Remnant Compost
Armor Class 11 (natural armor)
Hit Points 11 (2d6+4)
Speed 20 ft.
Skills Perception +3
Damage Resistances poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages understands Common but can't speak
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2
Actions
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"No, no. That was the pear day. The pear day comes after the rain." — Old Mara, moments before disappearing into the heap
Lore & Description
Appearance
This squat mound of black-brown compost is threaded with pale roots, eggshell shards, splintered bones, and the ghostly outlines of vegetables that have long since rotted away. Tiny blue mushrooms glow between its folds like watchful eyes. When it moves, it slumps and reforms rather than walking, leaving warm, steaming footprints that smell in turn of every meal ever thrown upon it.
Behavior & Origins
A Remnant Compost forms when a household, orchard, battlefield, or monastery feeds a compost heap for generations while one of its caretakers dies desperately protecting something nearby. The heap absorbs not only refuse but impressions: the taste of stolen apples, the scent of a child's porridge, the bitterness of a murdered gardener's last meal. It guards an empty place—a vanished shrine, a demolished cottage, a lost grave—as faithfully as if the object still stood. The heap at Briarwell Orchard protects a circle of bare soil where the orchard's first tree once grew, and it attacks anyone who tries to plant something new there.
Running Remnant Compost
Tactics
The heap begins with Reenact the Feast to frighten intruders, then uses Sour Lash against the nearest creature while remaining within 30 feet of its protected spot. It uses Spit of the Forgotten Meal against anyone who keeps their distance and fights stubbornly even when badly wounded, but stops attacking a creature that speaks gently, offers food, or accurately names one of the memories it carries.
DM Tips
- Telegraph the creature with impossible smells, phantom chewing sounds, and scraps arranged in the shape of a doorway around the protected spot.
- Give the heap a halting, childlike voice made from several remembered voices; it may call strangers by the names of long-dead diners.
- A party can avoid combat by placing a meal, seed, or keepsake at the empty protected site and promising not to disturb it.
- For a stronger party, let Reenact the Feast recharge on a 5-6; for a weaker party, remove the healing-prevention rider from Sour Lash.
Loot
- Seed of the First Tree — A blackened seed found in the heap's core. It will sprout only when planted at the forgotten site the heap guards.
- The Tin Lunch Pail — A dented pail bearing the initials of the caretaker whose memories animate the heap; inside is a perfectly preserved wooden spoon.
