06-05-2017, 11:31 AM
"Yeah," said the wizard. "Bug-lady. Lady's a Moth. Moth's a bug: Accurate, belike. So get off my back 'bout my choice of appellations."
Something clicked inside of Chatterly's brain. He'd heard rumors of a wandering creature which resembled a beautiful woman, but with the compound eyes and wispy antennae of a moth. Supposedly it was a Prime, though the few reports that had reached him through his various contacts had supplied only the most basic of details. It was said to be a powerful healer - unusual, certainly, but hardly a strategic concern. He'd very nearly forgotten about it.
Hezekiah's claim that this creature - or something else entirely - had been talking to him in his dreams was simply par for the course: Astral communication and related snooping were among the man's specialties.
"No criticism intended, Hezekiah," Chatterly said. "It's just that I like to know more about the source of a claim than a simple two-word description - especially when that claim regards a powerful strategic asset, even one as volatile as Ghidorah. What can you tell me about the, ah, Bug-lady?"
The wizards swept his hand over his crystal again, and the image changed, dissolving into a swirling mist of colors.
"She's weird," he said. "Kinda dippy - But powerful. Might've been a god once - got that former-divine-Prime dream-smell on her. I think -
The image in the air flickered and flowed, solidifying.
- she's this thing."
The soft light of the crystal described a moth, with a fuzzy black and white body, bright, intelligent compound eyes, fluffy white antennae, and a pair of brilliantly colored wings, orange and red and yellow and black all swirling together in fantastic patterns. The creature was resting on a top of a rock platform, at the center of a circle of black stones forming a twelve-pointed cross.
Based on the size of the little people dressed in animal hides that were bowing and scraping and dancing around it, the creature was as large as the Duke's keep.
Chatterly studied the image for a long moment, suddenly aware that it was actually somewhat chilly in the wizard's lair. He pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders.
"Another one," he said at last. "Giants walk among us, hm? Very well. What did she have to say about or shiny friend?"
Hezekiah's eyes widened even further, if that was possible, and he shifted his weight atop his stony perch. The shifting pictures sank back into his crystal.
"Bug-Lady said he's not just another greedy sociopath - says he's a genocidal nihilist. Said if he'd come here at the top of his game 'stead of being cut down to size by the Smiler, he'd've rolled right over us just to get his rocks off - and since we let him in the castle, she doesn't understand why he hasn't killed us already."