The Remembering Heap

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Large Ooze (sentient compost), Neutral Evil

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)

Hit Points 152 (16d10+64)

Speed 20 ft. climb 20 ft.

STR 20 (+5)

DEX 10 (+0)

CON 18 (+4)

INT 14 (+2)

WIS 15 (+2)

CHA 13 (+1)

Saving Throws Con +7, Wis +5

Skills Insight +5, Perception +5

Damage Resistances acid; cold; necrotic

Damage Immunities poison

Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, poisoned, prone

Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 15

Languages Common, Draconic, Sylvan, telepathy 60 ft.

Challenge 8 (3,900 XP) Proficiency Bonus +3

The Meal Ledger. The Remembering Heap remembers every creature whose flesh, blood, or possessions have been incorporated into it. When a creature deals damage to the heap, the heap records that creature's name, appearance, and scent in its ledger. The heap always knows the direction and approximate distance to a creature in its ledger while that creature is within 1 mile of it. The heap has advantage on attack rolls against creatures in its ledger, and its attacks against them deal an extra 1d6 psychic damage. A creature remains in the ledger until the heap dies.

Compost Without a Center. The heap can occupy the space of other creatures and move through openings as narrow as 2 feet wide without squeezing. It can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Voices Beneath the Rot. The heap can perfectly mimic any voice it has heard, including the voices of creatures in its ledger. A creature that hears the imitation can discern that it is false with a successful DC 16 Wisdom (Insight) check.

Recycled Instinct. The heap has advantage on saving throws against being stunned or restrained. It does not need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep.

Actions

Multiattack. The Remembering Heap makes three attacks: two Tendril attacks and one Compost Maw attack. It can replace one Tendril attack with a Memory-Spore Burst, if available.

Tendril. Melee weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature in the heap's Meal Ledger, it must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be grappled. The heap can grapple up to three creatures at once.

Compost Maw. Melee weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 16 (2d10+5) acid damage. If the target is a creature in the heap's Meal Ledger, the attack deals an extra 1d6 psychic damage as the target relives the memories of everything the heap has consumed.

Memory-Spore Burst (Recharge 5-6). The heap releases a cloud of gray-green spores in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on itself. Each creature in that area must make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature that fails the save is frightened of the heap until the end of its next turn. A creature in the heap's Meal Ledger makes this saving throw with disadvantage.

Turn the Soil. The heap pulls itself through the ground, moving up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks. Until the end of this movement, it can move through nonmagical earth, loose stone, roots, and refuse as if they were difficult terrain. The heap cannot end this movement inside a solid object.

Bonus Actions

Recite the Ledger. The heap whispers the names of up to three creatures in its Meal Ledger. Each named creature that can hear the heap must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on its next attack roll or saving throw before the end of its next turn.

Environment Forest, Swamp, Urban

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"You were sweeter when you were afraid. I have written that down." — the heap, speaking through a child's voice

Lore & Description

Appearance

The Remembering Heap is a sprawling mound of black soil, yellowing leaves, animal bones, spoiled fruit, splintered furniture, and scraps of burial cloth. Pale roots writhe through its sides like exposed veins, while dozens of half-rotted faces intermittently surface in the muck, mouths opening to whisper names. Its central maw resembles a compost bin split apart by a vertical, tooth-lined crack. Sickly green heat shimmers above it, carrying the smells of rain, grave earth, sour milk, and something unmistakably human.

Behavior & Origins

The heap began as the refuse pit of Saint Orra's Hospice, where the dead, kitchen waste, and battlefield remains were mixed together during a famine. A druid named Mellivar attempted to accelerate the decomposition with a ritual of shared memory, but the spell preserved every sensation instead. The resulting creature calls itself the Steward of Last Meals and keeps a meticulous list of everything it has consumed. It currently wants the brass-bound journal of Sister Vey, hidden beneath the ruined hospice at Bellwether Hill, because the journal contains the names of the first hundred people it remembers eating. The heap believes reclaiming those names will let it become a perfect ancestor for an entire village.

Running The Remembering Heap

Tactics

The Remembering Heap opens by using Recite the Ledger on the most dangerous-looking characters, then closes on a listed target with Turn the Soil and attempts to grapple it with its tendrils. It uses Memory-Spore Burst when three or more enemies are within range, preferring to frighten creatures already in its ledger. When bloodied, it drags a grappled victim into the center of its mass and fights until destroyed unless it believes the brass-bound journal at Bellwether Hill can still be recovered.

DM Tips

Telegraph the danger with scraps of paper nailed to nearby trees, each bearing the names of missing travelers and a brief note about how they tasted.
Give the heap multiple voices and let it quote private conversations that only a character in its Meal Ledger should know.
For a weaker party, reduce the heap's hit points to 114 and remove the extra psychic damage from The Meal Ledger; for a stronger party, let Memory-Spore Burst recharge on 4-6.
The heap should be played as patient and clerical rather than enraged: it pauses to correct pronunciations, update its list, and complain when a meal fails to meet its expectations.

Loot

The Brass-Bound Meal Journal — A warped journal sealed in brass, containing the names of the heap's earliest victims. Returning it to the descendants of Saint Orra's patients can end the creature's claim over the hospice.
Seed of Shared Memory — A warm, green-black seed found at the heap's core. Planted in consecrated soil, it grows into a tree whose fruit grants vivid memories of a deceased loved one, though each fruit also whispers one secret about the eater.
The Unspoiled Apple — A red apple preserved perfectly inside the heap for decades. It is harmless to eat and carries the final memory of a child who died at Bellwether Hill.

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Generation Info

Original prompt:
"CR 8: A compost heap that remembers being every meal it was made from. It keeps a list, and the party is on it."

Created: Sep 25, 2026
Modified: Oct 26, 2026

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