Nucko the Button Thief

Backstory

Nucko's Backstory

Early Life and the Fire Nucko’s earliest memories are of the sea-salted winds of Hardaz and the cramped, warm house where his parents, Tovin and Marla, worked long days as dock laborers and fishmongers. They weren’t wealthy, but they were proud, honest, and fiercely protective of their only child. When Nucko was five, his parents fell asleep after a long day of work at the docks. Unfortunately for them, Nucko forgot to blow out a candle when he snuck outside to play with friends when his parents were sleeping. It was on the windowsill and although it was away from the drapes, a gentle breeze moved the cotton blinds to cover the small flame. By the time he returned, the house was gone. The fire had spread too quickly, and his parents never made it out. That guilt burned deeper than the flames, and it never left him. Since that day, Nucko has disliked fire and relies almost solely on his bromes to be his light in the darkness. Having to grow up an orphan and homeless now, Nucko learned fast that a child’s stomach didn’t care about grief. He had to steal fruit from market stalls, coins from careless sailors, and—eventually—entire purses from the belts of drunken dockhands. By six, he was already a shadow in the alleys, with impressive skills of being cunning, risky, and a willingness to do what he must. Although self taught, he became good at: lockpicking, sleight of hand, shadowing marks without being seen, and when to disappear. At thirteen, Nucko was given his memorable name. His mark was a seamstress known to smuggle gemstones sewn into the clothes of her wealthy customers. He broke in after dark, searching for the glimmer of hidden wealth. But what he found wasn’t emeralds or rubies—it was a jar full of buttons. Bright, shiny, colorful buttons. He couldn’t explain it, even to himself, but something about them caught his eye. He swept them into his satchel. The next morning, before he could pawn them, a street tough caught him and dragged him back to the seamstress. Instead of anger, she laughed. She found it ridiculous—an amateur thief stealing buttons. Word spread, and soon every person in the lower part of the city was calling him “Button Thief.” Nucko leaned into the joke. He began sewing buttons onto his coat—one from every city he visited, for every dangerous job he survived, for every light eyes he stole from. Now his coat is practically a walking mosaic of his life, and people know the legend before they know the man. Now, thirty, Nucko is a seasoned beggar and a master thief. He’s lighthearted in public, but it’s a mask for the guilt that still gnaws at him over his parents’ deaths. He is always looking for a new family as he has been alone for the majority of his life, and once he finds that family, he will be fiercely loyal. Some say he steals for profit, others for thrill. The truth? He steals to control something in a life where one small mistake burned everything he loved to ash. As of late, he’s been seeing a weird spot around. Every time he sees it he closes and rubs his eyes, then when he looks back, it’s gone. It has even freaked him out to a point of bailing on some heists. He expects it’s his eyes are failing him, but unfortunately he has stolen from every Eyesmith in the city, so he can’t get his eyes checked out. And if you cross him, well… you’ll find your coinpurse gone, your backdoor unlocked, and—just to make a point—a single colorful button missing from its place.

Important Campaign Notes

Nucko is a Lightweaver of the second Ideal - he’s bonded to his spren Masken.

• Nucko had the very first kill in the campaign, performing a sneak attack on an Envisagers priest.
• After the party escaped from the Envsiager hideout, Nucko met Nale in the Glyphpool in Bavland. Nucko tried to steal a button from Nale, but was unsuccessful.
  • Ravan helped Nucko negotiate a quest in which if they defeated the Envsiagers, that Nucko would get one of his buttons.
    • Eventually this quest was fulfilled and Nucko received one aluminum button from Nale
• Silnasen
  • Nucko was very busy in Silnasen where he:
    • Annoyed a shopkeeper so prolifically, the shopkeeper gave him 5 marks to leave him alone.
      • After annoying the shopkeeper, Nucko then proceeded to case his shop looking for ways to steal from him again.
    • After the party set a warehouse on fire, and fled the city to avoid getting caught, Nucko decided it was prudent to stop for chouta on his way out and left the party to go buy some.
• Vedenar
  • In Vedenar, Nucko learned that his best friend, Theren was wanted for treason. So he helped the party sneak down to the docks, where the Gavlin and Theren stole a boat and Nucko helped distract Marren Vethar by creating an illusion of Theren’s late father.
  • Nucko also swore his first ideal at the Vedenar docsk
• Kharbranth
  • Nucko arrived in Kharbranth and immediately got to work by trying to negotiate with the harbor master for better accommodations and pricing. Nucko failed an illusion test, but the party still worked out favorable terms
  • Nucko hired his first cousin, Jamma here! Jamma originally worked for Captain Sebarialand for Star, but he was able to hire Jamma away from his old employers.
  • Nucko found out that Kharbranth had a renowned button factory and museum, so naturally - he had to go
    • Him and Theren cased the factory looking to rob it, and Nucko started flirting with a local ardent named Lia. The only problem was that Nucko was disguised as Jarro when he did it - so Lia started developing feelings for Jarro.
    • Nucko convinced Lia to meet him at the factory late at night and Lia decided to take that moment to try and seduce Nucko by bedding him on a bed of buttons. Nucko decided to have her stay in that location while he doubled back and robbed the museum.
    • It was at this moment that Theren burned the museum down. Nucko and Theren got away with rare buttons and clothing’s, but the museum and factory burned down completely.
  • At this point Nucko, Theren, and Kael started to look for Ravan and Gavlin who had gone missing. They tried to sneak into the conclave, where Nucko tried to use illusion to get past the elderly female ardent, Luesh, but they almost killed her in the process.
  • Nucko played a great role in robbing King Taravangian’s copy of the diagram, using his transformation ability to turn floor into water and crashing a passionate couple’s night.
  • During the fight against Dahl and Yelig-Nar - Nucko’s greatest fear came true; He got a severe burn on his eye from fire, further deepening his fear of fire.
• Veden Civil War
  • Nucko spent a lot of time during the civil war sneaking around and gathering intel for the party.
  • Nucko swore his second ideal during this civil war.
  • During the fight against Theren and Nergaoul - Nucko was the one who killed his best friend and released him from the grips of the Thrill.
• Klna
  • Nucko was persuaded by the city lord, Stukov, to let him out of his cage. Nucko was persuaded and took the city lord back to the ship.
  • Stukov told Nucko that he would pay him handsomely if he would help him get his city back. Nucko used a span reed to communicate with Borash and inadvertently convinced Borash to come back to the city early, which caused Borash and his army to take over Klna temporarily.
  • Before the fighting at Klna happened, Nucko decided to leave and loot the city. He found a horse, did not do a good job putting a saddle on a horse and was subsequently captured by Borash’s army.
  • Nucko tried to escape by backflipping onto the horse with his bags and items, then transforming the soldier into water, but he was only able to transform the soldier’s clothes and armor into water - not the soldier himself.
    • This same soldier eventually took Nucko’s marks and buttons into a house to find new clothes, and it got set on fire.
    • Nucko ran into the burning building and recovered his buttons quickly, but had to navigate through the house to get his marks. He was unable to do so, until Gavlin came in and was able to retrieve them for him.