Though among the trunks of the shadowed wood there lurked many ferocious monsters, an entirely different beast altogether hovered higher than the leaves.  From her height Clotho scanned the village, identifying each structure and its purpose as she decided which of her minions might do the best where.  Her thoughts were interrupted for a time by the squeaking of the kobold below, who fancied himself a tactician.  Unlike the majority of her compatriots, Clotho willingly considered his plan of action, though she had little respect for Twitch in truth.  Deadliness in battle and a sharp intellect were not mutually exclusive, no; Cloth embodied them both.  Though she aspired to a leadership position among the Master's throng as much as she suspected Twitch did, she willingly conceded that his plan would serve the group well, if only there were more to listen.

As the mass of monsters, demons, and other servants of the Master surged forth, whether to set up a destructive spell, entertain themselves with pointless manipulations of the doomed townsfolk, or otherwise get ready to rampage, Clotho descended to Twitch's side on gossamer wings.  Rather than touching the ground beside the kobold, she hovered in the air, her wings moving too quickly to be seen by any but the sharpest of eyes.  [color=9F8170]“I get the feeling,”[/color] she chirped in a vibrating voice, [color=9F8170]“That few of our supposed allies will obey you.  Their loss...it is a fine plan.  One that I wished I had come up with, but I am more proficient as a field commander.  You may rely on me and mine to form team Execute.  Hunt well.”[/color]

With that, Clotho zipped off into the hamlet.  Behind her shot a steady trail of hornets and flies, barely able to keep up with the fastest member of the Master's horde as she made a beeline for the village's sole manor.  She dived through its window, reducing the wooden shutters to a deluge of splinters, and slid across the floor when she touched down.  The nobles within the building, the hamlet's mayor and his two brothers, were at first nowhere to be seen.  Drawn by the noise, however, one of the men poked his head around an interior corner, and within a flash Clotho's compound eyes had located her prey.  With uncanny speed, she flicked the fingers of her left hand, and a blur shot out to smack into the brother's forehead.  The shape resolved itself to be a gruesome, slimy, black leech, which wasted no time in attaching itself to the man's forehead and starting to suck.  Yelping in surprise, he stumbled back, and Clotho appeared behind him, darting more quickly than seemed possible.  She pulled her barbed rapier from her back and with very little ceremony impaled the man through his neck, instantly and mercifully killing him, and preventing him from being conscious of the resulting mess when she pulled her weapon out.  A cry from upstairs announced that her insects were swarming around another man, and Clotho sped upstairs to meet him.  Though this man had a sword in hand, he was afforded no space to use it thanks to the bugs biting him en masse.  Still, Clotho fancied a challenge, and smacked his sword around several times as if he were actually fencing.  [color=9F8170]“No, no, no,”[/color] she chided, flicking her wrist and sending the man's sword into the wall with a thud.  [color=9F8170]“You're leaving yourself wide open.”[/color]  Into the helpless man's torso went the rapier, and when she pulled it out in a visceral shower that left the brother wide open indeed, she found his heart caught on the barb.  [color=9F8170]“Most girls  only dream of winning a rich man's heart.  Lucky me.”[/color]

The drone of flies in her ear transmitted the location of the mayor to her—the library.  With great haste Clotho flitted down to it, zooming in through the open doors and bashing through the closed.  A few seconds later, she'd arrived in the library, but before she ran her rapier through the back of the man's chair, she felt an odd presence in the place.  Her brilliant green, compound eyes narrowed on a suspicious patch of shadow, one so thick as to seem almost alive.  [color=9F8170]“Umbra,”[/color] she chittered, modulating her own voice to a frequency too high for the human to hear.  She gave an unintelligible command to her insects, who began the process of seeking the manor's valuables and ferreting them away.  [color=9F8170]“And here I thought I'd have all the fun.  Are you going to finish this man before the villagers revolt, or do I need to put off the elimination of the clergymen to do your job for you?”[/color]