Into the fray (Pm/Invite only)

[She of the Mighty Bow-Gun]

The motor of the rideback was so loud in this quiet area where only the sound of rain echoed, the venator opted to leave it at the border and fly on the back of Krogger, his wingbeats absolutely silent as they glided through the area scanning for life. From the back she carried veritable arsenal of archery classics.

On the back of this venator was her Rifle bow, Gargantuan clip with 2 slots of Boreworm arrows on its rack, razor fletched, a stabilizer attached for further distance capability by 10%. It weight 200lb draw. It was already loaded with a broad tip razor fletched arrow. On her left hip a pistol bow 60lb, loaded with a single standard bolt. A 40lb standard recurve bow, loaded with a boreworm arrowhead bolt. Her hip quiver have another 5 1/2 slots of bolts inside. On her eyes were a pair of Thermal, night vision, times fifteen magnification. Of those 5 1/2 slots of bolts 1 slot have tipped with sting tips, one slot with 2 with Matakusi bolts tips and the rest of her broad tips applied to the slot. Leaving roughly 1 1/2 slots of regular bolts.

Through the specialized goggles e kept the thermal vision cranked up to max, flying 210 meters above the ground, scoping, looking, her Suna headband was still tied around her waist with the emblem facing her back, covered by her royal blue cloak. It was hard to find demons these days, they were sneaky and so well versed in the ways of hiding among the faces of the normal people. That was all you had in this world now adays, normal, unremarkable people with lives then freaks like Claire. Traumatized by demons, haunted by them, followed by spirits till you broke down and because the monster that lurked beneath their beds.

So far nothing pinged on her thermal lenses but she was forever looking for anything. Tracks. Heat signatures, movement, nothing would escape this all seeing eye. Maybe she would even find someone who would spend just a fractions of them time with her. Being a Venator, a hunter, slayer, demolish-er was great but now and then it had its low key moments.

[She of the Mighty Bow-Gun]

At some point she pulled up to a high ridge overlooking a rather overfilled marsh, something akin to the wet lands she'd come t'know and love as a child back when she felt the rain of Ame tickling her face. It'd always just come so naturally to her, to be so free in the rain and then she was haunted by it, filled with dread every time she heard the coming of rainfall and it'd taken years to grab that happiness back but along the way, on that journey to courage she'd lost some of the things most kids had. Like happy memories or the remembrance of one fond time without that things face leering in the back of her mind like a haunting visage.

Claire Vandaline was just a girl when her home village was beset by demons, just a child when she'd watched the fires of hell open up right in the middle of her sleepy little town and nightmares that twisted the edges of sanity spilled through. They'd done... unspeakable things; Absolutely horrid atrocious things before her and even left her to live in shame as she ran, chasing her across the fields with their ringing laughter that carved at her bones till she'd collapsed from exhaustion. That one face, that one demon and his smug fuckin face. She'd never forgotten it.

Now, with her goggles on, quivers full, bows mounted and laced, modified, her attire bursting at the seems with righteous indignation she set up camp outside a demons nest. They hadn't even TRIED to hide it; Were they so bold now in the Land of Rain? The opening looking and reeking of charred earth and brimstone, like a tunnel dug through solid stone where the heat of the demons hands and fury had petrified the mud into this brick-like state. Overhead Krogger keened a loud cry and Claire held up a fist with a finger extended into the clouds, whistling twice to signal and the massive eagle rode the updraft and disappeared into the low hanging cloud pregnant with rain water. Krogger was to attack from the skies when they finally came running out.

And by the gods were they going to.

With her cloak pulled up over her mouth and her goggled slid down, thermal vision active, Claire jumped down into the opening, down into Hell, riding the smoothly seared walls with her chakra laced feet.

The Venator Missionary had paired her with a high stakes kill squad when she was young, too young perhaps, too filled with vengeance to 'Work with a team' and they'd left her in Suna under the ruse of seeding agents. They'd flat out lied to her, shoehorned her into the academy and those assholes fuckin-!!!!-- they left her there. The ironic part? She FOUND a damned nest right underneath the village, MASSIVE in scale, so big she had never finished going through it. How long it had been there was anyone's guess and she had working theories that maybe the Kage, Amira, was working with them for something but she had no grounds to base it on save for a Kage not knowing their village was resting over a cove of evil.

Regardless she descended in to the hollow, swallowed up by the darkness when she landed and her goggles lit up with the heat signatures of the witchfire they so loved to dance around. The worst thing about the nests was that they felt alive like the walls were breathing and the hot stale winds that blew through were from the lungs of something ancient and slumbering, like mucking through swampy graves on a muggy summer night in some place were a province named Louisiana might be. She'd been down enough of them to shake off the chills, the goosepimples but that thought that she was within the lungs of the true Devil himself was always in the back of her head and she took the sweetest satisfaction when the screeching deat-rattles echoed through those dying halls.

Her pistol bow was at her side, slick with the wet atmosphere down in these halls and her goggles lit up time and time again, too dark to see without them, too bright to really see without hurting her eyes over long periods and the night vision would be useless down here and even blinding when she got to the witchfire crops. The nature of most demon nests were simple. They usually had four to six entrances and they all connected, led to the edges of the 'property' the ruling arch-demon of the nest declared theirs and it was supposed to keep things civil between the other arch-demons but it seldom worked. In-fighting was as common as Rain in Ame among the infernals. She'd learned to steer clear when they went at it full throttle.

The first signs of life had come in the form a low rumble, not footsteps but chanting. Creeping along the walls she peered through a partition in the walls and saw down below her where a witchfire burned and a sea of black, red and blue imps writhed in sick delight. They looked like an ocean of orange in her thermal vision. It took her several tries to decipher their jagged tongue but she knew it from a previous hunt.

Burn.

BURN! BURN! BURN! BURN! The excitement in their tones made her taste bile but with resolve steeled she clicked the zoom enhance on her goggles, peering through the sea of chitain and bodies to find the epicenter. The withfire provided plenty of light and when she clicked off the infrared she shot her brow up high.

[She of the Mighty Bow-Gun]

CLAIRE VANDALINE I'LL WORSHIP LIKE A DOG AT THE SHRINE OF YOUR LIES I'LL TELL YOU MY SINS AND YOU CAN SHARPEN YOUR KNIVES OFFER ME THAT DEATHLESS DEATH GOOD GOD LET ME GIVE YOU MY LIFE START HERE!!!! Venator Passives SPOILER: Click to show Exploit Lore Rank: "C" Skill: Supplementary Effect: User can use their knowledge of a creature's weakness to deliver a driving and relentless assault against it. Special: --- Drawback: --- Description: When the user successfully identifies all abilities and weaknesses of a creature using the appropriate Lore check, the user gains +5 Armour Points in TaiJutsu damage against that creature for 1 minute. If the user identifies the abilities and weaknesses of numerous creatures, the user is able to use this technique for every creature. Limit: Must be a Venator. Must know Monster Lore. Improved Monster Lore Rank: "C" Skill: Supplementary Effect: The user is obsessed with the abilities and weaknesses of Creatures. Special: --- Drawback: --- Description: The user gains a sacred bonus on all skill checks to identify the abilities and weaknesses of Non Animal Lore creatures equal to 10 per Class Level. This technique replaces Monster Lore with the higher ability. Limit: Must be a Venator. Must know Monster Lore. Pronounce Weakness Rank: "C" Skill: Supplementary Effect: User can for an opponent up to 10 meters away to become vulnerable to a special quality of the user's choice. Special: --- Drawback: User cannot create more than one vulnerability at a time. Description: User forces an opponent within 10 meters to make a successful Will Save against 10 +2 per Class Level + User's Impeccable Will or it gains one vulnerability special quality of the user's choice. It cannot possess more than one such vulnerability at a time, and so if the creature already possesses one, this technique has no effect. The user can use this technique only once per day but it is only considered used if at least one opponent gains a weakness by the use of this technique. If a creature makes its save that creature is immune to the use of this technique for 24 hours. This curse effect cannot be dispelled but it can be removed with a Break Enchantment, Remove Curse, and even a Miracle quality. Limit: Must be a Venator. Must know Monster Lore. Fearsome Rank: "C" Skill: Supplementary Effect: Enemies shaken by the user suffer additional penalties. Special: --- Drawback: --- Description: Any time the user causes an opponent to be shaken, increase the penalties for the shaken condition to -3 penalties on Saves, and -15 on skills. The loss of movements and handseals stay the same. Limit: Must be a Venator. ________ Combatless Judgment Rank: "C" Skill: Supplementary Effect: The Venator's Judgment may be activated without the need of combat. Special: --- Drawback: --- Description: A Venator is no longer bounded by using a Judgment while in Combat. With this technique and by sacrificing 1 extra usage of Judgment per day allows the user to activate their Judgment abilities at any time, even if they are not in combat. Combatless Judgment have a set duration of 2 rounds per Class Level. Combatless Judgment must follow all other rules of the normal judgment rules. If a Battle occurs the user keeps their Judgment until the rounds end. Limit: Must be a Venator. Must know Judgment. Extended Jugment Rank: "C" Skill: Supplementary Effect: The Venator's Combatless Judgment is extended. Special: --- Drawback: --- Description: When performing Combat Judgment the user extends the usage of Combatless Judgment by 2 rounds. User may learn this technique multiple times. Each time learned Combatless Judgment increases by 2 rounds. Limit: Must be a Venator. Must know Judgment. Must know Combatless Judgment. Extended Bane Rank: "C" Skill: Supplementary Effect: User's dedication knows no limit. Their wrath dies hard. Special: --- Drawback: Sacrifices 3 rounds of Bane. Description: Add the number of Impeccable Will to the number of rounds per day that the user can use the Bane Ability. Limit: Must be a Venator. Must know Bane. Intimidating Bane Rank: "C" Skill: Supplementary Effect: The user's bane weapon strikes fear into their enemies. Special: --- Drawback: Sacrifices 3 rounds of Bane. Description: Whenever the user performs a Dazzling display while their bane feature is active, the user has the ability to intimidate the creature that the Dazzling Display allows against creatures of the type the user's bane weapon currently affects. The target must make a Will Save against 10 +2 per Class Level + User's Impeccable Will or else it will become shaken. A creature that makes its save is immune to the effect of the user of this technique for 24 hours. Such creatures remain shaken while their bane feature is still active and effective against their creature type. Limit: Must be a Venator. Must know Bane. Longer Bane Duration Rank: "C" Skill: Supplementary Effect: Using Bane is an effective tool in the Venator's arsenal. Special: --- Drawback: Sacrifices 2 rounds of Bane. Description: By studying holy texts and notes of older Venatores, they can increase the duration that Bane can be used in the day. Applies to Bane and Greater Bane. The number of rounds per day that Bane can be used is increased by +2. This technique can be learned multiple times. Each time learned Bane is increased by +2. Limit: Must be a Venator. Must know Bane. Extended Use Rank: "C" Skill: Supplementary Effect: The Venator knows how to extend the duration of a Venator Jutsu. Special: --- Drawback: --- Description: When the user learns this, the user must select a single Jutsu which is limited to a number of rounds equal to the user's Class Level. The user can now use that Jutsu or ability equal to twice the normal amount than before. The user may learn this technique more than once but the user must choose a different ability each time. Limit: Must be a Venator.