.

Journey Through Hundred House

Cherry was disappointed when the Club decided the safest way to make their path to the Wandering City was back the way she came -- through Hundred House and the The Overcroft. It was the opposite of adventure as they meandered back past Cricklewood and the Warrens, and worst of all she ended up taking a ride with her brother-in-law Tumner Merrybottom down to Lakeshore as if she'd never left. The group ditched him as they chased a lost dog through the woods and towards the hamlet of Peachton.

Devastation at the Purple Peach

During one of the group's more harrowing adventures, Cherry was forced to try to soothe a demon that had seized control of a Halfling pub called The Purple Peach and locked its guests into an eternal stay for entertainment purposes. At a critical juncture, once the Ladies' Hiking Club had determined that the demon was imprisoned in the hearth and the demon had rearranged the pub furniture to prevent access to it, Cherry was badly singed by a fireball that blew the barricade apart.
When the adventure was over, her friends once more began expressing their concerns about the magical events that seemed to be following them around, unable or unwilling to blame those events on the magic users or the demilich clone and focusing their concern on a barmaid instead. In her darker moments, she wonders if the humans in the group might be basing their assumptions on racial stereotypes about magical forest folk.

Investigation into Magical Abilities

In part to satisfy their constant inquiring, Cherry ultimately inquired of Beulah Garland how one learns new cantrips, and began a study of them. She was a quick hand at it, so to speak, but no more so than the average court wizard or local bard.

Performances in the Wandering City

Cherry gave a riveting performance of a cover version of the penultimate aria in The Sack of Gosmerley at the Scarlet Squid Inn in Rightfin. She adjusted the lyrics into the Halfling language and sang about her estrangement from Horsley. The performance attracted the attention of music nerds that had previously condescended to her at the opera itself. One in particular, Chester Chalmers, approached her to offer his "assistance" in beginning a musical career before being steered away by Beulah Garland.

Charity Milkbath: The Impenetrable Alter Ego

After taking a jaunt down to Chelsea, Cherry returned with a stunning crimson outfit and a glamorous pillbox hat. Peaseblossom accompanied her on the trip and engaged in an hours-long debate about what it feels like to be a Zaratan. Their symposia on puffery and hypotheticals is becoming a charming mainstay of their growing bond.
Having been attired in travelling and work gear for their entire friendship, both Beulah and Clytemnestra were entirely unable to recognize their friend and longstanding companion. While Vega gave her an immediate compliment and Cherry finally had to reveal herself to Beulah, events conspired to draw Clytemnestra away before she was able to connect this stylish Hobbit with the frumpier one that cooks her breakfast.

Sewer Exploration and Vanishing Act

While exploring the Portside Sewer with Beulah, Cherry kicked at an unusually still patch of water in the pool and agitated one of three lurking Gelatinous Cubes, who awoke and pounced upon them both. Almost immediately one had seized Beulah, enveloped her and began devouring her. Vega managed to dash on to the scene just in time to save Beulah's life, but she was still being dissolved alive with no apparent means of escape. Diving upon the cube in desperation, intending in any way she could to free Beulah, Cherry was knocked off course by another of the cubes and -- just before making contact with the water beyond -- vanished, along with Beulah and Peaseblossom with a thunderclap.
When Cherry finally regained consciousness, she was immediately aware of her extremities freezing. She came to and was stunned to discover that all she could see was snow, snow in every direction. She wandered for some time, happening upon some coal and ultimately the carcass of an auroch that had been slashed by a passing Roc.
She made a rough cloak from its frozen hide and tucked into its abdominal cavity for the night, lighting the coal to keep warm. Within a few hours, she noticed the snow melting and an artificial black stone surface beneath her. After some chipping away at the mortar, she was able to sing and grab the attention of the residents of the structure below, a comparatively friendly group of dwarves resident in Dun Argor: a people Cherry had never encountered before in her life.

After some strong drinks and pipeweed, Cherry (hereafter in her alter ego as Charity Milkbath) satisfied the dwarves that she was not a threat and joined them in song and feasting. While some remained skeptical of her, the overall opinion was that she was quite an addled and harmless creature that would be welcome in the future (though not too often).
Charity was ejected from the Dun by toboggan (a charitable measure!) and as a much lighter creature than the run was intended for, careened off-course and fell backwards into one of the portside rushing waters. Nearly drowning from the fall and the shock, she managed to pull herself back up to the surface and collapse, exhausted from her travails, in the mud of Ferner's Field.

Ambush and Assault on the Shell

Charity did herself up nicely for the investiture ceremony for Gavinus Garland, taking on a new, more urbane, sardonic and sophisticated persona for the occasion. Chantrelle Pittypat made her big entrance at the Commissioner's Hall but was reluctantly drawn into dealing with a kitchen fire situation upon entry: a trap seemingly designed for her, involving bait in the form of a pub kitchen emergency, incompetent service personnel, anti-magic powder and exterior locks intended to keep her in the burning room.
Chantrelle spent the next few days supporting her friend Beulah in her emotional extremity while simultaneously making inquiries as to how best to meet the Zaratan. On Stille'en she was shocked by Vega's gift to her: an extraordinarily potent Potion of Animal Friendship created from the centuries-old distillate from The "Lighthouse". This completely unique artifact seems as though it will give Chantrelle the opportunity innumerable scholars, philosophers, historians and cultists have been coveting for centuries: a chance to speak with the most ancient being on Oa.
After the gift exchange, Chantrelle joined in on The Assault on Anthur-Ro and, apart from an unfortunate episode of falling into the sewage during a basilisk attack in the Portside Sewer, has been a stalwart component of the Outside Team.

Unkind Allegations of Death

Chantrelle's supposed friends began a campaign of trying to convince her she'd died again after encountering The Silent Man and his compatriots in The Non-Canonical Demiplane. She had been fighting them and getting knocked around a bit, but she got up in a different corner of the room from the one she started in. It's not the first time that's happened when she's been in trouble. You'd think her magical friends would have a better grasp of these things.

Encounter with Tarts and Bob

In the heat of the assault on Anthur-Ro, Chantrelle managed to have a bit of a ball. The catacombs were a hardship, but she did rather enjoy the ice halls with doors that kind of went everywhere and nowhere without any apparent rhyme or reason. And when the group did manage to effect a jailbreak of Tarts McGillicuddy and "Bob", she played a pivotal role. She gradually began to take more of a leadership position in the group, more than once calling out Beulah's tendency towards offering orders like she was back on her pirate ship, and at one point taking matters into her own spectral hands and telekinetically shoving "Bob" out of his cell and down into the abyss of utter stasis in which he will, it is assumed, be falling forever. He had threatened Fanny, who had lunged at him. People simply don't get to speak to her friends that way.
After a harrowing escape, in which Tarts McGillicuddy sadly fell to his doom in a crevasse below the high road to Anthur-Ro, Chantrelle eagerly joined the rest of the ladies in escaping to the Gutterpunk, which had arrived to the city's starboard with the rest of Lucida Baldelli's reaver fleet.

Adventures at Sea

Aboard ship, Chantrelle proved to be a surprisingly able sailor. Beginning her work as a mascot of sorts but quickly earning the respect of the crew with her stubborn dedication and clear passion for the sea, Chantrelle quickly picked up the basics of rigging and operating a ship. She celebrated her 80th birthday party with her friends below decks, and happened to be on duty when the fleet encountered a colossal squid that sank four ships and threatened to do no less for the Gutterpunk.
Vega ultimately settled the beast with some divine magic and prompted it to return to the deep -- but not before wresting some Yishanim artifacts from it. (The creature was waving a wreck of the Old Ones around as an example of another noisy boat it had to crush.) For her part, Chantrelle retrieved an enormous claymore from the wreck's storeroom, finding it light as a feather underwater -- and equally light after its recovery aboard ship. None of the rest of the crew, however, were able to lift it. Ever since, Chantrelle has been puzzled by the weapon, which seems to her to feel hollow or abandoned somehow.

Thievery, Various Sneakings-About and a Second Lighthouse

Chantrelle's general aversion to large cities was only confirmed by the experiences she had in the lawless city of Nessardine. After nearly coming to blows with Dano, one of Joker Dith's lieutenants as he attempted to extort the group, Ch-- decided to go with the flow in her new environs, tagging along with Fanny for some extended lessons in clandestine mayhem. She proved just as quick a study in the thieving arts as she was in sailing -- almost preternaturally so -- and she impressed her tutor mightily as they searched the city for Gavinus Garland. They raided a counting-house in so doing, prompting both to reflect on the long way the two had come from their early clashes over morality, private property and friendship. It turned out the two of them together proved quite effective as scofflaws of generally noble intent.
At length, the Ladies' Hiking Club discovered and explored a second Yishanim temple containing a lighthouse. This time, however, it was apparent that Decima Overmere's forces had already been through the depths of the dungeon and had made off with the relic. In the course of exploring that lighthouse, Cherry came across the corpse of the legendary Hobbit adventurer Brix impaled on a series of spikes while seeking to recover a powerful potion. Using her newfound skill at sneakery, Cherry pilfered the Mirror of the Darling Never from his dessicated body and made it her own.
Hidden behind the altar guarded by the necromancer Ammahud Shelomoth was an orrery that seemingly held the secret to the locations of all the other lighthouses on Oa. The ladies jotted down all the data they required and headed for the hills. After a clever escape orchestrated by Gavinus, Ch-- accepted most of the responsibility for sailing the Last Chance to Tenthun under his command.

Legend Lore

Without announcing her intentions to anyone, Vega decided to cast Legend Lore targeting Ch--, seeking to know if there was a legend about her anywhere. To her surprise, Peaseblossom emerged from the resulting arcane cloud, and offered the following poem describing the Seelie Court's tale about Ch--:

• Come gather and I’ll tell a tale
• You’ll snort and spit out all your ale
• You might even puke
• When you hear of the fluke
• That has all of our lives on a scale


• Now as some of you Nobles recall
• The material plane, one and all,
• Was put to the sword
• By our great oaken lord.
• Sylvanas intended we fall.


• Once the fellowship foiled his plot
• And his vengeance amounted to naught
• Our work was begun
• There was much to be done
• We forgave but we never forgot


• Drummers, start up your drumming
• And harpists, put fingers to strumming
• Now you might think it odd
• To challenge your god
• But in fairness he has this shit coming


• It can take several hundreds of years
• And blood, sweat and buckets of tears
• To draw up the runes
• And wait for the moons
• To line up like fine clockwork and gears


• The Green Dream was supposed to entwine
• With Mote’s essence when three moons align
• Then the power of creation
• With pomp and elation
• Would be up to our Court to define


• So we set out and set up an altar
• And vowed not to flag or to falter
• But finding your mark
• In the rain and the dark
• Is really hard, guys, it seems easy, believe me I’ve heard it but I don’t even want to get into it right now


• So the fey are less mage and more poet
• And their timing had caused them to blow it
• If you’re crafting a curse
• You’d better rehearse
• So the spell hit a half-mile below it


• Thus the essence of all of creation
• And the spirit of our Seelie Nation
• Went into the ground
• And eventually found
• A disastrous host and location!


• The child that dwelt underneath,
• Now magically armed to the teeth,
• Grew up craving adventures,
• While filling up trenchers
• With barley and kidney and beef.


• Now the energy pushed through that portal
• Accidentally came to a mortal
• So her powers were ready
• While our plans were unsteady
• And this was no cause for a chortle


• Nearly half of our Court was deployed
• Over eighty long years to avoid
• The premature flight
• Of that ginger delight
• Thus we kept the young barmaid employed


• All our toils were nearly undone
• By the untimely passing of one
• Who swore her his wealth
• In sickness and health
• But who should have stayed out of the sun


• His passing left Mote with a mission
• As the last levy for her ambition
• He was raised and returned
• To the dank old tavern
• To cage her of her own volition.


• His first death was a mere appetizer;
• For fifty more years his shade prized her
• Then with Mote as a guide
• More conveniently died
• And our barmaid was never the wiser


• Sooooooo
• There once was a barmaid named Cherry
• With powers both awesome and scary
• A powerful rival
• With cause for reprisal
• So it’s best she not know she’s half-fairy

Apprenticeship in the Stealthy Arts

Beginning with knocking over a counting-house in Nessardine, Cherry has eagerly been studying the dark side of the law under Fanny's tutelage. She has been picking up skills at a startling rate, to the extent that Fanny has declared that she would stand up for her at the Guild of Knife-Throwing Ladies. Despite Cherry's aptitude, Fanny has been occasionally dismissive of her as a peer as she seeks to take on a mentorship role. The pair came to an impromptu knife-throwing duel briefly on board the Last Chance as they arrived at Dartwright. The tension sent Peaseblossom into a snit, and she departed the group for a few days until "everyone was friends again".

Break for the Red Osprey Keep

Ch--, Fanny and Peaseblossom broke for the Red Osprey Keep from Dartwright in an attempt to rescue Fanny's likely daughter Alys Caithness from an advancing army of Illinsi soldiers. They were riding a very impressive black filly that they have yet to name, who is a bit wild but can run like rolling thunder.  Upon arriving at the beseiged Abbey, however, Fanny unfolded her Portable Hole to discover that storing the Ebon Door, the locus of a potent multiplanar rift, within the pocket dimension of Fanny's Hole had created some sort of eldritch vacuum.  A horrible, indescribable echoing voice boomed through it from the beyond.
Caught in the suction of the void, Ch-- decided to embrace her curiosity rather than to fight the forces drawing her in.  Seeing her go, Peaseblossom shrieked for her and followed.  The two adventurers found themselves in a null grey expanse comprised of nothing but the distant echoes of that primordial howl and two doorways on either side of them.  From one emanated the sound of fingernails scraping on glass; from the other, the scent of fresh-baked bread.

Campaign Friendships

In the course of her adventuring, Charity's naturally hospitable nature has led to a surfeit of friends being made along the way. She made cookies for the skeletal toddler Irma. She even attempted to get along with Anthur-Ro emissary "Bob" when the rest of the group were skeptical of his intentions, and more than once has traded recipes and stories with local tavernkeepers. She has forged a warm friendship with the group's Feywild ambassador, Peaseblossom, whom she occasionally treats (not unwelcomely) as a pet in addition to a colleague. After encountering a stray horse left on a path as bait, Charity befriended it, naming it Horsley. She only reluctantly sent it back to its owner when it was impossible to bring it along downriver at Echadnaur. She made fast friends with the dwarves of Dun Argor on the Wandering City and is one of the rare outsiders to have been invited back.
Ch-- is also one of the very few beings in history known to have communed with Azmouf, the Zaratan whose shell forms the Wandering City. She found her to be a lovely and compassionate creature, possessed of ancient wisdom and some relationship to the Tarrasque of old. She was, at the time of that conversation, the only other creature alive aware that the Zaratan was about to become a mother. Azmouf asked her to tell the little darlings on her shell. Cherry forgot.

Interests

• Boats
• Dwagons
• Recipes Other Than Tilapia
• Spices
• Moustaches
• Stealing

Alignment

Lawful Good

Age

79

Date of Birth

2nd of Winter

Birthplace

The Warrens, Hundred House

Current Residence

Double Pudding Pub, Cricklewood, Hundred House

Eyes

Green

Hair

Red

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale

Height

2'11"

Weight

45 lbs.

Aligned Organization

The Ladies' Hiking Club

Related Historical Events

• 16473
  The Siege of Bridlip
• 16394
  Birth of Cherry Merrybottom