The assembled group departed the Medical bay leaving Dame Freyr and Sir L1-4MNT to recover under the care of the doctor and the watchful guard of Sir RHY-S32.

The Investigation party reconvened in Gwydion's private armour bay, where he had been experimenting with new Armour Systems that incorporated Wyrmgate technology. The technology was still in its infancy, more theoretical than anything. It would take a few years before a practical prototype emerged. Yet, Gwydion had seen the technology in action. And on a miniaturized version of a Lævateinn blade. How was that possible? And why had he bled, but the other two victims had no visible wounds? It had been an interesting evening to say the least. Full of more questions than answers.

OOC: Yes, Gwydion would be familiar with it's effects on armour, but normally they are only armour weapons. Until someone tried to kill you with one. That also phased around like your theoretical technology.

---

Meara, under guard, joined Queen Valerie who was already in conference with MerLN.

"You're sure, MerLN? Absolutely," the Queen asked.

"Absolutely? No. Reasonably? Yes," MerLN answered.

"Reasonably is not enough to bet the Future of this Kingdom upon," the Queen answered. "An Impossible Choice: We either risk devastation like that seen on Callisto or we evacuate and signal to the rest of the Solar System that we are incapable of defending even the very heart of our Kingdom."

OOC: Fate Point if you pick a side.

Performing a respectful curtsy, Meara greeted her aunt per protocol, "Your Majesty."

She then hurried over to her aunt's side to participate in the conference.  "Gwydion has taken some of our best and brightest to work on deciphering a way to track the assassins, as their movements are based on technology he is currently developing, and the Thames is currently performing active scans of Avaluna for Wyrmgate particles - if they try moving like that again, we should be able to find them.  Sir RHY-S32 is guarding Freyr and Sir L14-MNT.  So long as no others and nothing else have been attacked as of yet, I would make the choice to stay," she says before pausing, then adding, "I say this weighing the consequences of both choices and on what I currently know of the situation, and it is not a choice I am glad to make, nor one I would wish on anyone."

Taking that delicious FP to vote on staying - so long as nothing has happened that MerLN didn't tell us about.

Euryleia looked for a moment like she was willing to continue trying, but decided that either she was not transmitting the hints well enough or the pair were unwilling to listen to them.  If this continues, then she would have to stop bothering with politeness.

On the way to the workshop, Euryleia and Brun spoke quietly.  The sort of conversation you might try to have with someone who you just met, but who you wanted to know everything about because you secretly hoped that this was the beginning of something amazing....  But, of course, neither wanted to reveal everything of course.  Brun had no desire to reveal his fall from grace or that his last job was piracy.  Euryleia wanted to simply enjoy meeting Brun without the voluminous weight of everything that they had already been through together.

The meet-cute fell apart as they stepped into the workshop.  Brun stumbled off balance a moment and Euryleia caught him.  A grateful Brun recovered and stood, "Thank you, my Lady." But then he looked her hand...then her... Then the others...  Then the workshop.  Brun looked on the verge of panic, "My Lady...  How are you here!?  Outside and...."  Brun took her hand as though it was the most precious and delicate thing in the universe.  An object that can't be real and if you touched it might shatter back into dream.  But she didn't.  She was there and real and....  Brun embraced and kissed Euryleia as though it was the first, only, and last kiss.  Euryleia fell into it, not caring if this wasn't quite her Brun.  It was very very close....

They both ignored the room forever.  For a bit.

The prince was deep in thought as the think tank moved to the Armour bay, still sorting puzzle pieces in his mind and trying to fit them together. Too much was still missing, though. The only way he could get so many of the answers he needed would be by living through them, or else interrogating their party crashers. It was no use, he needed to set his mind to the task of the present: tracking and containment. With the celebrations going on and now the lockdown, the group would have the bay all to themselves, letting him think out loud and speak more freely.

When Brun tripped, Gwydion instinctively moved to help catch him, only realizing he should let Euryleia handle that after he took his first step. Then he simply smiled at Recent Past Brun and his Lady having their sudden reunion, while moving closer to his and Rose's project.

"Alright, no gawking, friends," as he gawked. "MerLN, is anyone else here with us, or are we alone?"

"There have been no further indications of incursion and my diagnostics indicate that no malicious code is currently running or laying dormant on Avaluna's primary or secondary systems," MerLN replied to Prince Gwydion.

---

"There have been no further indications of incursion and my diagnostics indicate that no malicious code is currently running or laying dormant on Avaluna's primary or secondary systems," MerLN said in reply to Meara.

The Queen considered Meara's counsel, "Then we will continue with the occasion as planned. We must be especially vigilant. The dream of a united Humanity, even its very survival, rests upon a blade's edge. Security was already a primary focus and yet..." The Queen paused, considering. "Meara, bring me Clarent."

Clarent was a blade Meara knew well. The Sword of Peace. It had been a wedding gift from Queen Valerie La Guin to her husband John Arthur when they had wed. He was never without it at courtly functions. It was not a blade of war, but rather a symbol of his position, duty, and just rule. It was the blade with which he raised up his subjects and knighted them in service to Avaluna. It had not been touched since his passing. And, as Meara discovered as she moved to retrieve it, it was missing.

Meara wanted to give her aunt good news.  She really did.  She also knew her aunt wouldn't have moved the blade.  The fact that it was not where it should be was alarming enough, but that she could not see it anywhere was even more terrifying.  "I... I cannot find it.  It is not where it belongs, and I do not see it anywhere else," she answered with a mix of despair and anger in her voice that changed to desperation, "Please... please tell me you moved it somewhere.  We can't lose that, too..."

In truth, Meara was less worried about losing the symbol of unity and peace to the people and more about her aunt losing one more tie to her husband.

Euryleia slowly, reluctantly drew back from Brun.  Only far enough to meet his dark eyes with her silver, "There is never enough time to explain....  You will have questions, but you won't remember the answers long.  You must simply trust me."

Brun gave a firm nod, but didn't interrupt or look away.  Of course he would trust her.  That didn't stop the deep apprehension about what may come next, but trust for her was not in question.

Euryleia continued, summarizing only the most important pieces that he needed to know now.  She seemed to have some practice at managing this very concise explanation.  It wasn't worth it to try and explain to every Then, but when he was so close to Now....  It helped.  Sometimes.

For Brun, he went from finding out that Euryleia was aware and awake to being chosen to lead an expedition for the King to..... Almost too much for anyone in one blow.  Euryleia watched him force down the apparently useless questions, breath through the anguish of everything he was told so quickly, and  somehow hold himself together.

Euryleia kissed him again, more gently.  With apology.  She then lead him to the others.  To Gwydion, she asked, "If I may?" She didn't really wait for an answer before taking over a few nearby engineering holo-displays.  She created a loop of her own visual recording of Gwydion's attack on one.  On another she created a display of her compiled sensor data for review, "Where do you want to begin?"

Brun watched himself through Euryleia's eyes....  Falling apart and useless during the attack on Gwydion. Shouting and saying things he could not remember... He tore his eyes away, looking anywhere else but at the display of the broken, mad not-him....

Gwydion stood by Iliza and her sister, hands behind his back, and gave Euryleia a nod.

"At the beginning. Run us through what you saw, then we can dig deeper into the data and what it means."

"I have not," the Queen said, masterfully masking the emotions she was undoubtedly feeling. "It's absence cannot be a coincidence. It appears that we have discovered the reason for the intrusion detected by Lady Euryleia. Someone seems intent upon undermining the future of Avaluna. We will not allow that to happen. Meara, I want these intruders found. If they are benevolent as Gwydion claimed they might be, then why skulk about like murderers and thieves? It is time they answered for their actions."

Steeling her emotions, Meara nodded, although her aunt couldn't see.  "It shall be done," she answered with determination in her voice.  Finding people and bringing them to justice.  This was something she could do.  "I shall be your eyes, My Queen, and your sword.  MerLN, please inform Gywdion and Lady Euryleia of the theft of Clarent, and then bring up a display of our current guard patrols and recent reports, as well as Wyrmgate traces from the Thames' scans.  We will need to coordinate our efforts if anything is to be done, and I will not be able to look for ways to narrow our search without this."

Euryleia nodded once to Gwydion as he asked for her to go through it all.  Which she did with as much detail as she has available.  She expanded past her own visuals, to create a timeline on another screen.  The timeline began with her estimate on the incursion into the Queen's chamber during the evenings events, Brun's initial "vision" which set himself and Euryleia on the path, followed by the best timing on the attacks on Freyr, L1-4MNT, Gwydion.

Euryleia slowed down her visuals of Gwydion's attacker and did her best to isolate any defining characteristics.  To clean up and enhance any identifiers (like she might have caught in the attacker's broken faceplate).  The recording included the audio as well, of the attacker's voice before she disappeared.

After showing her detailed analysis of the attacker, Euryleia allowed the log to play out.

With Gwydion stating that the attacker looked like Iliza, but couldn't be.

With Brun swearing suddenly for someone to kindly fuck off and that he had been lying.  As well as that he had known the attackers.  Or would know them.  And that the King must die.... And somehow having the notion that Gwydion might be interpreted as King, which is ridiculous....  Right?

Euryleia will, will running this analysis with Iliza present, attempt to ascertain any identifiers she caught of the attacker and compare them to Iliza.  Height, weight, movement, possible face, etc  To rule her out and provide all that useful data.

So....

Lore Overcome Total +4 (Willing to tag in the Data sift Free invoke created earlier and/or spend FP to tag in Dea)

08:14, Today: Euryleia rolled 2 using 4 Fudge dice with rolls of 0, 1, 1, 0.  Overcome Lore +2 - Attacker Analysis
This message was last edited by the player at 16:11, Mon 04 Mar.

Brun watched it all play out quietly, still unsteady from watching himself be so useless.  He has thought he'd overcome freezing like that....  Like that helpless princeling he had been so long ago.  Yet there he was, doing nothing to rescue his friend.

There were reasons of course.  Apparently his mind was broken.  He could feel it now, the waves of possibilities washing through his head.  Pushing and pulling.  Everything was so unsteady.  He forced himself to sit, ending up next to Irina.  Almost bumping into her really.  He whispered, "Sorry... A bit...dizzy...". He wasn't really, but it was close enough to the words that didn't exist for this feeling to be true.

He took a breath and tried to focus while he could on the presentation and what details he could get out of it...

What's that about Gwydion being /King/?

Brun will bring his investigatory-ness to bear as well!

Cunning Overcome Total +4

08:27, Today: Brun rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice with rolls of 1, 0, -1, 0.  Overcome - Cunning +4

"It's...it's alright," Irina replied to Brun in a whisper of her own. "I know the feeling. Like the whole world is upside down..."

Euryleia analysed her recordings and compared them to all the available data. The brief and partial glimpse offered of the assailant was an uncanny match for Iliza, certainly, though her eyes were different color. The physical characteristics were all off marginally as well. Slightly taller, more muscle, still undoubtedly female based on musculoskeletal structure. Voice-print didn't match up either. The evidence supported what Euryleia had suspected. This couldn't have been Iliza.

Brun noticed something else as well. Gwydion had been cut, but there was no blood on the assassin's blade. While Gwydion's wound hadn't been a deep one, there should have been some trace of blood or, at the very leadt, clothing fiber from his ruined suit. Yet, the analysis showed nothing. That was odd, wasn't it?

"There has been another development," MerLN interrupted the proceedings. "It appears that Clarent is missing."

---

MerLN provided the information that the Princess requested, yet it proved to be disappointing. There had been no other reported disturbances and there were no other traces of Wyrmgate particles other than those already familiar to Meara. Had the thieves already escaped with the blade? What was she missing?
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:02, Mon 04 Mar.

"...no, definitely not Iliza." As the log slowed on Not-Iliza, Gwydion studied the attacker with absolute focus. "Too tall. Not her voice." He wasn't even looking at the Iliza beside him. "Euryleia, can you compare the attacker to both Iliza and myself for similarities?" Meanwhile, he was starting to examine the unknown fighter's combat style. Stances, motions, anything that could be compared to something Gwydion knew.

[Totally willing to make a Melee Create Advantage roll to represent knowledge gleaned from the video, if needed. I'm at +5, so if that's enough to get me anything good, I'd rather forego rolling and just go with it. :P]

MerLN's interruption finally took the prince's attention from the display. On hearing the news about Clarent, his face twisted in momentary confusion. That name sounded so famili--oh OH! Gwydion's eyes went wide.

"Uncle's sword? What-why? It isn't even very good, it's just... symbolic. Damn it. That explains the particles in the royal chambers. Okay. This doesn't change anything, though if they were able to take it and jump out of time with it rather than just moving it somewhere else... and they would leave more Wyrmgate particles if they were teleporting through space rather than time, wouldn't they?" He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. "There's just so much we don't know. Should I stop? Is that what this is about? But it's already happened, so if we don't let the technology finish, we might cause even more trouble than if we continue. There must be a reason we haven't seen evidence of time travel before. But... isn't saving him more important? What could be so bad that Brun would send our children to the past to do all this?" For a moment, he was starting to fall back into himself again, as he had after the King's passing. He pulled himself out of it with another shake of his head.

"Thank you for the update, MerLN. Please let me know if any of the King's other personal effects have been tampered with."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:41, Tue 05 Mar.

Staring at the data and maps she has before her, Meara made Frustrated Meara Sounds™ before growling, "This would be so much easier if they couldn't teleport or turn invisible or... whatever it is they are doing!  We likely have one assassin and one thief-turned-assailant, since that would explain why both Clarent is missing and that the attack on Freyr and Sir L14-MNT were made to distract and prevent pursuit... I am certain they would have mentioned seeing Clarent if it was in the thief's possession then... so either they can disguise themselves, turn invisible, and/or are in the vents, or they're already gone and the particles we detected were from their escape and not their intrusion.  Even so, we would be foolish to abandon the search now."

She turned to her aunt and asked, "I do not suppose you have security footage of where you were keeping Clarent, do you?  If we can at least narrow down the time it went missing..."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:14, Tue 05 Mar.

Brun nodded in deep, heartfelt agreement to Irina's whisper.  That very neatly summed it up.  Though he could tell she didn't necessarily mean just for him...  He attempted to place a hand, very gently on Irina's shoulder.  Just a small gesture of reassurance.   Or at least "In This Together"-ness.

Then something in the playback and analysis caught Brun's eye.  Everytime it looped through during the analysis, he focused on the blade itself.  Curious..... As chance permitted, he tried to get a clean look at Gwydion's shirt and chest...

Then MerLN made his announcement and distracted his attention again, "Clarent?  The Sword of Peace?  Why??"

Euryleia pulled out the best image of the attacker's strangely Iliza-like face, then attempted to extrapolate missing/obscured areas to create a full face image.  Gwydion and Iliza's faces were then placed alongside.  She then began to identify similarities based on facial recognition protocols.  She did note, "I will do my best, but I am uncertain if such an analysis will provide a reliable result for what you seem to be suggesting."

MerLN's alert got her attention, though it did not interrupt her analysis.  She was perfectly capable of quite a number of operations at once.  Yet another benefit if her unique self.

Unable to answer Brun's query, Euryleia considered it...along with the other incidents.  She minimized her timeline and replaced it with a map of Avaluna, marking the Queen's chamber with the new information about the missing Clarent, alongside the information on her best guess on when it occured.  She then added the locations and times of the attacks to the map as well.  Perhaps looking at it this way would reveal something...

Euryleia's map provided some interesting food for thought. If Clarent had been purloined during the banquet as the data suggested, then why had the attacks occurred afterward? They wouldn't have been used to cover up the theft. They had only drawn attention to the fact that the Sword was missing. If the attacks had been an assassination attempt, then why had Freyr & L1-4MNT been attacked? What would the assassins have gained by killing them? And why had the assassin only disabled them whereas Gwydion had been wounded?

The image analysis was less conclusive, though did not rule out the possibility of what Gwydion seemed to be suggesting. It was entirely possible that the assailant could have been the progeny of Gwydion and Iliza.

But as Gwydion watched the brief footage and played the fight back in his head, he knew. He knew that, had the roles been reversed, he would have fought exactly as the assassin had.

Iliza, for her part, looked rather pale, even compared to her normal complexion. The thought that Gwydion would even consider that she would try to kill him...

Even she had to admit the likeness of the woman was similar to her own.

Children...?

Did he...?

"While it may not be completely reliable, we're still operating on too many assumptions and coming to conclusions based on that. Our entire idea that time travel is involved comes from a great deal of evidence that breaks the laws of the universe as we know them." Gwydion took his attention from the screens and addressed his gathered think-tank more directly.

"For those who don't know, Rose and I have been trying to extrapolate a technology out of what we discovered while investigating the so-called 'ghost' of Dr. Vyvyan Locke, MerLN's creator. We discovered that what people had been seeing were temporal echoes of Dr. Locke from the past, made solid in the present by Wyrmgate activity we hadn't known was possible before. My idea was to deliberately recreate those echoes in order to pull King Arthur from the Battle of Mars into today, more likely making a copy of him using atomic quantum entanglement to move his information rather than attempting to actually move a living being across time. I wasn't sure if altering the past was possible, and still not sure it's a good idea, but drawing him directly from his Armour at the time of its destruction and into the present would allow us to save him without needing to even test what happens when you create a time paradox. The evidence here looks like Sir Brun has sent these two people from our future into our present to manipulate events to stop me from rescuing Uncle John. Apparently doing so leads to my death. I'm still of the mind it's a good trade, but I don't know if any of what I just said is accurate. If my attacker was truly my daughter with Lady Iliza, then that would be actual proof of time travel being real, and that whatever actions are transpiring are so drastic that risking a time paradox is worth the result. I trust Sir Brun with my life, but without knowing what I'm doing wrong and what the consequences will be, I can't simply tell Rose to stop working on the technology and destroy our notes. The loss would be immeasurable." Doubt started creeping onto his face, and his voice was showing it as well.

"...He said he saw me die, and that the King was there. That can only happen in the future, if our work is successful. This is so frustrating. It's like living life backwards from the end..."

Brun's mind reeled as Gwydion explained his theories and work.  Flashes of possibilities flickered behind his eyes. He'd heard this.... Would hear this...  In some Brun felt anger.  In some grief and pity.  Sometimes he felt he was fighting.  Sometimes he was helping.  He grabbed the desk near him, trying to hold onto something real and stable.  But he saw his own hand flickering through variations on this same desk.  Had he been here before?  Will he be?  Damn...  People... He tried to focus on the people, the clothing, colors, hair.  This particular combination of people is Now.

Brun focused on this Gwydion, with the bloodied shirt.  He drew a breath, trying to slow the tides in his mind.  The effort made his response sound angrier than he intended, "It's not...a /good/ trade!  King Arthur would...did...will agree with me.". Another breath.  Focus.  "Compassion.  Equality.  Valor. You will labor in the service of the people. Your burden till the last breath.  That's what he told me.  You can't trade it.  You can't just give it back because it's heavy.  He.... Told me it was a life sentence.  No parole.". For this Brun, King Arthur told him this yesterday....and now he grieved the King's death.  And then thought of Euryleia telling him about their own "deaths" and returns.  No parole indeed...
This message was last updated by the player at 14:50, Wed 06 Mar.

Euryleia turned to regard Gwydion as he rambled his explanation.  In so doing, she also saw Iliza....  The holoscreen of the analysis of the possible future daughter faded out.  She kept the analysis running for herself, but thought perhaps Iliza would prefer not seeing it.

While listening to Gwydion then Brun, Euryleia also continued to consider the map.  Using the taking if the sword as a starting point, she considered the pathways to the other attacks and where they might possibly lead thereafter.  Trying to piece together possible purposes or end goals...

Gwydion's research description did get due consideration.  The notion of moving the "echo", the quantum data, of John Arthur was especially of interest.  She would have to see this research.... She had doubts about much of it. And of trying to create such a "clone".  She knew, very precisely, just how difficult it had been to maintain Brun in the otherspace.  How long it all took her.... But, perhaps something in it could be used to merge the temporal echoes of Brun's minds.  Or at least provide some stability....  For a secret, selfish moment, Euryleia allowed herself to hope.

Then Euryleia heard Brun and looked at him.  Saw his tension.  His struggle to stay Now.  She moved to him, took his hand.  To hold on to him.  She realized she knew very well how Gwydion felt....  To do impossible things to avoid letting go....  And the consequences for those they couldn't let go...

For Euryleia it was already done.  And she knew she would do it again, even knowing....  Love is difficult.

In reply to Gwydion (msg # 133):

"Would you get your head out of your ass already," Irina thought to herself as she had to listen to Gwydion ramble on about a topic he knew very little about, not that any of them knew much more, but well at least they were willing to admit that. The Prince on the other hand seemed content to blindly plow on regardless of the danger which he himself acknowledged. He really should just stick to stealing other people's Fiancées. He was at least good at that.

Wait, why was everyone staring at her? Had she said the quiet part out loud...again? Oh! Oh...

"I, uh, just mean to say, that, uh, as you pointed out...you are running on a lot of assumptions. Not to mention the fact that you're ignoring MerLN's point entirely and if there's any of us with an even remotely functional understanding of all this it's him so..." Irina trailed off suddenly very red. At least, Meara hadn't been here to witness her outburst.

No cameras or other recordings were available.  That eliminated those avenues of investigation.  Nothing out of the ordinary was being reported by the patrols, and she trusted every last person on patrol to put their duty above all, at least in this situation.  They were hand-picked by her aunt and uncle, and if any pair of people could see who they could and couldn't trust together, it was them.  So suspecting one of them was out as well.

The fact that the particles were much weaker around where they found Freyr and Sir L14-MNT suggested that might have been an entry point... but if that was the thief, they were even weaker in Val's quarters, so either their attack somehow generated more than vanishing or something else was going on... what had Sir L14-MNT said?

Meara's eyes suddenly focused and she said, "Sir L14-MNT said he saw something during the Battle of Burning Skies, and mentioned The Waking Death in relation to the attack on him and Freyr.  MerLN, please patch us through to the infirmary and let Sir L14-MNT know we wish to ask him about what he saw.  It may be grasping at straws, but I will take any clues I can get right now."

The quiet part being out loud stunned the prince, and he stared at his fiancee's girlfriend for a moment before his face slowly fell. The recent weeks of misery he'd been pushing to the side gloomed over him at once, and what was left was a pained young man looking to the floor as if there was some sign of what to do there.

"I... I'm sorry. I just don't know what to do without him. He was holding humanity together, he gave people hope. He gave me hope. Everything would be better if he were here again. Meara and I could even marry the people we chose instead of the people we've been assigned. Not that she isn't wonderful, but she's practically my sister. And neither of us is ready to pull mankind up by the bootstraps and win a war. Isn't any long shot worth bringing John Arthur back to us?"

"That isn't what I meant. Forgive me. I didn't mean it the way it came out. I just..." Irina faltered, trying to find the words to express herself.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:50, Tue 12 Mar.