Kaies looks up from the floor of the room Dewei had showed himself and Minna to. It smells nice, and is quite a bit more comfortable than his usual accomodations.

"Minna, is there anything you need...?" He's been keeping a close eye on her since Yue's outburst, worried to all hell that these developments are going to be the entra kick that pushes her over the edge.

"Nah...I'm okay. Thank you." She smiles at Kaies. "This place is...really very nice. And it smells nice." She smiles, though she's been unusually quiet. "How about you? Are you okay?"

"As well as can be expected I suppose." He did just see the love of his previous life perforated, after all. "I can't quite figure out what was off about that Marion, though, and it's making me twitch."

"Off? Other than the fact that...well, it got as gruesome as it did and that there were flying invisible knives in my living room, what do you mean?" She tilts her head, concerned.

Kaies shrugs his broad shoulders. "It didn't have the feel of a spirit. I am a medium, you know, I can tell these things."

"Mm...what did it feel like, Kaies?"

"Similar to that Yue woman, actually," Kaies nods. "Not quite, but very close."

Dewei, sitting out on the balcony--poor Ding has been making Minna giggle, for how awkward he obviously feels about "stalk Minna as closely as possible" orders--looks up suddenly. Bites his lip, undecided. Quickly receives further instruction, and nods at the unspoken words. He stands up quickly and heads over to Minna and Kaies. "You know that attack we were expecting?" he inquires pleasantly. "It's here. We need to get you two to the lower levels of the house, it's very much a fortress down there."

Kaies is up in a heartbeat. "I can fight," he insists, "let me help you." He reaches out, snags Minna's crutches, and hands them over to his charge.

"Change of plans," Felina's voice wafts over them. "Dewei, get Kaies and Minna and take them to the nether plane. Yoru has everyone else, they'll meet you there. Hurry!"

Kaies's eyes narrow. This must be damned serious if Felina is thinking of fleeing.

"Dewei, take Minna ahead. I can help Felina, and get to the nether realm myself." His expression pleads with the young Ono, even as it begs Minna's forgiveness. "Please let me help her...!"

Dewei glances nervously out the window, feeling. "Kaies. There are two of hell's overseers out there. Overseers, not to mention demons in force. Anyone around is a liability."

The medium growls low in his throat. "When we get somewhere safe, I am going to slap the taste out of your mouth for that..." He looks out the window, looks to Minna. "Fine. Hurry up."

Dewei has no idea what he said wrong, but a purplish portal appears.

"Minna... let me go first. You," Kaies looks to Dewei, already contrite, "... sorry. Just... I'll explain later. Go in after Minna and make sure she's alright, alright?"

He nods. "Absolutely."

And the medium steps through the portal, wondering just what in hell is so set aganst them all the time.

---

"Ting! Ting Ting! Wakey wakey!" Yoru shoves Ting's shoulder, smacks her, bites her hand, anything she can think of to wake the eldest child up. "Trouble! Please wakey... we have to go!"

"A murf...?" Ting actually blinks awake...after the bite. And a delayed, quiet "...ow! What gives?" Her eyes are barely open.

"We're in trouble. Overseers! Two! Gotta run!" Yoru looks outside, blinking. "Need to get your daddy and Makyon! Gotta hurry hurry!"

"Uhh...? Okay. Dad's running up from the forge...where's creepy?" She rubs her eyes and hesitantly sits up.

"I don't know," Yoru admits, "I couldn't find him. He was on his way to help you, but..." shakes her head. "Please take your father and go. I'll find Makon."

"Go where...?"

"Point! Go to the nether realm and find miss Amilei." Yoru nods. "I'm sorry. I'll explain it all in a minute!"

"Okay...hey, the shields are down...spiffy..." And she vanishes, sleepily grabs her startled father's shoulder, and is bound for Wu Yuan.

Yoru smiles a little, and then takes off to find Makyon. She's only just got the door open when a horde of gremlins spills inside, covering her, chewing at her in her shock and inaction. She throws them off, squealing in pain, and takes a few labored steps before they tackle her from behind and attack again, biting deep into her neck and back. Yoru's body burns with psionic energy for a split second, a shock wave busting out to throw them away again. Her heart hammers as she tries again to run, her feet just cannot move as fast as they were. In seconds the flood of gremlins is upon her, bearing her down to the ground, their horrible chittering overpowering her squeaks of protest.

It's about seven seconds later that Felina appears, a brilliant burst of light elemental sorcery hitting the room like a flashbomb.

A tandem forty-three gremlin screech goes up for about a half-second before the little monsters vaporize in the light. When it fades, Yoru can be seen lying on her face and belly, quivering. Her clothes have been shredded, her entire body is covered with deep lacerations, and parts of her neck and arm have been gnawed so badly that shining bone peeks out of the wounds. She is not lucid enough to react to the bomb.

From outside, the crash of approaching footsteps can be heard once again. Gargoyle claws screech against the fortified windows, their piercing shrieks only barely making it through the thick glass.

A quick burst of powerful healing magic surrounds the downed construct and then is cut off, set to work continuously. Without expecting to win the fight, Felina isn't as careful of her energy as she might be. Not that she intends to lose. She kneels to kiss Yoru's forehead. "Thank you, Yoru," she says quietly. Thank you for proving me so right in wanting you to survive after the split with Mara." She stands, and the other construct is whisked away to Solomon.

"Okay," Felina mutters. "You know what? Cut the dramatic hero quiet moment bullshit." She vanishes, and appears on her roof, facing the overseers and flat glaring at them. "You bastards are doing your damnest to rip my life apart. I like my life. Come and get me, bitches."

The monsters all look up in unison. Great and small, their attention locks on her. The overseers roar. The gremlins chatter. Gargoyles shrieks, and yet another wave of hydra-like centaurians hiss their approach.

The light elemental standing suddenly beside her doesn't make much of a sound, unless pushing up his black glasses counts.

"Amilei's regards," he speaks swiftly and sharply, a severe man in a white, three piece suit. "I'm Overisk, I'm here to help."

Felina glances his way, smirks a little in acknowledgement and gratitude, and looks over to the now rapidly approaching hoard. "Lovely to meet you. I'm not worried about the small ones. Take down the overseers and they'll lose all organization and this turns into a regular day out. I need at least one of the overseers attacking me at all times. Both need to attack me at least once. Think you can keep their attention on me?"

"I can try. I don't think it will be a problem." Overisk slicks his hair back and leaps off the roof, suave and smooth as can be. The little monsters go for him immediately, but his body pours out elemental light and keeps them at bay, vaporizing some. The overseers avoid him, turning their attention to Felina... not that they fear his light power.

Felina readies the laser pisol, and scans the grounds with her eyes, planning. Yeah. This has to be perfect. She finally springs from the roof, two vast, unnatural leaps taking her in firing range in front of one of the overseers. Fires at its eyes, and then leaps backwards.

The monster has the presence of mind to turn its head, but doesn't follow immediately. Overisk flings out his hand and an irregularly-shaped pillar of light that strikes its haunches, motivating it to go after her anyway.

That's what she needed. A few of those rapid leaps take her ahead, then she abruptly turns and flings a light elemental spell at the thing's face.

The attack strikes the monster's muzzle, but it keeps loping after her, bellowing at the top of its gigantic lungs. It swings a massive paw at her in mid leap.

Meanwhile, Overisk rises into the air and begins taking 'finger gun' pot shots at the monsters below, blasting the remaining overseer a half-dozen times in the face to keep it from following Felina immediately.

Yeep! She dives into the ground. Phases straight down into it. Great plan. Have to keep this up for how long?

Predictably, a deep swath of earth is carved above her just before she springs out again a hundred yards or so away. turns around and sends a volley of light elemental shots its way.

The overseer is losing its already thin patience. It strafes to its left and plants its claws, howling strangely into the air. At twelve points in front of its maw, whirling black spheres manifest like circling carrion birds. Pinpoints of light connect the spheres in a symbolic pattern as the earth around the monster shakes and quivers in the closest thing to agony a planet can experience.

Oh...crap Well, it's either going to kill her, or be just what she needs. Felina narrows her eyes, and begins channeling energy into one of the most powerful shields she can create. Oddly multi-layered and faceted, though.

Overisk looks that way, blinking, and quite suddenly doubles over. He shakes his head, gasping, and retreats to the roof. The presence of some otheroworldly black power is rising from the overseers, as the second one imitates the actions of the first. A sound like a thousand bass ghouls chating, "hoom, hoom, hoom..." wafts over all of Helantri Deru.

The light elemental shakes his head. "They're going to damn the whole planet," he whispers, and takes off to find Felina.

Felina, for her part, is realizing that something is very, very wrong. But she can't identify why. Her shield dissipates. It's not creating an attack. What the hell is it doing. She indicates to Overisk where she is psychically, vanishing to meet him halfway.

"Hoom, hoom, hoom..."

Overisk catches up with Felina, out of breath. "They're going to plane shift the whole planet into hell's boundaries. We have to leave, and get anyone else out of here, else kill them both in the next fifty three seconds."

Felina looks over her home fondly for a few moments. Sighs. "Right. There is no one else here. Get out of here. I'll meet up with you soon. You can transport yourself away, I assume?"

"Yeah." Overisk grins, slicks his hair back. "See you soon."

"Bye bye." And she vanishes. Is suddenly in a study. a large portal opens in teh floor. All the bookshelves are roughly pitched into it, shattering on each other when they get where they're going on the other side. Her works, her father's works. Her desk. Vanishes. A few treasured old weapons. Vanish. Twenty seconds. Orrin's weapons closet. Vanishes. A box of family photos and other memories. A special coat of Orrin's. Vanish. A trunk of things dear to Ting. Ten seconds. Felina grabs her father's staff, and looks wistfully out over her home, her dear home of almost half a millenium. That she built with her husband, along with everything on it. Where she'd raised her kids. Where she'd hoped to raise the next.

Swallows hard, closes her eyes, and all of the portals close. Vanishes herself, looking down over Deru from one of its moons.

Overisk looks up to the stars, smiling a strange sort of smile. Now that she has gone, he can fulfill his mission here.

A flick of his wrists sends his sunglasses to the ground, revealing stark, pure black eyes. He walks to the first overseer, counting down the seconds.

"If you thought for a moment that I would go so easily into the night, you and whoever commands you is doomed to die a fool's death." He hopes Felina can hear or see this. This is payback for all of the trust and faith she has shown him and his dear daughter, and the tolerance most of all. This is more than retribution. It is righteousness.

A beam of light fires from his hand and into the maw of the first overseer. The beast gasps, startled at actually feeling pain in this world. 

"It may be my only chance to do this right," Overisk laughs, a nearly maniacal cackle that echoes across Helantri Deru.  This form will not last him long. Soon, his path to hell will inevitably resume. Before that, though...

The figure that is Overisk leaps and dashes into the open mouth of the second of hell's overseers. His body glows to life with runes of light-element, even when the monster's jaws snap shut upon him.

---

Far away from Helantri Deru, Dorian sits upon his stone, perfecting his song.  A light catches his eye, though, and he looks off in the direction of Felina's home planet.

All at once Helantri Deru is enveloped in a shattering sphere of ivory energy. The construct shields his eyes against it, feeling his senses tingle... never in all his life has he felt such a concentration of light element. He can't help but wonder what is going on, but shrugs, and sets back to his music.

Fifty five seconds after Overisk's warning, Helantri Deru is has been swept clean of its demonic host. That which was Overisk, however, is no more, gone the way of Felina's house, her gardens, and her foes.

Felina's eyes are something between angry-shocked and wide. Finally...she closes them, and then laughs. Something between amused, rueful, proud...maybe something else. Shakes her head. "You son of a bitch..." she murmurs. "I knew you wouldn't have gone down that easily. Thank you, Moorn." Looks down. Her home's still gone. But she looks up again. Somehow...feels better about that than she had. And better about certain things...than she has in awhile. Clutches her father's staff quietly, and opens a portal to Korliss's Keep.

---

When Felina returns a deceptively short time later, her face is stolid as her feet meet the strangly pristine earth. Closes her eyes, and searches for improperly sealed rifts, anything dangerous at all.

Not far from where she's standing, a squad of darkly dressed humanoid demons is searching the area, while a voluptuous woman in a whorish black dress barks orders at them. Not far behind her an angel is standing over the ruins, looking around.

Felina looks on with a fair amount of interest as she approaches the two-dollar commander. "Excuse me, is there something I can help you with?"

By and large, the demons ignore her. The commander, however, turns a bright pair of blue eyes on her and steps forward, her miniscule attire blowing in the breeze. For a goth, she has awfully bright eyes.

"Possibly! I was wondering what happened to two of my overseers." She beams, her voice so cute that it's practically nauseating. "Do you know?"

She's rather like her daughter, actually. Felina nods. "I'm all but positive that if you don't know, they were vaporized."

"Oooh!" She stamps her foot, arms crossing in an instant pout. "That makes me so mad! Now I am down to three. I'm going to have to start breeding monsters again. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get overseers to breed?"

"No." Felina smirks a little. "But I'm fairly sure that I don't want too graphic a description of the process, having seen them. May I ask your name, Miss?"

"I'm Stasiel." She beams. "And no, after you've seen nine layers of fiery torment, it's not that bad."

"A good point." Felina smiles. "Lady Stasiel, though...a pleasure to finally meet you. Considering that I'm more or less sure that you're standing in one of my guest bathrooms, would you be so kind as to explain why the overseers of hell have been so vocal around here?"

"We were looking for a fallen angel," Stasiel smartly answers, cute as can be. "Alsanael Yue. But he doesn't seem to want to come home, so we had to get a little rough. When someone was able to beat one, we sent two. So this was your place?" She looks around, punky black hair bouncing. "Sorry about that."

"Ah...well, he's thoroughly out of range now, I think. And, no problem."

"Oooh! That sucks!" She stamps her foot. "Now my quota's down. And that guy," she points off into the distance. "Spintrius promised me that I could get Yue if I would just distract all of you. And what did he do? Nothing! And I didn't even get Yue, oooh! I'm so mad! I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind in a minute." She blinks, calming in her animated hissy fit. "You won't tell me where Yue is, will you?"

Felina glances that way in the corner of her eyes. Gets a fix on him with her senses so she'll know if he tries to go anywhere or do anything."Not at the moment, although I can't imagine she'll be willing to stay hidden forever. But I would be more than happy to help with the Spintrius-bashing." She smirks. She rather likes Stasiel, though, in a Tingy-Mara way. "May I inquire as to what he wanted to distract from?"

"Well, we made a deal. I love deals. He wanted you to be somewhere else, and everyone distracted, while he kidnapped somebody. Set up a very attractive Vanguard in the process. But the funny thing is, he never made a move here." Stasiel crosses her arms over her mostly-displayed chest. "I think the filthy, wretched ingrate demi-mortal played me for a patsy. And he's a dick, too."

"Well, he is your deal-monkey, then, but do you mind if I kick his ass anyway?" Felina tilts her head. Her tone is absolutely, almost warmly cordial.

"If I can watch." Stasiel smiles, but for a second a hint of her demonic nature is apparent in her features. "I... hm. Get off on it, if you'll excuse the expression. He's only here because I caught up to him before he could flee, and I'm going to torture him until my whole body simply melts with pleasure." She giggles quietly, looking back at him. "Oh, yes I am."

"I can't decide if I feel sorry for him, or am quietly glad he got in over his head," Felina observes. Smiles at Stasiel. "Excuse me." And she vanishes, appearing behind Spintrius. "So. Let me think how to word this properly...'What the hell?'"

The angel, who looks just like the puppet bodies did only dressed in angel-armor regalia, just smirks at her. Points. "That the hell." Indicating Stasiel. "Imagine my surprise when I decided that I couldn't go through with killing Minna, and got this for my troubles."

Felina glances over to Stasiel, then back to Spintrius. "Considerig that you've also told me today that you were never planning to kill Minna, give me a solid reason to believe you now."

"If you have any sense at all, you won't believe anything I tell you no matter what it is." Spintrius, here, has that military snap that Ale had displayed earlier. The pomp of brass. "If I told you the sky was blue, I would expect you to double check. In fact, if I were you, I would be wondering if all of this wasn't just a setup." His sword's scabbard, though, is quite empty.

Felina narrows her eyes a little. She really doesn't like this fellow at this exact moment. "Either you're hinting that you wouldn't mind your own ruse failing, or you're just fine with the idea of being dragged to hell and letting Stasiel have her way with sharp things. Which is it?"

"I'm ashamed to admit it, but the disgrace I've brought to my kind tells me I owe it to Stasiel. I was working, not so much under duress as under influence, of a woman. Like you would know anything about feminine charms." He smirks. "Your husband might, though. She's his kind."

Felina blinks. "Dumen? It's strange for any of them to be involved so far from home...who?"

"Her name is Phenhine. That, though, is all I'm not oath bound to tell you." Spintrius looks towards Stasiel, who is calmly commanding her demons about. "Similar to that one in figure and dress, actually, but she actually comes across as wise."

"I'm familiar with her." Small community. Felina glances back to Stasiel, torn, before looking to Spintrius. "You don't have to just resign yourself to her, you know. I'm sure that your oh-so-stringent legal system is going to do plenty, anyway."

Spintrius smirks just a little bit. "Don't play sympathy with me, Felina Deyono. I would have left already if I could have."

About this time Stasiel wanders back, beaming at the both of them. "Did you find out what you needed, Felina? My boys are done cleaning up the rifts, that's for you. There wasn't much left anyway. Do you need me to interrogate him for you?" She bites her lip, looking up to Spintrius. "Oh, let me...!"

Felina had narrowed her eyes at the angel. What a jackhole. Looks over to Stasiel for a few moments, then back to Spintrius. "I'm done. Thanks for sealing the rifts, Stygia." She smiles a little for that. Then... "Listen, do you think I could drag this asshole along with me instead? You like deals, right?"

"I love deals," she nods excitedly. Stops, though, as if considering. "But I love pleasure, too. He's going to bring me all sorts of delight."

"I'm sure," Felina nods. "But, you're a demon goddess. You've got lots of things already waiting for you at home that can make you positively melt for joy. So..." hm. "I have at home. Well..." glances over the barren landscape. "At my father's home, now. It's one of a kind, and pretty much irreplaceable since it was one of Master Tel-tiono's latest and more advanced projects. It's a scrying orb, in essence, but it's especially attuned to any infernal surges in any of the three universes nearest to this one. Often enough, there will be a rise from one of them, and when that happens, you can immediately know that a demon or soemthing else has escaped from that plane to this one. Much faster than any divine or infernal sensor that I've ever seen." She smiles, and tilts her head. "That will get you lots of playtoys in the future, one by one."

"But that takes the joy out of the hunt...!" Stasiel pouts quietly, simmering like a little girl given a doll instead of that blasted tea set. "Besides, I don't want something of your father's. Especially if it's irreplacable. I am a demon goddess, but I'm not that greedy. I just like to play." She beams. "I like deals. Like... I give you him, you do something. Or get someone to do something. You know? Plus I get to beat him a little."

"Do you have any suggestions?" Felina actually likes dealing with tormentor type demons more, for this reason. More straightforward.

Stasiel's eyes gleam. "Wanna help me with him? I like sharing, sometimes."

"Oh, I do." Felina laughs softly. "But I try to keep my hands out of that kind of thing, usually, as annoying as it is sometime. Is there anything that you need done on the physical plane, Stygia? Something I can help with?"

"Not really. You could give me your soul, though, I'm into that." Stasiel shrugs. "Whatcha want him so bad for anyway?"

"I don't, really. I just want to drag him around and make him explain to my dear nether double, face to face, why her lover's dead by his orchestration. And to my son's girlfriend why her father's dead." Stasiel's sadistic in her own way. Felina is sadistic in hers. Also, just leaving someone to Stasiel's way without even trying grates against her nature. "Also, I'm a construct." Smirks a little, almost sheepishly. "I'm programmed to be protective."

"Huh. That sounds like a fitting punishment, it does, but Radivishe Moorn had it coming. He was mine in a few years anyway." Stasiel shakes her head. "I'll tell you what. If you want him so bad, do me this favor. When your Minna becomes a goddess, tell her I have a job opening for her. I need someone to watch over the 'in-between'. You know, where everybody didn't do whatever is getting them to my place."

Even Spintrius blinks at that.

Felina blinks too, and bows her head. Smiles a bit. "I'll do that, Lady Stasiel, and thank you. I think she'll be interested...Minna really wants nothing more than to find a purpose in all this, I think. She's used to the trials of her life and accepting of them, but she wants them justified." Really, she would have agreed to this regardless of whether she was getting the angel bastard in the deal.

"Okay!" Stasiel looks longingly at Spintrius. "Oooh... beating and burning you would have given me such ecstasy. An archangel! Oh, it would have been wonderful..." she holds out her hand, bearing a small stone. "His life force. I never take chances with angels."

Felina's smile turns fairly amused as she takes it. "That explains a lot. You are a professional, Stasiel."

"I," she proudly exclaims, "have been doing this job for ever! And everyone thinks ill of me, but I am really very pleasant. Imagine how zealots would feel to hear you've spoken to a demon queen on good terms?"

"They probably don't like me anyway," Felina smirks. "Thanks again for having the rifts here sealed, by the by. It will make rebuilding so much easier and more pleasant."

"No problem. I don't like letting the sulfur out, anyway."

"Gotcha. Well, I still have a lot of loose ends to tie up, if there's nothing else...? It was nice meeting you, by the by."

"A pleasure! Call me sometime, we'll have coffee." She smiles. "Of course there's no tea in hell."

"Ugh. My own personal hell, then." Felina smirks. Feels for Ale, tries to figure out where he is.

Ale's energy signature is soft, but definitely emenating from the River Rose.

Hmm...Felina and Spintrius are both suddenly garbed in street clothes, just in case Ale is more or less incognito. She tucks his bound life force securely into a magically fastened pouch on her belt, since she doesn't trust him as far as she can throw him--well...actually, probably a whole lot less than that analogy--and then they're both bound for the River Rose.

---