Shards of Awakening

The door knocks, twice. Quan Jia blinks lazily up at the ceiling of her sulking room, which seemed like a really rude thing to call it, and inaccurate too. After all... It's not like I really ever sulk in here, it's important to do that where other people can see you're sulking...

She focuses on an elaborate piece of brass gears and lapis and amber… a bit past noon, I suppose it's a decent time to scrounge around for lunch… Not only would the clock… though that was more than a bit of an understatement... tell the time of day down to a fraction of a second, but it also served as a calendar, identified the phase of the moon, and the alignment of the planets. Pops never does anything by half measure does he… it does look cool though....

The door knocks again, once. Quan Jia sighs and stands and begins drifting toward her uninvited guest… why is it no one's ever around when there's someone at the door... do I need to hire more people?

Sand disappears under her feet as she slides to a graceful stop in front of the door, and with only a moment to regret a lifetime's inculcation of proper manners, she opens the door.

Quan Jia smiles.

"Meng Chao, hey, it's been a few days… did you figure out that thing with the iron ore?"

Her friend tilts a broad, pale green, and flat topped hat in greeting.

"The brittleness? Not completely. We have identified a waxy sort of impurity that seems to glow in the dark and burns impressively. It can be removed through a rather qi intensive metallurgic process or potentially by an array of seals or runes or something similar, but through purely mortal endeavor… unfortunately no."

"Why not just use some runes or whatever then?"

Meng Chao smiles with genuine amusement. He's gotten much better over the last few weeks at not looking so fake…

"For White Caps, that would be a potential solution due to the ready access to cultivators, albeit an expensive one. For more remote settlements, however, it would be unlikely to work."

Quan Jia frowns, confused and motions for her friend to come inside.

"But if it works for mushroom town, isn't that good enough… oh, did you want to come in? We've got tea and some leftovers from breakfast… mostly fruit and a spicy dipping sauce."

Her friend shakes his head, but allows himself to be dragged inside anyway.

"Thank you but no. I've already eaten… I actually came to visit because I've identified a third year outer sect disciple that may be amenable to supporting you and Xiao Lien in your conflict against Luo Lifen."

"To answer your question though: the proliferation of technology is like flakes of snow upon a ridge… once a certain density is reached it will cascade down in an avalanche of creation and innovation."

She flops down on her Comfy Couch and pats the cushion beside her. With little more than a momentary pause, Meng Chao takes the offered seat… even more progress…

"That's kind of an ominous analogy… why were you looking for people though? It's not like I don't appreciate it, but you didn't have to."

"How else should I begin to understand your idea of friendship but to offer of myself and my abilities?"

She didn't really have anything to say to that… progress indeed…

"In that case, I need to step up my game... I can't lose in a contest of friendship like this."

"I hadn't thought this would be a competition?"

"Shh… I'm trying to think of something so awesome that you'll be forced to just admit defeat here and now…"

"That sounds kind of ominous…"

"Nah… it'll be great."

Quan Jia starts mumbling as faces flash through her mind.

"Hmm… pops may know something and I bet Lady Shifting Sands does too, but that's the same issue with qi and access and stuff... Fu Zian knows alchemy… so that's a maybe, but he's kind of weird about strangers so maybe not. What about the library… no regular books aren't nearly cool enough… the other library though…"

"Yeah, I bet Ninth could totally help!"

Her exclamation startles Meng Chao from where he had been patiently watching her talk to herself.

"Has Quan Jia thought of something that would make me surrender in hopeless futility?"

Is Mei Mei infectious… everyone seems to enjoy mocking me so much…

"I'm not going to spoil anything… just be ready to come with me to the library some time in the next few weeks."

"I will await our venture with bated breath, but before my offering in this competition is shamed into irrelevance, would Quan Jia be willing to accompany me to meet with Gao Bo?"


A chime rings in his ear and Gao Bo sets his onyx stylus aside. A gust of wind qi cleans away the gem dust that covers the delicate etching he'd been engraving into the sapphire in front of him. He sighs and brushes the stone into a recycling bin. Another hairline crack in the cornerstone rune…

Now was not the time to dwell on past failures, though, as unless his timepiece was completely out of calibration, that would be Lord Meng Chao and guest. Here to discuss a potential business relationship. Or at least a custom purchase of wardstones.

His chair rolls back from a worktable cluttered by the panoply of gemcraft. It was probably too late to straighten up, but Lord Meng Chao had not struck him as the kind of person overly concerned with tidiness… Hopefully his guest is of like mind.

Wheels, powered by runes of his own design, spin in synchrony as he rolls down the smoothly ramped hallway from his workshop to the front door. A brief glance in a mirror placed at the entry way for exactly that purpose had him straightening hopelessly messy red hair into some semblance of order… There were, after all, limits to how informal one could be when meeting a prominent noble.

With a gesture, the wards around the door fall quiescent and the door itself drifts open. His eyes widen slightly as he recognizes the blonde haired girl standing to Lord Meng Chao's right. Lady Quan Jia… the rumors truly do not do her beauty justice…

"Lord Meng Chao, La-"

"Oh, wow. That's a really cool chair… does it lean back? Can you make me one? I'd be able to nap everywhere… even when going places."

A soft noise from Lord Meng Chao interrupts Lady Quan Jia's words and she grins sheepishly.

"Right, sorry. I'm Quan Jia. Nice to meet you."

Gao Bo opens his mouth to respond, but a voice he could only describe as spectral whispers in his ear and stops him. "Formality deleterious… degrades connection… casualness optimal."

It takes him a moment to process the words, but that combined with the significant glance Lord Meng Chao is directing at Lady Quan Jia, allows the meaning to fall into place.

"Welcome to my workshop, Quan Jia, and welcome once again, Meng Chao. It is wonderful to meet new arrivals to our glorious sect. Please come in, I've set some tea to chilling and I recently ordered a bag of dried peas with delightfully spicy coating."

With that, Gao Bo activates the gems on his chair and rolls toward the cave extension he'd set aside for business and playing host.

"Spicy peas and a cool rolly chair… you may be better at this competition than I thought.."

"Perhaps Quan Jia might…"

Lord Meng Chao's words fade to an indistinguishable murmur… unsurprising, all things considered…

"What does that matter? It's the chair that's important here."

"Hmm, maybe Quan Jia could instead consider…"

It was odd, listening to a one-sided conversation that more than likely around… memory, well worn to the point it no longer even bothered him flashed through his mind. A flippant statement, ill-considered and entirely out of character… vines, thorned and relentless… agony and then numbness…

"I guess you're right… maybe I can ask pops for a flying bed instead?"

"That seems a more reasonable solution."

"If you would pardon the interruption… while I have as yet been unsuccessful, I have devoted significant effort toward developing a levitation rune. If Quan Jia desires, I would be most happy to reserve my first successful prototype for her to purchase?

Lady Quan Jia looks over at Lord Meng Chao with a curious sort of intensity.

"Even Ninth by themself might not be enough… well I've got other ideas, so just you wait…"

She then turns toward him, and the smile she directs his way causes the tips of his ears to burn.

"You're cool, let's be friends. And I would absolutely want a flying bed, or chair, or whatever."

"I would very much like to be friends, Quan Jia. And I would be delighted to welcome you within my humble workshop whenever you desire."

He stops outside of his hosting room and gestures for his two guests to enter. As they enter, he rolls behind them, and stops at a place reserved for him at a high table. A pitcher of barley tea sits amidst a cooling array and a silver bowl worked with tiny sigils is filled to overflowing with spicy peas.

"Please, eat and drink as you like and if it is not disagreeable, I will recapitulate the course of events that has ended with this providential meeting."

Lord Meng Chao pours a glass for himself, but folds his hands and lets it sit in front of him. Lady Quan Jia on the other hand shovels a handful of peas into her mouth. Her face twists and she mutters something that may have been an epithet. On the heels of that muttered curse, she takes a gulp of tea, downing half the glass in one go.

"Soo spicy… soo good..."

Lord Meng Chao shrugs slightly as Gao Bo looks over, and he takes that as a sign to ignore the her behavior and continue.

"Some few weeks prior, a rumor reached my workshop about a rather more serious rivalry than is normal brewing within the entering year of disciples. To that end, I asked some questions and found that one of the disciples carried a significant, perhaps violent, prejudice toward the unsanctioned…"

"Given my own… limitations, I generally find it quite gauche to direct such prejudice toward those who have specific challenges of birth or circumstance to deal with. At this point I then decided to perform a bit more investigation to learn of the… sides as it were to this particular conflict. It was merely days after I had learned the names of the major actors in this rivalry that Meng Chao approached me and inquired after some of my wardstones, and knowing a bit of his role in things I countered with an offer of my own."

Lady Quan Jia looks up from where she had been seemingly engrossed in her snacks and studies him with an almost uncomfortable directness.

"You're not worried about the… you know…"

"It is more that the propensity for evil exists within all of us and I would rather judge someone by their actions rather than a quirk of birth or circumstance."

"I was right, you are cool… you're going to have to start coming to our weekly dinner parties then…"

At that Lady Quan Jia's voice drops more toward a low muttering as she talks more or less to herself.

"We're going to have to get some ramps around the estate though, I wonder if… no, who cares if the sect complains? I'm sure my cute maids can find someone to do construction… This place is kind of far away too, hmm… I'll have to get Mei Mei to do something about that. She's good at bullying people to get things done… what else, what else?"

It was a bit touching, and a lot confusing, to watch as Lady Quan Jia incorporated both himself and his chair into her life without even the slightest hesitation. To distract from the complex emotions of that thought, he looks over at Lord Meng Chao somewhat beseechingly.

"Quan Jia, perhaps you should ask if Gao Bo wants to attend your dinner parties first?"

"Oh, right. I suppose you don't have to, Fu Zian doesn't… But we may end up partying up here instead if you miss too many."

"I suppose that's close enough… please continue, Gao Bo."

Gao Bo can hear the sigh in Lord Meng Chao's words and he smiles internally. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to be around a few people every now and then…

[] "I have developed an array of wardstones that can, with minimal customization be deployed to protect any residence from infiltration or attack by anyone below Pearl Souled."

[] "I have developed a network of simple wardstones that can each function as a distress beacon. Simply activate it with qi and anyone in possession of another of the attuned wardstones will know that a bearer is in distress and in which direction they are."


[Turn 8 Vote]

Quan Jia has 4 actions she may take for this turn, of which all 4 can be cultivation. She may cultivate any particular thing up to 4 times per week.

Actions are broken up into categories that use the same general rules.

While there aren't any trap options in the sense of "rocks fall, everyone dies", there are options that are sub-optimal.

Feel free to ping me and ask for clarification or whatever on the particular voting options, if you have any setting related questions, or if you're trying to put together one of the write-in options.

1 Hour Moratorium.