The group had just entered a grove of what no man would call trees, lit by some sort of phosphorescence or possibly a form of ambient energy from the ambient aether. One of the men noted that there was a sharp humming sound to his comrade by his side, then recoiled as the man slumped down to the ground with a perfectly round hole in his neck. Amid shouts of warning, more men dropped, looking wildly about for their enemies, then fled back out of the nighted forest, leaving one wounded man behind. With eyes fixed with terror, the man saw a tall shape stride out of the shadows, pulling a hissing beetle from a belt across his chest and placing it in some sort of foul weapon. The creature shut the beetle in the weapon, an infernal device that actually appeared to breathe. It then slowly pulled out a long needle from straps on his arm and dropped it down the end of the weapon, preparing for a final cleansing of its homeland.