Cyhyraeth

APPEARANCE

This ghostly figure wears and tattered cloak and carries a wicked staff, both of which seem to disintegrate in the wind. Periodically, the figure hunches over as if feeling the effects of a wracking cough. A mournful moan accompanies the fit of coughing.

Cyhyraeth CR 15/MR 6

XP 51,200
NE Medium undead (incorporeal, mythic)
Init +12; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +20

DEFENSE

AC 33, touch 33, flat-footed 24 (+14 deflection, +8 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 260 (17d8+184)
Fort +13, Ref +13, Will +13
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, incorporeal, natural invisibility, rejuvenation; DR 10/cold iron and epic; Immune undead traits

OFFENSE

Speed fly 40 ft. (perfect)
Melee incorporeal touch (staff) +22 (8d6/19–20 plus swirl of unseen mist^MA), incorporeal touch (hand) +22 (5d6)
Special Attacks corpselight attraction^MA, curse of accidents^MA, doom staff^MA, heart grip^MA, mythic power (6/day, surge +1d8), tri-fold moan of demise^MA

STATISTICS

Str —, Dex 27, Con —, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 27
Base Atk +12; CMB +20; CMD 45
Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Following Step, Improved Initiative, Mobility^MF, Spring Attack^MF, Step Up, Step Up and Strike, Weapon Focus^MF (incorporeal touch)
Skills Fly +16, Intimidate +27, Knowledge (arcana, local) +16, Perception +20, Spellcraft +17, Stealth +21
Languages Common
SQ cowering fear^MA

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Corpselight Attraction (Su)

When a cyhyraeth induces fear in another creature or causes a death with its tri-fold moan of demise, as a free action it can call a will-o’-wisp to its side. The will-o’-wisp arrives at the beginning of the cyhyraeth’s next turn. If the cyhyraeth expends one use of mythic power, it applies the agile mythic simple template to the will-o’-wisp.

Cowering Fear (Su)

If a cyhyraeth succeeds at demoralizing a foe for more than 1 round, the foe spends the first round cowering. If the cowering creature begins its turn with additional rounds of demoralization remaining, the cyhyraeth can expend one use of mythic power as an immediate action to force the demoralize foe to remain cowering on the foe’s turn.

Curse of Accidents (Su)

Once per day as a full-round action, a cyhyraeth can curse a location or vessel no larger than 200 cubic feet in size. If the object is magical or attended, it receives a DC 26 Will save to avoid this effect. While the location suffers from the curse of accidents, a natural 1 on any attack roll, attribute check, or skill check performed within the location has a 50% chance to deal 5d6 points of damage (bypassing hardness) to the location, or to the creature that rolled the natural 1 and all those within 30 feet of the creature. This is a curse effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Doom Staff (Su)

A cyhyraeth’s incorporeal attack with its staff has a critical threat range of 19–20. When the cyhyraeth confirms a critical hit with its staff, it can attempt to demoralize the target as a free action.

Heart Grip (Su)

A cyhyraeth can take an attack action to make an incorporeal touch attack with its hand; this attack suffers a –4 penalty. On a successful hit, the target must attempt a DC 26 Fortitude save. On a successful save, the target is stunned for 1 round; on a failure, the target is knocked unconscious. Slapping or wounding an affected creature, requiring a standard action, awakens the creature. By expending one use of mythic power as part of the attack, the cyhyraeth can either negate the penalty or use this ability as part of a full-attack action, allowing it to strike an opponent with its staff in addition to using this ability. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Rejuvenation (Su)

A cyhyraeth reforms at its location of origin in 2d4 days. To permanently destroy a cyhyraeth, the location of origin must have a hallow spell cast on it and, no deaths must occur within 300 feet of the location of origin during the cyhyraeth’s period of rejuvenation.

Swirl of Unseen Mist (Su)

When a cyhyraeth strikes a creature with its staff, it can expend one use of mythic power as a free action to cause the target to be affected as if by fog cloud (CL 17th), including creatures within 5 feet gaining concealment (20% miss chance) against the target, and creatures farther away gaining total concealment (50% miss chance against) against the target. Only the target can see the fog cloud, and the cloud moves with the target. Wind disperses the fog cloud as per the spell.

Tri-Fold Moan of Demise (Su)

As a move action, a cyhyraeth can release a groan as if it were near death. All living creatures within 120 feet of the cyhyraeth must attempt a DC 26 Will save. Upon the first failed save, affected creatures can hear subsequent moans from the cyhyraeth within 400 feet, even if they are deafened. Additionally, affected creatures incur a –2 penalty on all saving throws, take 50% more damage from damage dealing spells and effects, and take 2d6 points of extra damage from melee and ranged weapons as if the weapons possessed the bane weapon special ability. Upon a second failed save, affected creatures incur an additional –4 penalty on all saving throws, take maximum damage from damage-dealing spells and effects, and, when targeted for attacks, grant foes an additional 2 to the critical threat ranges of all their weapons, which automatically confirm critical hits against an affected creature. On a third failed save, affected creatures die. The effects from the first two failed saves last until the cyhyraeth’s destruction; even if the cyhyraeth rejuvenates, affected creatures are still free from the effects. Additionally, a mythic limited wish spell or more powerful mythic spell removes these effects from an affected creature. This is a death effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

ABOUT

Environment any land (primarily coastlines)
Organization solitary
Treasure none

A cyhyraeth is a spirit that arises after a tragic death has claimed its life along with others. Its hazy and indistinct appearance results from the many different echoes of those who died along with the spirit. While a cyhyraeth is intrinsically tied to the site of the tragedy, it is not limited to that site and travels to various locations, acting as a harbinger of death wherever it travels. It is attracted to imminent mass deaths, like those caused by a massive battle or an accident involving many casualties, or the imminent demise of powerful or important figures. The spirit keeps its ears open for rumors of upcoming conflicts or persistent problems at a site to determine the whereabouts of its next haunting. It also listens for news on traveling personages of interest.

Macabrely complementing its role as a harbinger of death, a cyhyraeth has a suite of preternatural capabilities allowing it hasten death wherever it appears. At important and troubled locales, it spends considerable time determining how events will transpire to trigger multiple deaths. While it does this, it imbues the location with a curse, such that any trivial accident compounds itself. A cyhyraeth prefers seagoing vessels as its primary targets, where a simple mistake by a ship’s captain or during an innocuous task performed by the crew results in the ship foundering with all hands aboard. Other targets for its curse are tenement buildings on the verge of collapse or areas beset by regular fires or by a virulent disease.

On a more personal level, a cyhyraeth lets loose with a moan not unlike that uttered by a person on the verge of death. Hearing the moan hastens the listener’s death by causing it to become more susceptible to physical harm. Hearing the moan a total of three times causes the listener to drop dead. While the cyhyraeth typically has a target chosen as the recipient of its inexorable death-bringing, its moan doesn’t discriminate and affects all creatures within listening distance. The spirit desires to remain until it kills its intended target but is satisfied if it weakens its target and must flee because of stiff resistance.

A cyhyraeth is capable of protecting itself, but it won’t directly attack foes unless it must defend itself. It can induce fear with its attacks, causing those who succumb to spend a brief time cowering. The spirit prefers the numbing terror it induces rather than causing its victims to flee in fright, which makes it easier to affect its targets with its deathly moan. A cyhyraeth can also cause fog, unseen by others, to swirl around an opponent; it uses this to confound combatants that prove adept at harming it. Finally, it can reach into a foe and temporarily materialize its hand around the creature’s heart to disable the foe.

Destroying a cyhyraeth is difficult, since it rarely sticks around to allow its victims to complete the deed and is half of the solution to eliminating it. Finding its location of origin, sanctifying the spot where it died, and ensuring no deaths occur on the site is the only way to truly rid the world of a cyhyraeth. Since the spirit wanders far afield from where it originated, discovering that site proves difficult (requiring a relevant DC 30 Knowledge check). Fortunately for victims of a cyhyraeth before its temporary destruction, the spirit seems to harbor no feelings of reprisal and carries on as it had before, witnessing and causing death, perhaps incidentally encountering former quarry.