Eekhayab

Medium aberration (mythos), chaotic evil

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 102 (12d8 + 48)
Speed 20 ft., fly 60 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
17 (+3)	16 (+2)	18 (+4)	10 (+0)	17 (+3)	15 (+2)

Saving Throws Dex +7, Wis +6, Cha +5
Damage Resistances acid, cold; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities poison
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Deep Speech
Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)

Special Traits

• Breathless. The eekhayab does not need to breathe and can survive in the void of space.
• Exuviate. When an eekhayab is killed, it triggers its unspeakable molt action.
• Hybrid Mount. An eekhayab�s carrying capacity in flight is twice normal, and a Medium or smaller creature can ride on a flying eekhayab as a mount even though an eekhayab is itself Medium-sized. It cannot carry a Medium-sized creature as a rider when not flying.
• Magic Resistance. The eekhayab has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
• Mythos Minion. Eekhayab are called to serve many who follow the cults of the mythos, having disadvantage on saving throws to avoid spells cast by servants of any of the Great Old Ones.
• Starflight. Eekhayab can survive in the void of outer space. It flies through space at an incredible speed. Although exact travel times vary, a trip within a single solar system should take 3d20 hours, while a journey beyond should take 3d20 days (or more, at the GM�s discretion)�provided the eekhayab knows the way to its destination.

Actions

• Multiattack. The eekhayab makes two attacks: one with its beak and one with its talons.
• Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) poison damage.
• Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d10 + 3) slashing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 14). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the eekhayab can�t use its talons on another target.
• Toxic Cesspit (1/Day). An eekhayab can cause ordinary reality to deform and decay in its presence temporarily. It can create a pit within 30 feet of it that is a 10-foot cube filled with acid to a depth of 5-feet. The fumes given off by the toxic cesspit are so foul that any living, breathing creature beginning its turn within the pit must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1-minute spending its turn wretching and heaving. A poisoned creature can make another DC 13 Constitution saving throw to end the poison effect at the end of its turn. On success, the target creature is poisoned until the end of the eekhayab�s next turn. While a creature is poisoned in this way, it is stunned and takes 7 (2d6) poison damage at the beginning of its turn.
• Unspeakable Molt. An eekhayab�s wings are continually shifting through phases of molt, decay, and regrowth, like those of a decomposing vulture suffused with tissue that is simultaneously insectoid and bat-like, with a corrupted humanoid core underneath. An eekhayab causes its external membranes to rupture and slough off in pestilential shreds, revealing disgustingly abnormal new tissues beneath. When an eekhayab molts its speed is doubled, it gains a +2 bonus to AC, it has advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and it can make an additional beak attack, Dash, Disengage, Hide, or Use an Object action. This effect lasts for 1 minute. Any creature within 30 feet that witnesses an eekhayab�s unspeakable molt must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw. A failed saving throw makes the creature frightened. The affected creature may make another saving throw at the end of its turn to remove the frightened effect. On a second failed save the target is affected by nightmares the next time it sleeps. The target gains no benefit from its rest, and its hit point maximum is reduced by 5 (1d10). If this effect reduces the target�s hit point maximum to 0, the target dies of fright. The reduction to the target�s hit point maximum lasts until removed by the greater restoration spell or similar magic. The target is immune to this eekhayab�s unspeakable molt for 24 hours after succeeding on the saving throw. If a creature fails multiple saving throws against this ability, the nightmare effect recuring during an additional sleep cycle for each failed save.

Reactions

• Slough. Whenever a critical hit is made against an eekhayab, as a reaction, it may use its unspeakable molt action.

About

Eekhayabs are inhuman servants of the Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods whom they serve. They are a race of interstellar predators, vaguely humanoid in shape but prone to frequent mutation and aberrant physiology, both internally and externally. Their motion is hideous to behold, with the rhythmic flapping of its wings clashing with the spasmodic thrashing of disjointed limbs ending in cruel claws and its scabrous tail dripping dark venom. Its skin seems to split in a welter of weeping sores and creases, as though its inward parts were ready to burst.

Eekhayabs are always winged, with a generally humanoid head and torso and at least four limbs. In some eekhayabs these are more akin to legs than arms and in some the opposite, and vestigial or accessory limbs are not at all unusual, but in all cases their appendages are tipped with cruel claws. Though eekhayabs are most comfortable in the air, they typically have webbed digits to aid in swimming. Most eekhayabs have tails as well, sometimes long and sinuous and in others bulbous and insectoid, like the abdomen of a wasp. Those who have beheld the eekhayab in person rarely describe them the same way, in part due to the grotesque variation these creatures exhibit, but also due to the fog of nightmares that inevitably follow in the wake of their advent.

Mythos Minions. It is unknown whether eekhayabs originated on one of the home planets or prison worlds wherein the Great Old Ones are bound, or perhaps were refugees from a planet long since destroyed by the predations of world-devouring elder things, or perhaps have always been a star-spanning race and never a terrestrial one. What is certain is that as a race they are bound to the will of the Great Old Ones and their masters (especially Hastur the Unspeakable), and often compelled to answer the summons of earthly cultists calling upon their alien patrons for aid. Eekhayabs are strong flyers and may carry willing supplicants (as well as unwilling victims) far from their terrestrial home into the reaches of space and the dark places between and beyond the stars, though their passengers are best advised to have their own means of survival amid the rigors of space. Eekhayabs are willing warriors as well when called to serve, snatching up their victims and tearing them limb from limb or dropping them into gaping pits of toxic effluence that open in the eekhayab�s presence like rents in a reality that rebels against their alien presence.

Star Scavenger. Eekhayabs are primarily carnivorous, preferring fresh blood and flesh. They are cruel beasts and enjoy stinging their prey with their mind-rotting venom and allowing their victim to descend into madness, giving themselves over to the eekhayab for their feasting pleasure.

However, eekhayabs are also scavengers, taking whatever nourishment they can find to fuel their long interplanetary and interstellar journeys.