Need a CR 7 Lamashtu-affiliated assassination attempt

[T.A.U.]

Since mine campaign is probably going to pass from the first module to the second on next Sunday, I started making some preparation for their future Kingdom Events. I'm using the new Ultimate Campaign rules, not the old AP ones.

I made some rolls, to be prepared, and of course... rolled an Assassination Attempt!
So I said "right, no problem, I have mine Red Mantis assassin NPC ready, and he could be sent by some of their political enemy..."
Roll to see who is the leader victim: the future ruler!
Of curse the Red Mantis is not something I can use against a ruler.
So I need to have another NPC to do this attempt.

Started thinking about it, and remembered that this particular PC has a former enemy from her background generator rolls, a cultist of Lamashtu. So he should be the one who sent the assassin to kill the PC.

The encounter CR should be 7, 'cause the PG will be at Level 5/Mythic Tier 2, and so I really want it to be a challenging encounter for her.
She is Half-elf, Oracle of Nature / Hierophant.
I can't decide if this NPC could be a cleric/inquisitor/antipaladin/warpriest of Lamashtu; a creature of Lamashtu; or a mix of both. But surely she must be capable of infiltrating in their capital city/castle to do such attempt.
Any ideas or advice about how to build her?
I'm open to any suggestions.

[pennywit]

I am thinking a minion of the Lamashtu enemy. For some reason, a fiendish displaced beast seems appropriate.

[pennywit]

Hi. Sorry about the brevity earlier.

I thought about the Lamashtu angle, and I think that it would be best not to have the opposite number directly attack, but for this cultist to send a minion. (The actual battle with the cultist can come later).

For the cultist, I see a neutral evil druid of some sort -- a sort of anti-druid, if you will, who is committed to bringing Lamashtu's corruption into the natural world. Thus, I think that a templated magical beast would make an excellent first assassin. Also, I think it would tie the Lamashtu cultist more closely to the Kingmaker metaplot if the adversary is meddling with the fey.

So what do we want?

* Deformed creature
* Challenging
* Fey

After poking around, I thought the kamadan looked promising. It's a cat, it's got snakes coming out of its shoulders (a very Lamashtu-like thing), and it's at least a little stealthy. I added the Advanced and Fey Creature ordinary templates, which took the beast to CR 5. After a bit of thought, I added the Agile simple mythic template as well. I named it Skrssss. Here's the result:

Skrsss:

Skrsss CR 7/MR 1
XP 3,200
Male fey agile advanced kamadan (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 116, 158, Pathfinder RPG Mythic Adventures)
NE Large fey (magical beast)
Init +26/+6, dual initiative; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +11
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 24, touch 18, flat-footed 15 (+6 Dex, +3 dodge, +6 natural, -1 size)
hp 65 (5d10+35)
Fort +9, Ref +10, Will +4 (+4 vs. Mind Affecting effects)
Defensive Abilities evasion; DR 5/cold iron; Resist +4 to will saves vs mind affecting effects, cold 10, electricity 10
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 70 ft., fly 135 ft. (good)
Melee bite +8 (1d6+4), 2 claws +8 (1d3+4), other melee natural attack +3 (1d4+2)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks breath weapon, pounce
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 5th; concentration +7)
3/day—dancing lights
1/day—deep slumber (DC 14), entangle (DC 13), faerie fire, glitterdust (DC 14)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 19, Dex 23, Con 20, Int 11, Wis 16, Cha 15
Base Atk +5; CMB +10; CMD 29 (33 vs. trip)
Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Mobility
Skills Acrobatics +14 (+34 to jump), Climb +12, Fly +4, Perception +11, Sense Motive +8, Stealth +14, Survival +8; Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth
Languages Aklo, Sylvan
SQ snakes, trackless step
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Special Abilities
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+4 to Will saves vs Mind Affecting effects (Ex) You get +4 to Will saves against Mind Affecting effects.
Breath Weapon (30 ft cone, sleep, every 1d4 rds, Fort neg, DC 17) Affect a cone or line with some magical effect.
Change Shape (ordinary housecat) (Su) You can change into a specific individual of another form.
Combat Reflexes (7 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Damage Reduction (5/cold iron) You have Damage Reduction against all except Cold Iron attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Dual Initiative (Ex) You act a second time each round at -20 from your normal initiative
Energy Resistance, Cold (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Energy Resistance, Electricity (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Electricity attacks.
Evasion (Ex) If you succeed at a Reflex save for half damage, you take none instead.
Flight (135 feet, Good) You can fly!
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Mobility +4 to AC vs. AoO provoked by moving out of or through a threatened area.
Pounce (Ex) You can make a full attack as part of a charge.
Scent (Ex) Detect opponents within 15+ feet by sense of smell.
Snakes (Ex) A kamadan's snakes attack simultaneously; this is always a secondary attack.
Trackless Step (Ex) Do not leave a trail in natural settings & can't be tracked unless willing.

Between its spell-like abilities, its shapechanging, and its breath weapon, Skrsss is quite capable of sneaking into a castle -- or anywhere else.

[T.A.U.]

Wow Pennywit, your Skrsss is really wonderful!
And I really like it.
I'll surely use it in mine campaign, but I think a best use of it should be done in a "random" encounter during the exploration of the southern part of the Green Belt in RRR.
Also, I prefer to set aside mythic encounter for the main plot, concerning the BBEG Nyrissa and the "black feathers" prophecy the PCs have to fulfill.

The PC's rival is not a mythic antihero so, neither mythic should be his lamashtuns minions.

For the assassination attempt I got an idea, of combining one of the new Monster Codex class template, the Rogue Creature one, with the CR 6 lamashtu's demon. A yaenit... using his at-will darkness spell-like ability in conjunction with his darkvision and constant see invisibility capabilities, should be enough for a medium sized creature to infiltrate the PC's future castle / residence and trying to murder the Ruler.
I'll try to make his stats this evening.

[pennywit]

Glad you liked Skrsss. I think Hero Lab messed up the stat block a little bit, though. The reach should be 5 feet for most of its attacks, 10 feet for the snakes.

I don't have the yaenit's stats, but it does sound promising.

[T.A.U.]

The Yaenit's stats are from the Broken Chains adventure module, here is the link to the Archives of Nethys.

[T.A.U.]

Here he is:

Johanna's Assassin CR 7:

XP 3,200
Rogue Creature template (Monster Codex pag 248) Yaenit (Broken Chains pag. 29)
CE Medium outsider (chaotic, demon, evil, extraplanar)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., see invisibility; Perception +10
Aura hallucinatory aura (20 ft., DC 17)

DEFENSE
AC 21, touch 14, flat-footed 17 (+1 armor, +4 Dex, +6 natural)
hp 76 (8d10+32)
Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +5
Defensive Abilities evasion, uncanny dodge
DR 5/cold iron or good; Immune electricity, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10

OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee mwk falchion +14/+9 (2d4+7/18-20), bite +8 (1d6+2)
Ranged dagger +12 (1d4+5/19–20)
Special Attacks break bones, sneak attack +4d6
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th; concentration +11)
Constant-see invisibility
At will-darkness, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only)
3/day-hold person (DC 16), vampiric touch
1/day-summon (level 3, 1 yaenit 40%)

STATISTICS
Str 20, Dex 18, Con 19, Int 9, Wis 13, Cha 16
Base Atk +8; CMB +13; CMD 27
Feats Cleave, Critical Focus, Iron Will, Power Attack
Skills Acrobatics +13 (+17 when jumping), Bluff +12, Climb +14 (+16 when using climber's kit), Intimidate +10, Knowledge (planes) +8, Perception +10, Stealth +13; Racial Modifiers +4 Acrobatics when jumping
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic, Gnoll; telepathy 100 ft.
Combat Gear Potion of cure moderate wounds (2), Potion of invisibility
Other Gear bracers of armor +1, caltrops (2), climber's kit, dagger (4), mwk falkion, masterwork thieves' tools, 135 gp

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Break Bones (Ex) Whenever a yaenit scores a critical hit with its bite attack, its opponent must succeed at a DC 19 Fortitude save or have its base land speed reduced by 10 feet (to a minimum of 5 feet). This penalty remains until the affected creature takes any amount of magical healing or is healed with a successful DC 20 Heal check. The save DC is Strength-based.

Hallucinatory Aura (Su) Any creature coming within 20 feet of a yaenit must succeed at a DC 17 Will save or succumb to the demon’s foul, mind-warping magic. A creature affected by a yaenit’s hallucinatory aura takes a -2 penalty on Will saves, caster level checks, Intelligence-based skill checks, and Wisdom-based skill checks for as long as it remains within the aura’s range and 1d4-1 rounds after leaving the area of effect. This is a mind-affecting effect. Whether or not the save was successful, an affected creature is immune to the same yaenit’s hallucinatory aura for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.

[pennywit]

That works ... would it go after the ruler first, or after her bodyguards first?

[T.A.U.]

It will depend on what kind of settlement they are going to build.
The last session ended in the half of the political scene were they are trying to get more BPs to found their new kingdom (Restov only gave them 10) see mine post in the "Adeal with the devil" thread.

If they will build the capital at Oleg they will probably not have a castle, and maybe even bodyguards at all.