Oh yes, there will be blood. (Brisinger987! And also, open. ^_^)

[cacodemonomania]

The last rays of sunlight slanted downwards through rare openings in the canopy of foliage above. As above, so below, the roots of the trees grew over the ground in a latticework of wood and mud. The air was placid, heavy with dampness of a recent rain, and dew condensed upon leaves of low hanging branches. The only sound was the evening chorus of birds, trilling their chords into the deadened wood, heard only by the colossal pines that stood in surveillance of the forest.

Pale stepped lightly through soft, thick beds of fallen pine needles. A low growling gurgle stretched through the air, and she looked down with dismay at her stomach. She had not eaten much today... Nothing but grubs from a rotting log. Night was breaking fast on the heels of twilight however, and darkness would soon descend over the woods. Pale imagined the nights first hunt with relish. Her stomach roared again at the thought of a meal.

Distracted as she was by hunger, the sound of the faint rustling of leaves arrested her attention. Almost immediately, she crouched low, hand placed on the pommel of her dagger. The sound was unnatural, with the complete lack of wind, noticeable and drawn out. Something was hidden in the foliage. Her eyes tripped from side to side in their sockets, searching the forest. She reached out a thin tendril of thought, scanning for intelligence, and sensed confidence and male power. She cursed herself for becoming so caught up in her rumbling guts that she hadn't noticed she was being watched.

"I wouldn't do that, girl," a voice rasped, the owner revealing his tall, redoubtable silhouette. "Just hand over your valuables and I'll be off. I'd hate cut up a lady..." The man grinned cockily. As if on cue (and probably so), three more shadowy figures revealed themselves from the clusters of trees and spread to either side of their leader. "Now, girl... Do you surrender?"

She looked sideways at the men, studiously. They wre a rangy bunch with not even a strong bow among them. Four of them and only minutes to darkness. Already she could feel her blood boiling, her bones aching to slide into the positions of her nighttime self. Yes, they would make a fine meal. Fearsomely she hissed her challenge to the bandits and bared her teeth. She wouldn't have to hold them off for long...

((Feel free to play the bandits as well. = D))

[Brisinger987]

"I'll assume that's a no then. Sir!" The bandit came to attention as Vex'orec approached, his red eyes shining in the darkness, his insect figure slowly walking towards the group.

Vex'orec let out a low growl, followed by a clicking and a chirp, before he turned to the bandit who had made their presence known.

"Yessss. You are pathetik. Useless..." His eyes glowed brighter as he switched to thermal. Then another Krixek followed up behind Vex'orec, and a blue glow came over the Krixek's body, before the bandit began to glow blue too. Then the bandit just dropped dead.

"Organ failure. One of many useful abilities my colleague here has." Vex'orec dismissed te other Krixek who took a few silent steps back.

"Who are you? You are not local." Vex'orec's eyes glowed as he examined the girl in front of him, wary of what she was doing alone in the woods.

[cacodemonomania]

"Oh! Oh god, w-what are those things!" One of the bandits managed to stammer as Vex'orec and the other Krixek approached from the growing shadows. His eyes were wide with terror and as he watched his friend suddenly collapse and die, a rank stench filled the air. A growing stain of moisture leaked down his ragged trouser leg. He broke and ran, howling with horror as he went and his fellow bolted after him. Through all this, Pale remained motionless, only raising an eyebrow at the Krixek and regarding them warily. The bandits leader screamed after his comrades, "Cowards!!" Then turned and stuttered to Pale. "Y-y-you know we weren't actually g-going to h-h-h-hurt you right?" Her cold lavender eyes narrowed. "Right?" How many people and he and his ilk hurt within these woods? How many more would succumb to his blade after he had robbed them blind? No, he would not receive pity. Abruptly she stood, snapping up to her toes in one swift movement and spat glob of something into the mans face, splattering into his eyes.

Immediately the acid began to do its grisly work, and the man screamed and clutched at his face. While not as powerful as it could be, the acid was certainly strong enough to eat at the mans flesh. Fierce blisters began forming across his skin and he dropped to the ground, writhing in agony as his eyes bubbled in their sockets. As she was not a cruel creature, Pale did not allow the man to suffer long and swept down with her dagger, slitting his throat. He gurgled, spasming a few times before laying still.

She backed away from the corpse, still eyeing the Krixek. How could she combat creatures who could kill without a touching their opponent? Would it even be worth it to try to flee from them?Still... They had not attacked her as of yet...

She looked up at Vex'orec, "I am Pale." With her words images floated from her thoughts to those surrounding. Images of lightly colored stones, white feathers, pastel flowers, everything softly colored such as she. "I am hungry. They are food." She said simply, motioning to the two bodies which lay at their feet. "Unusual to kill people, but they threatened me."

[Brisinger987]

Vex'orec made a display of his strength, choosing a boulder, and throwing it at a bandit who had hidden behind a tree, splattering the bandit across the dusk grass. A clicked chirp of praise came from his compatriot.

Then the sound of more bandits erupted.

"We will have to introduce ourselves in a minute. Let me and my komrade deal with this." The letter c seemed impossible to pronounce for Vex'orec, and it was instead replaced by a blunt clicking sound.

The other Krixek's head seemed to erupt in yellow blood, and it dropped to the ground, very clearly missing a portion of it's head.

A rather unholy growl erupted from Vex'orec as he turned to look at the new threat, a gun toting bandit captain.

Then he took flight, more agile than ever, flitting about like a locust or wasp would. When Vex'orec landed behind the captain, he picked the captain up, and tore him clean in two, a deep roar erupting from Vex'orec as rage filled him.

Retrieving a rather nice pair of katar from a bandit nearby, who died, Vex'orec began to jump from group to group, hacking and slashing.