Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

The unholy cross between scorpion, dragonfly and a centipede was clearly Hynth, the Locust Lord, whose bronze carapace was impervious to just about everything but divinely-forged weaponry and whose four pincers could tear steel like paper. The ability to release clouds of biting, devouring insects from pores on his body that devastated the countryside for kilometers around the thing, all while the primordial tackled anyone strong enough to stop them completed the image of a living natural disaster. The cluster of wings hanging above Hynth was probably Ghatess, who was allegedly a ball made out of multicolored bird wings — and only bird wings — and created storms and tornadoes wherever it went, funneling matter into the center of its sphere where it seemed to just disappear without a trace. The boar/crocodile/porcupine thing was Ushkechko, a beast made out of indestructible black glass that poisoned anyone who so much as scratched themselves on one of its numerous bladed protrusions and could fire said protrusions like arrows at opponents. The slug-like entity covered in eyes and mouths was-

«Can I help you with something, young man?»

Zorian wrenched himself from his scrutiny of the door to look at Batak. The last time he had been here he had asked to speak with Kylae, but this time the man in front of him would suffice. He might even be preferable, considering Kylae was supposed to be a master diviner. He gave the man a nervous smile and spoke.

«I… wanted to have a talk with you, if it’s not too much of a problem.»

«Of course!» the man said happily, quickly ushering Zorian inside. Zorian recalled from last time that the temple didn’t receive many visitors. It must be a pretty lonely existence to serve as custodian of this place. Before long they were both seated in front of a small table in the kitchen-like room that Batak used to receive visitors, a prepared tea pot steaming in front of them.

«So… What did you want to talk to me about?» Batak said after some small talk, raising his cup to his mouth and taking a long sip.

«I wanted to ask about primordials,» Zorian said.

Batak promptly choked on his tea and spent the next few seconds coughing.

«Why *cough* would you want to know about them?» Batak asked incredulously.

«I’m… not sure I should tell you. I don’t want any trouble.»

Batak gave him a curious, impassive look, but Zorian sensed a note of worry in his mind.

«Well, I’m not sure whether you know or not but there is a rumor spreading around that some people are going to try to disrupt the summer festival,» Zorian began.

«I’ve heard about that, yes,» Batak sighed.

«Well, a few days ago I went with some friends into the upper levels of the Dungeon to do a job for a client. A simple find and retrieve job, but we ended up running into an underground base full of war trolls and nearly died in the process. The police are keeping it very hush at the moment but I understand their investigation revealed it wasn’t the only base down there. Somebody had spent months preparing a beachhead for this attack and they have a lot of assets to burn…»

After more than an hour of explanations and clarifications, Batak seemed to accept that the attack was something a lot more serious than he had thought and (more importantly) that it was just a distraction for an attempt at primordial summoning. Thankfully, everything Zorian was telling him was totally true so whatever method of truth detection the man was using returned his explanations as genuine. The fact that Kylae had a prediction blackout around that time probably did a lot to legitimize the claim in the priest’s eyes, since the successful summoning of a primordial could be the reason for her divinations failing. Which was actually why Zorian came to this temple in particular, rather than, say, the main temple of the city.

«I’ll notify the church hierarchy, they should be able to spare a squad or two of investigators to check it out,» Batak said. «Especially if they have solid proof rather than just an anonymous tip. Do you have anything in writing, perhaps?»

«Here,» Zorian said, retrieving a stack of documents and notebooks from his bag and handing them over to Batak. «This is everything I have about the invasion. I tried to be as thorough and methodical as possible. I’d really prefer if my name was not mentioned anywhere, though.»

Batak eyed the stack speculatively. «I cannot guarantee that. If your name comes up during the investigation—»

«It won’t,» Zorian interrupted.

«Well, then I don’t foresee any problems,» Batak shrugged. «A bit odd of you to have so much information on this group if you’re not a defector from their ranks.»

Zorian said nothing.

«Alright,» Batak said, perking up and shaking his head slightly as if to clear it. «Are you still interested in hearing about the primordials or was that just a ploy to get my attention?»

«I’m still interested, yeah,» Zorian said. «I’m really curious why they felt the need to organize all this just to summon one.»