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Harlan's dispel hits, and Black Moth immediately stops blinking. You cannot tell which other effects were removed, but her mirror images remain. Heng vs Mirror Images:
Until Heng disrupts most of them with a flurry of crushing hits. Without her magical defenses, she stands little chance before the barrage. Despite a feeble riposte, she quickly falls to the sand beside Ameiko.
Black Moth screams in rage and frustration. "You cowards! There's more at stake here than your worthless lives!" She shakes her head and gives a familiar shrug. "As always, I'll have to do it myself." She casts a spell, spawning several mirror images of herself, then flies up and over the group, setting down beside Ameiko.
***
"No!" Black Moth screams, then counters Kiyomi's spell with one of her own, removing the magical confusion from Kaibuninsho.
"Take the halfling first," she orders the closing ninjas. "Once his healing ceases, the rest will fall like dominoes!"
Maeve begins to dance. That she dances is unsurprising, but the form of her dance is changed -- instead of a graceful, flowing movement, it is now halting, with abrupt changes that appear clumsy. Nonetheless, her performance inspires her ninja allies, like Kiyomi's does for you. She also casts a spell and begins to snap in and out of existence.
Parity:
No, that's her alright. I can sense the aura from the Amatatsu Seal that you all carry. I do not know of any way to duplicate it. "Yes, I have been wronged, but need no assurances from you or anyone. You have brought everything I need, and I will not let you bungle with Minkai's future any further. Take her." As she says the last, several things happen. Maeve pulls a hood over her face, one marked with the stylized visage of an oni demon. Ameiko gasps as the sohei claps a hand over her mouth, grasping her from behind... then they both disappear in a blast of smoke. Finally, several figures spring up from the sand around you, each clad in shizoku and demon-faced masks. A dozen more rise from hiding spots atop the walls surrounding the garden. "Here your quest ends!"
"Abandoned?" she laughs harshly. "The ninja captured me. They took me to Minkai on a junk. By the time I got free, I hardly knew where to find you. I wandered and found my own way, eventually here. I knew that you would turn up, some day. Who abandoned who?" After Parity speaks, she shakes her head sharply, "No, Parity... You miss the real point as usual. For one so crippled in sight, you're remarkably closed-minded. You make crude jokes, but the funny thing is: I would have married the lecherous fool, for her, if she'd asked me. I would have made that sacrifice! Would you? Would any of you?" She looks up, eyes blazing. "That's been the problem from the start! I loved her... I believed in her... I knew the way... I learned the culture, while the rest of you bumbled along, ignorant. Now you're here to save Minkai and its people, but you don't even know them... least of all her." She gestures at Ameiko, but does not make eye contact.
"That sounds about right then," she shakes her head. She continues to rake, but no longer follows the pattern, leaving jagged and broken lines across the sand. "I didn't leave, I was taken... At first I despaired that you couldn't find me, but were at least trying. Now I see that, deep down, my heart knew the truth -- you abandoned me. Cast aside, you were happy that I was out of the picture." With each word, she grows visibly more agitated.
At Heng's greeting, she stops raking for a moment. You can see the muscles of her arms, back, neck tense. Then she lets out a breath and continues raking. She does not look up. "So, you found me... finally. What took you so long? Do you need me for something, or just wish to further my humiliation?" |
