A mock-up would be beneficial.
Topic List Previews can put a series images at the top of a Category with associated text excerpts called Featured Images. You tag the Topics you wish to highlight there. When a user hovers over an image they will see the excerpt text from the Topic. If the Topics dont have images it may not be useful. It is mainly an image focussed plugin so it may or may not suffice. A workaround might be to add a default image you wish to use.