Hummerfly

A hummerfly resembles a necklace of soft purple beads, each half an inch wide, carrying four jointed metal wings, each a foot in length, that fold flat into tight packets when it rests. Two thin legs tipped with suckers let it stick to glass, stone or any other slick surface. Its grape-sized head has a round mouth in the center, two black eyes on short stalks above, and inch-long whiskers like a cat's on each side. At rest the whiskers vibrate constantly, producing a soft, soothing hum like a lute. The creature smells of fresh vanilla, and one is enough to keep a 10-foot-square room smelling sweet.

Hummerflies avoid fights and simply fly off when threatened. It normally flies at 6 (maneuverability B), but after three straight rounds of flight in an unobstructed line it reaches Fl 36, and at that speed it can teleport any distance with no chance of error. It arrives back at Fl 6 and can accelerate and teleport again as often as it has room.

Cornered, or when its eggs are in danger, it buzzes its whiskers into a piercing shriek. Every creature within 20 feet must save vs. paralyzation or be stunned 2d4 rounds and left deaf for 1d2 hours. While deaf, a victim suffers -1 to surprise, and a spellcaster has a 20% chance to botch spells needing a verbal component.

Hummerflies make no nests or lairs, just clinging to ceilings, cliffs and similar slick spots, preferring busy, noisy places like workshops or schoolrooms. They never willingly go more than 100 yards from home. Friendly and calm around anyone nonviolent, they are especially fond of humanoids and will let a familiar person pluck them off and stick them somewhere else; housekeepers often move one about the house to sweeten each room in turn.

A hummerfly lives about ten years. In its final month it leaves home and teleports to some random spot, perhaps a world away or farther, lays 2d4 eggs that hatch weeks later, and dies. This is how the species has spread across the multiverse.

It needs no air, water or food; sound alone sustains it. Once a day it sleeps for about 15 minutes with its mouth open, drinking in every nearby noise, and the bead just behind its head bulges to around two inches as it fills. Through the waking day the captured sound echoes inside that bead while the creature slowly digests it, and anyone who holds it to an ear hears the captured noises. Kept in silence for over two days, it starts to starve, losing 1d4 hit points a day.

Spacefarers exploit this habit. Taken from home, a hummerfly can be allowed to fall asleep, then a message is spoken beside it and absorbed into the bead. Released when it wakes, the creature heads straight home, where an ally can hold it up and listen to the message still reverberating inside.