Kurnugian Jackal

Under specific planar conjunctions, Lamashtu bestows an unholy gift upon a jackal on the Material Plane. When that jackal bears a litter, one pup is born with a third eye in the center of its forehead. If the pup can survive to maturity, this jackal gains superior intelligence and psychic abilities, becoming a full-fledged Kurnugian jackal, so named after the Mother of Monsters' Abyssal realm. With increased cleverness comes an appetite to sow chaos in the name of Lamashtu. When a Kurnugian jackal reaches the pinnacle of their power, they appear twice as large as a regular jackal and far more cunning.

A Kurnugian jackal enjoys stalking the outskirts of settlements, looking for lone individuals they can ambush. Once they spot their prey, they open their third eye to hypnotize and lure their target in. Often, a Kurnugian jackal leads victims into the wilderness and then releases their hold, leaving the victims lost with no memory of how they got there. Most succumb to exposure or the dangers of local wildlife as the jackal looks on gleefully. They seem to gain sustenance from their victims' predicament but also feast on the deceased victims' flesh. If their prey reaches safety, the Kurnugian jackal repeats the process on subsequent nights.

Some Kurnugian jackals are adopted as objects of worship by Lamashtan cults, and others gather followers on their own. Their resemblance to Lamashtu's religious symbol affords them a great deal of reverence, and they sometimes claim to speak directly for the Mother of Monsters. A cult with a Kurnugian jackal often acts more boldly than one without.