Chetney Pock O'Pea

Chetney Pock O'Pea is a gnome werewolf, blood hunter/rogue multiclass, and member of Bells Hells. He is played by Travis Willingham.

Before joining Bells Hells, Chetney has worked as a toy woodmaker in Oltgar's Chest of Uthodurn, but at one point he got into a violent argument with his colleague and had to flee the city. Chetney eventually came to the Savalirwood where he was bitten by a werewolf and where he encountered a branch of the Claret Orders who showed him the ways to control his newly obtained curse, using the rites of the Taming and embracing the teachings of the Order of the Lycan. Seeking to gain even better control of his new abilities, He set off to Marquet in search of Gurge Kisgregg and the Gorgynei.

Chetney is stubborn and pungent but has a soft side. He loves making toys for children and people who meet him on his journey, while recognizing only one material — wood.

Appearance
Chetney is an elderly gnome. He stands about 3 foot 4 inches and has well-muscled arms. On his right arm is a tattoo of a crown and the letters "RTA", which stand for "Recognize The Alpha". Tufts of silvery-grey hair sprout from and over his ears from under a beanie (knitted by Deanna Leimert) with ear straps pulled down tight on his head. He wears a leather chest harness, pointy-toed boots, and woodworking tools around his waist.

In his werewolf form, Chetney becomes taller, and his silvery-grey hair grows from his entire body. The transformation takes place quickly and results in his bones breaking and realigning and claws ripping through his existing fingernails. His voice is much deeper and gruffer as a werewolf.

During his visit in Uthodurn, Chetney bought himself a new outfit in the Catlyn's Clothier. A tracksuit made out of purple, blue, and green velvety fabric with stretching capabilities and durability to withstand a lycanthrope transformation and incorporated a removable hood. He also bought a sweat headband and wristbands.

Personality
Chetney loves woodworking, especially furniture making and toymaking. He works almost exclusively in wood and scorns the use of metal in craftsmanship; it may have been over this or a similar issue that he left his job in Uthodurn working for Oltgar. His skills as a woodcarver lend him skill in breaking and entering.

Chetney has shown himself willing to volunteer for risky situations within his skillset but hesitant to rush into danger that seems beyond his capability. He is quick to retort, stubborn-willed, and foul-mouthed but perceptive and capable under pressure.

Life in Uthodurn
At some point, around his 200s or 300s, Chetney Pock O'Pea moved to Uthodurn to work as a wood craftsman. He formerly made furniture but has since mostly found success as a toymaker, becoming particularly good at rocking horses. Hundreds of years before 843 PD, he met Deanna and had a brief fling while on vacation at a beach town that ended sooner than Deanna wanted.

Chetney was taught toymaking by for Oltgar Dradegon, and he worked for Oltgar at the Oltgar's Chest shop in the city's Deliberation Disk. Chetney got along well with Oltgar for quite some time, ultimately becoming second in authority at the shop, and he devoted his time to making masterful wooden toys. Eventually, some years before 843 PD, wooden toys fell out of fashion. Drixlitch Ovana suggested to Oltgar that kids more fond of things made out of metal and asked for share of the store's ownership in exchange for help in business. This drove a wedge between Oltgar and Chetney, who felt that Oltgar's consideration of the deal "betrayed the very craft". It escalated until Chetney stabbed Oltgar through the hand and Drix in the knee, then was chased out of Uthodurn by the Glassblades and hid in the Savalirwood.

After Uthodurn
After Chetney initially fled into the northern Savalirwood to escape the Glassblades, he lived for some time hunting and trapping in the wilderness. By mid-843 PD, many years later, he had spent almost a month total living in the Savalirwood itself. He largely kept to the edges of the forest.

In mid 843 PD, a couple months before (set in Sydenstar 843 PD), he snared an injured human werewolf in wolf form while trying to trap food. He killed the werewolf, but the werewolf bit him and Chetney contracted lycanthropy. Chetney was found shortly after by members of the Claret Orders, whom he believed were hunting the werewolf. The Claret Orders gave him opportunity to try to control his lycanthropy, with the intent to kill him if he could not. He took the Hunter's Bane to become blood hunter and was given basic training in hemocraft, in which he was found to be naturally adept.

He left the group, saying that "it didn't go well", and he was given a warning and ultimatum before he left that if he spread his lycanthropy, began to hurt others, or was too careless, they would find and kill him. At some point, he met a group of lycanthropes in the northern Savalirwood, including a woman named Rudina, though it is unclear whether they were the same group as the Claret Order blood hunters. Someone in the Savalirwood directed him to find aid for his lycanthropy with Gurge Kisgregg in Jrusar, Marquet. Chetney successfully found Gurge, who shortly grew tired of him and hoped to redirect Chetney to the Gorgynei instead. Gurge entered Jrusar to look for Ajit Dayal, who knew of the Gorgynei's location, and was kidnapped upon entering Jrusar, leaving Chetney without allies.

Campaign 3: Bells Hells
Chetney witnessed the yet-to-be-named Bells Hells fighting with a spitting mimic outside the Dreamscape Theater. When the party approached him, he asked them for help in finding Gurge. During the fight with Ira Wendagoth in, Chetney transformed into a werewolf and revealed his true intention for finding Gurge, due to them both being cursed with lycanthropy and eager to control their powers. Gurge directed Chetney to Ajit Dayal for more information, as he had since parted ways with the Gorgynei, the group of lycanthropes Chetney was hoping to find.

At the Chandei Quorum ball, Chetney was tasked in watching Cyrus Wyvernwind. In doing so, he discovered that Emoth Kade could command shade creepers and transform herself.

While in Heartmoor Hamlet, Chetney encountered Zadro Ichlen, a fellow artisan who had worked with his former boss, Oltgar, but while she also greatly disliked Oltgar, Chetney and Zadro did not get along. He also, during the heist of the Twilight Mirror Museum, briefly lost control of himself while gravely injured in werewolf form, and wounded Orym.

Once back in Jrusar, Chetney met Ajit, who told him that the Gorgynei had left the Oderan Wilds some time ago and were now in the Gloomed Jungles near Aeshanadoor. That night, prior to leaving the city again, this time for Bassuras, Chetney broke into the shop of Tuyen Otwana, who had overcharged him significantly for a chisel, and injured and intimidated her into setting fairer prices.

In Bassuras, Chetney realized that Dusk may not be who she said she was, and suspected her of being a bounty hunter looking for the Calloways.

As the party traveled to Yios on the Silver Sun, Chetney lost control of his lycanthropy during a Ruidus flare and attacked Orym and Fearne before regaining control. To prevent further incidents, he asked Khalil Benes for manacles, in which he slept for the next few days.

During a heavy rainstorm, the skyship landed in the Gloomed Jungles to wait it out, and Chetney took the opportunity to try to contact the Gorgynei. With the help of the rest of Bells Hells, he was able to do so, and after a brief conversation, the Gorgynei permitted the party to return with them to their hidden village of Barinak.. There, he discussed his concerns with Annaline, the leader of the group. She told him that since he had already taken the Hunter's Bane, further training would likely take weeks; when he said he did not have that kind of time, she left to consider other options. She returned shortly after and told him that while she was unsure if he was ready, the Gorgynei would bring him to Zha'Vrollo, the temple of Sahyaadon, to meet with the spirit and undergo her trials.

En route to Zha'Vrollo, Annaline took Chetney aside and questioned him regarding his blood hunter abilities and his feelings regarding his lycanthropy. She was satisfied with his assertion that he wished to use his powers for good, and did not see them as a curse. In return, she told him about the history of the Gorgynei, and about her own past. As she trained him in glyph work, Annaline told him that if he ever encounter Dorao, the elf weretiger who turned her, he should kill him.

At the temple, Chetney meditated to Sahyaadon and his intentions were searched by the spirit. He accepted the trial, and became a massive, bestial wolf and attacked Bells Hells. The party fended him off and attempted to get through to him, and were ultimately successful. Afterwards, Bells Hells and the Gorgynei all ran naked through the jungle.

As Bells Hells prepared for the apogee solstice, Chetney was the one to propose flying the Silver Sun into the Malleus Key. During the attack, he leaped onto Ludinus Da'leth but was thwarted by Ludinus's shield. When the key was activated, Chetney, along with FCG, Imogen, and Fearne, was teleported to the Crystalsands Tundra in Wildemount. Chetney recognized it immediately.

The "Team Wildemount" party not long after ran into two new companions, one of whom was Deanna, Chetney's ex, who had been dead for nearly 200 years before being resurrected about four years prior. She was initially angry at Chetney, but the two had a serious heart-to-heart the following day, and embraced. However, the magic of the apogee solstice made Chetney's lycanthropy harder to control, and he ran off to avoid harming the party. FRIDA followed him after realizing he was a werewolf, and tried to reach him, but Chetney attacked and bit them before coming to himself and running away again. He returned in the morning and apologized to Deanna. The party reached Uthodurn that day. Chetney, while invisible, explored both the Vellum Steeple library, and the Grandcast Citadel, where he carved his name into the back of the wooden throne and stole several gems while the rest of the party walked Umudara out of the city.

The following day, the group went to Oltgar's store, now named D&O Toy Emporium. Chetney initially hid from Oltgar, but joined the party when they agreed to rid the shop of creatures that had escaped due to failing enchantments. Imogen's Detect Thoughts revealed Oltgar was unhappy working with Drixlitch, and papers within the shop showed that Drix had been manipulating Oltgar, incurring debts, and forging documents. Chetney confronted Oltgar and apologized for stabbing him, then told him what Drixlitch had been doing. Oltgar admitted he missed woodworking and, at Chetney's threat, promised to sell the store and leave Uthodurn.

Ashton
Chetney's handcrafted carved wooden toy for Ashton was an articulated posable hand.

Dorian Storm
Chetney took a great dislike to Dorian when he met him. However, the two warmed up quickly, and Dorian directly called him a friend and a member of the party when patrolling the Moon Tower. When Dorian left Bells Hells to return to Tal'Dorei, Chetney's parting gift to him was a hand-carved wooden toy skyship.

Fearne Calloway
Chetney immediately liked Fearne. When the Bells Hells returned to Jrusar after defeating the Shade Mother, he rented an extra room at the Soot and Swill and invited Fearne to join him if she felt "the call of the wolf." She instructed him to howl for her at 3:00am exactly, and did get up to wait at 2:59am, but Chetney slept through it.

Fresh Cut Grass
Chetney immediately liked Fresh Cut Grass. FCG confided to Chetney about "Shithead," the bird that they believe is pursuing them and wants them "dead or worse." Chetney swore to protect them, and after this, Chetney was now considered a "trusted companion" of Fresh Cut Grass.

Laudna
Chetney was consistently alarmed by Laudna (though he was hesitantly delighted by Pâté). Chetney's gift to Laudna was a house for Pâté and Sashimi, carved from wood from the tree in Etan's Square, which Laudna accepted with tears of joy.

Notable items

 * Turmoil
 * Magical wood chisel, mechanically acts as a shortsword
 * Mallet, mechanically acts as a shield
 * Breastplate
 * Boots of Elvenkind
 * Gloves of Thievery
 * Butcher's Bib
 * Horn of Silent Alarm
 * Alchemist's supplies
 * Woodcarver's tools
 * Map of the Oderan Wilds
 * Two healer's kits
 * Two vials of skirath poison, formerly three vials
 * Wooden toolbox, engraved with his crown and RTA tattoo, gift crafted by Fresh Cut Grass
 * Annaline's pocket knife

Former items

 * Eversmoking Bottle, used during the heist at the Twilight Mirror Museum to slow down members of the Verdict, not found as the group left the museum and presumably taken by the Verdict.
 * A Bead of Imprisonment, given by Olly to capture Emoth Kade, which he did successfully.
 * Detailing chisel, given to Annaline after she gave him her pocket knife

Carved items
The following items were crafted by Chetney and are represented by a real object presented by Travis at the table, in the order they were presented:
 * skyship engraved with "S.S. Brontë", given to Dorian, requested
 * articulated hand, given to Ashton
 * moon-shaped dish, intended for Orym, discarded by Chetney, passed to Imogen
 * box engraved with three moons, given to Orym
 * dollhouse, given to Laudna for Pâté and Sashimi to live in
 * wolf figurine, given to Fearne
 * doll, requested by Laudna to be Pâté's girlfriend, discarded by Chetney when she received Sashimi, given to Fearne and named Caviar
 * three dolls representing Fearne, Ollie, and Birdie with textile clothing and real hair, given to Fearne
 * feelings wheel, painted with paints from Imahara Joe, given to Fresh Cut Grass
 * wind-up horse with wooden mechanisms, named Flora after Imogen's favorite horse growing up, given to Imogen

The following are additional items that were crafted by Chetney or mentioned to have been started:
 * tiny rocking horse, given to Artana Voe
 * coin, given to a guard at the Moon Tower
 * pair of feet, requested, given to Fresh Cut Grass and attached to trousers
 * wolf mask, for himself for the Chandei Quorum ball
 * tobacco pipe, started after Ashton needed their own to smoke with Dobby Kingsman
 * music box from A Taste of Tal'Dorei engraved with "To Mama Birdie and Papa Ollie" at Fearne's request, given to Birdie and Oleander Calloway
 * pet figurine matching the Calloway dolls
 * copy of his thieves' tools
 * coin, engraved with a symbol for Bells Hells, given to Orlana
 * tiny rocking horse with a wolf's head instead of a horse's head, given to Gwendolyn de Rolo, who named it Galdric
 * coin, engraved with "C-Pop Industries", given to Vex'ahlia
 * wolf's tooth, with detailed gum line and cavities, offering left at Zha'Vrollo
 * tiny rocking horse with a figure that has one large eye resembling Terrosh, to whom it was given to pay a toll
 * statuette of Umudara, given to Imathan Talviel

Gnome abilities

 * Darkvision
 * Gnome Cunning
 * Subrace: Forest gnome
 * Natural Illusionist: Minor Illusion cantrip
 * Speak with Small Beasts

Feats and other mechanics

 * Shadow Touched (Intelligence)
 * Invisibility (1/Day)
 * Inflict Wounds (1/Day)
 * Savage Spirit, granted after his trial at Zha'Vrollo
 * Because of Chetney's advanced age, by (possibly earlier) Travis began rolling a d100 with each long rest to see if Chetney had died in the middle of the night. If he rolls a 100, he will die.

Blood hunter abilities

 * Hunter's Bane (Hemocraft Die: d6)
 * Blood Maledict (2 known; 2/rest)
 * Blood Curse of the Marked
 * Blood Curse of Bloated Agony
 * Fighting Style: Dueling
 * Crimson Rite
 * Rite of the Flame
 * Rite of the Frozen
 * Blood Hunter Order: Order of the Lycan
 * Heightened Senses
 * Hybrid Transformation (Chetney becomes Medium while transformed)
 * Feral Might
 * Resilient Hide
 * Predatory Strikes
 * Bloodlust
 * Improved Predatory Strikes
 * Stalker's Prowess
 * Extra Attack
 * Brand of Castigation

Rogue abilities

 * Expertise
 * Sneak Attack (1d6)
 * Thieves' Cant

Trial of Sahyaadon abilities
In, during the trial of Sahyaadon at Zha'Vrollo, Chetney transformed into a larger, more powerful werewolf than his standard Hybrid Transformation and a red smoke trickled out of his chest. He still had access to blood hunter abilities that were not replaced by these stats, such as Rite of the Flame and blood curses. The statblock was titled "Chetney Unleashed".
 * Hit Points: typical 58 plus additional 60 (total 118)
 * Armor Class: 20 to 22 (increased from 19 in Hybrid Transformation)
 * Gained an additional 20 feet of movement for 45 feet total
 * Legendary Resistance: 3 total
 * Multiattack: He makes three claw attacks.
 * Bestial Regeneration: He can regain a die roll of hit points at the beginning of his turn.
 * Legendary Action: 3 per round. He eventually lost one permanently after a successful appeal to his senses. He retained his legendary actions when he was forced down into standard werewolf form.
 * Claw: He makes one claw attack.
 * Dash: He moves up to his movement speed.
 * Howl of the Hunter (costs 2 actions): All creatures within 30 feet must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for one minute. Frightened creatures can make another Wisdom saving throw at the end of their turns.

Behind the scenes
Chetney was conceived as a "true, legit" take on the character Chutney Chocolatecane, a Christmas elf Travis played in and in Narrative Telephone ' s "Chutney's Christmas Vacation"; Campaign 3 and the Critical Role special do not share continuity, and the gnome Chetney is distinct from the Christmas elf Chutney.

Chetney bears similar facial scars to his Christmas elf counterpart, and his knit cap alludes to Chutney's Christmas hat; similarly, both are armed with a weaponized wood chisel. As Chutney is a toymaking elf from the North Pole who rues the replacement of wooden toys with plastic ones, so Chetney is a toymaker from the snowbound northern city of Uthodurn who opposes the use of metal instead of wood in craftsmanship. Both Chutney and Chetney committed an act of violence against their former employer (Santa Claus and Oltgar respectively). Snowflakes are also depicted in the animation on Chetney's stat card, a further nod to his inspiration, and Chetney, a blood hunter, was initially stated to be a rogue like Chutney.

Travis wanted Chetney to join the party a little later in the story, so Chetney was not introduced until toward the end of. Instead, Travis played Bertrand Bell (a returning character) until and was absent from the table until Chetney's introduction.

Travis has a long-established fascination with werewolves and was expected to play as one for the second campaign, also choosing the Order of Lycan. However, the expectations alone and desire to play a spell caster, lead Travis to halt on this idea. His first appearance on-stream as a werewolf was in Gamespot one-shot streamed on 22 Mar 2016. Knowing about Travis' desire to play more games as a werewolf, Liam took this as a part of his inspiration to create.

Illustrator Hannah Friederichs pointed out that some details in his hat made it technically impossible to knit as shown in his portrait because some coloring suggested that the stitches were upside down and thus on the wrong side. As a result, she aimed to make the next knit item in a portrait, a shawl worn by Deanna Leimert, physically possible to create.

Appearances and mentions

 * Campaign 3, every episode beginning at

Quotations
Laudna: "Are you armed to the teeth?" Chetney: "Yes." Chetney: "I do now."
 * Chetney: (on meeting the party) "You're awfully nice. I mean, I could be fucking armed to the teeth. You don't know me."
 * Chetney: (explaining his woodworking past) "I started with furniture and there wasn't much of a market for that where I was. I wanted to make something that people loved, so I switched to toys. I'm particularly good at making rocking horses."
 * Chetney: "Woodworking is something I've had a passion for decades, maybe longer. I learned from some of the best." [...] "The wood speaks to you. You just have to be ready to listen."
 * Dorian: (to Chetney) "You have a friend, right? Like a group of friends?"
 * Chetney: (after admitting his lycanthropy to the party) "I won't lie. There are some things that I haven't told you yet, but I'm trusting you more, and I have selfish desires. There are people that need to die, and things that need to be righted, but that's down the road."
 * Chetney: Recognize the alpha.
 * Chetney: There was a time years ago where I would've just sat by my lonesome and hated you from afar, but there's a different side of me now, and he wants (snarling) to hunt.
 * Chetney:Yeah. Life can be long. It can be short, but boy, it can really be long sometimes.

Trivia

 * The animation on both his gnome and his werewolf stat cards is of falling snow.
 * Chetney is one of two members of Bells Hells with darkvision. Because Laudna acquired it magically through her sorcerer subclass, he is the only one who has darkvision naturally.
 * The RTA tattooed on Chetney's right shoulder stands for "Recognize the Alpha"; Matt emphasized in-universe that the concept of wolves having an alpha is based on outdated and disproven research popularized in The Wolf by L. David Mech, who has since disavowed the book's premise.