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The Full Bowl

The first thing you notice is the cracked stone bowl, still wet though no water falls anywhere nearby.

5 roomstempleeasy

The Full Bowl is a small temple cut into a limestone shelf beneath a ruined hill shrine. Its priests promised that no worshipper would leave hungry, but the sealed inner chamber now holds the shrine's starving guardian and the remnants of its failed miracle.

Cold mineral air carries the smell of wet limestone, old lamp oil, and stale incense. Water ticks from hidden cracks, while faint choral humming seems to rise whenever someone opens a sealed door. Pale blue light leaks from veins of glassy salt in the walls.

☠ Threat

The temple's guardian is a starving clay spirit called the Bowl-Keeper, formed from altar mud and the ashes of famine victims. It has learned to pull nourishment from living creatures, leaving them weak and hollow-eyed. The spirit cannot leave the inner shrine, but its whispers travel through cracks, urging intruders to open every sealed door and bring it fresh bodies.

History

The Full Bowl began as a famine temple raised by the grain-priest Otu Varga, whose boast was that every traveler could eat beneath his roof. When the famine ended, the priests sealed a hungry earth spirit beneath the inner shrine and fed it offerings of grain. A later earthquake broke the supply vaults, leaving the spirit trapped, furious, and slowly fed by the temple's own magic.

Encounter Table

CR
1/8CR
Temple Mitesx1d4

Ash-gray temple mites crawl in groups along the ceiling and feed on old offerings.

1/4CR
Clay Handx1

A half-formed clay hand drags itself through the dust, carrying scraps of pottery from the inner shrine.

1/8CR
Plate Ratx1d3

A blind white rat wears a bronze prayer plate around its neck and squeaks in imitation of the dungeon's humming.

Rumours & Whispers

1

The hill temple once fed a whole district from one bottomless bowl.

2

Travelers who camp near the hill hear someone counting empty dishes until dawn.

3

A blue glow beneath the stones means the old priest is still blessing the road.

4

The temple's guardian can be bribed with grain, though nobody agrees how much it wants.

Quest Hooks

1
Grain Beneath the HillInvestigation

Quest giver: Bori Pell, a tired mill clerk

A village granary has begun emptying overnight, and its stolen grain bears the same blue salt dust found in the temple.

A sack of silver trade bars and free grain for one season

2
The Missing PlateRecovery

Quest giver: Mila Varga, a potter's widow

A family prayer plate has been found in a dead pilgrim's pack, and the family wants it recovered before the temple's curse reaches their home.

A hand-painted healing bowl that restores a small amount of vitality once per day

3
The Road Is SinkingUrgent threat

Quest giver: Jaska, road warden

The sealed guardian is weakening the hill beneath the local road, threatening to collapse the only pass before winter.

A stamped travel charter and a repaired set of climbing gear

Corridor Notes

The eastern passage from Room 1

Shallow footprints in gray dust lead toward Room 2, then stop abruptly before the locked door.

Between Room 1 and Room 3

Small bronze prayer plates hang from hooks, each stamped with a different household name and blackened by soot.

The northern wall of Room 4

A thin draft smells of flowers despite the dungeon's cold, strongest near the secret door beside Room 4.

The passage between Room 4 and Room 5

Faded painted hands point toward Room 5, but every hand has had its fingers scratched away.

Visual sheet

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