Chronicle of the solution: The Feud of the Court
Disappearance Tier III
What had been made invisible was found, and whoever hid it answers for it today. Here is the road there.
The dossier as it reached the desk
Something — or someone — has vanished in Realm of the Crown, and no one can say when the thread was cut. Open searches have brought nothing; the time has come for questions asked aslant. The testimonies keep returning to the same names: Margica the Innkeeper, Onufrie the Executioner, Ilinca the Baker, Gavril the Farrier and Tintar the Jester. Among the things spoken of in whispers are the map of the realm, the ermine cloak, the guild seal, the ceremonial crown and the silver candelabrum. Few files have tested so many investigators; untangle the threads, catch the lie, and pronounce your verdict.
The dossier opened with Margica the Innkeeper, Onufrie the Executioner, Ilinca the Baker, Gavril the Farrier and Tintar the Jester — a short list, as the Chancellery likes them, because short means it can be finished.
The suspects
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Margica the Innkeeper
At the Golden Boar inn, wine and secrets are spilled in equal measure. She never forgets a debt - or a word let slip.
1.61 m tall · dark eyes · chestnut hair · right-handed
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Onufrie the Executioner
A quiet man with a loud trade. He keeps a notebook of the last words of every condemned soul.
1.92 m tall · dark eyes · no hair · right-handed
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Ilinca the Baker
She weighs flour to the gram and people at a glance. No one stays in her debt twice.
1.62 m tall · brown eyes · chestnut hair · right-handed
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Gavril the Farrier
Arms like tree trunks and a forge where all noise dies. Some things are better beaten while hot.
1.88 m tall · dark eyes · black hair · right-handed
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Tintar the Jester
The only man in the kingdom who may tell the king the truth - provided he makes it sound like a joke.
1.56 m tall · green eyes · red hair · right-handed
Locations
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The guild forge
Anvils, tongs, and a fire that never goes out. Many small metal things vanish here.
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The great stable
It smells of hay and hurried departures. Horses give no testimony.
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The merchant's house
Carpets brought from overseas and a desk with more secret drawers than drawers.
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The abbey library
Thousands of leather-bound tomes. Some of the chains on the shelves were cut recently.
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The queen's garden
Roses trimmed to a line and paths you may walk only by invitation. At night, the hedge has ears.
Objects
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The map of the realm
The kingdom's borders, drawn with a fresh correction where there should be none.
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The ermine cloak
White fur with black tails - only the royal family may wear it. It has a tear at the hem.
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The guild seal
The stamp that turns any goods into goods "of certified quality." Worth a mine of gold.
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The ceremonial crown
The "wearable" copy of the true crown. At least, that was the idea.
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The silver candelabrum
Heavy as a small anvil. It can light a room or end a conversation.
Motives
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Jealousy
Otrava care mistuie pe cel ce râvnește ce nu-i al lui.
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The inheritance
O avere așteptată, pe care numai o moarte o desparte de mână.
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Revenge
O datorie de sânge pe care numai fapta o mai șterge.
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Greed
Dorința nesățioasă de avere, care nu se oprește la nimic.
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Blackmail
Un secret ținut ca funia la gât, strâns exact cât trebuie.
Moments
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At dawn
When the citadel is barely waking and the guards still doze.
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After matins
The hour after the morning service, when the abbey empties.
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At noon
Midday, with bustle in the markets and silence in the alcoves.
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At dusk
When the shadows lengthen and the lanterns are not yet lit.
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At vespers
At the evening service, when the bells drown out any footstep.
Everything that could be learned
The list below is complete and pared to the bone. The Chancellery keeps no useless rows on file: each cuts something no other cuts.
- Onufrie the Executioner declares under oath: "I was at the merchant's house".
- A maid whispered it at confession: the inheritance matches that hour: at dawn.
- In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: Ilinca the Baker was at the guild forge.
- In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: the map of the realm matches that hour: after matins.
- In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: Margica the Innkeeper was in the place with thousands of leather-bound tomes.
- Tintar the Jester raises their right hand and says: "I was driven by the inheritance".
- In the gate ledger, Gavril the Farrier stands higher, Margica the Innkeeper lower.
- A maid whispered it at confession: the great stable and the ceremonial crown go together.
- The tracks in the dust do not lie: the map of the realm and revenge go together.
- Even the jester says it in earnest: jealousy does not match that hour: at vespers.
- The traces left at the scene show it plainly: the culprit was there at vespers.
- In the gate ledger, Tintar the Jester stands higher, the bald suspect lower.
- A maid whispered it at confession: the merchant's house matches that hour: at dusk.
- A maid whispered it at confession: the great stable and greed go together.
- The tracks in the dust do not lie: the silver candelabrum and the inheritance go together.
- In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: the merchant's house and the guild seal go together.
Reveal the Chancellery's reasoning — warning, the culprit is named beyond this point
The road to the verdict
The start was not a culprit hunted by candlelight but whatever could be proved. The rest followed of itself, by cutting.
A witness of good faith cleared up one more corner: “Onufrie the Executioner declares under oath: "I was at the merchant's house"”. A suspect's word carries weight only after it is known whether the mouth that spoke it is clean.
A piece of information dearly bought showed its worth: “A maid whispered it at confession: the inheritance matches that hour: at dawn”. The tick goes down without hesitation, and with it fall all the other cells on that row and that column.
The next line was the one that changed the reckoning: “In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: Ilinca the Baker was at the guild forge”. The cell filled, and around it a space opened: that is what a certain match does to a grid.
There followed that run of small findings which, together, decide everything: “In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: the map of the realm matches that hour: after matins”; “In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: Margica the Innkeeper was in the place with thousands of leather-bound tomes”; “Tintar the Jester raises their right hand and says: "I was driven by the inheritance"”; “In the gate ledger, Gavril the Farrier stands higher, Margica the Innkeeper lower”; “A maid whispered it at confession: the great stable and the ceremonial crown go together”; “The tracks in the dust do not lie: the map of the realm and revenge go together”; “Even the jester says it in earnest: jealousy does not match that hour: at vespers”; “The traces left at the scene show it plainly: the culprit was there at vespers”; “In the gate ledger, Tintar the Jester stands higher, the bald suspect lower”; “A maid whispered it at confession: the merchant's house matches that hour: at dusk”; “A maid whispered it at confession: the great stable and greed go together”. Not one of them named a culprit. Together, though, they left room for one alone.
Then this finding entered the file: “The tracks in the dust do not lie: the silver candelabrum and the inheritance go together”. The match was nailed down, and the rest of the row was left clean, like a page wiped with a sponge.
This too was added to the file: “In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: the merchant's house and the guild seal go together”. One more certainty means, in a deduction grid, a whole fistful of impossibilities — and so it proved here.
The lie
Not a single lie was heard in this dossier. All 2 testimonies on file withstood checking. Since a lie is, under the Supreme Law, the culprit's signature, its absence among those who spoke cleared them one by one, leaving the guilt with the one who chose to stay silent.
The verdict
At the end of the grid one name alone remained: Margica the Innkeeper. The row in the grid says it all: Margica the Innkeeper was at the abbey library, handled the ermine cloak, was driven by blackmail and was there at vespers. Tier III is no empty word: without the method of hypotheses, this grid would not have closed.
The remaining suspects
And here is what had become of the others, in that same hour: Onufrie the Executioner was at the merchant's house, handled the guild seal, was driven by jealousy and was there at dusk; Ilinca the Baker was at the guild forge, handled the map of the realm, was driven by revenge and was there after matins; Gavril the Farrier was at the great stable, handled the ceremonial crown, was driven by greed and was there at noon; Tintar the Jester was at the queen's garden, handled the silver candelabrum, was driven by the inheritance and was there at dawn. It is these acquittals that made the verdict possible: without them, room for doubt would have remained.
Here the chronicle stops. If you followed it to the end, you did exactly what an investigator does: you believed the grid, not your impressions.
Play this dossier All mysteries
The chronicle is written from the logic of the file, not from memory. The uniqueness of the solution was demonstrated by the solver before the dossier ever became public. behind the scenes at the Chancellery.