The Feud of Vespers
Something — or someone — has vanished in Realm of the Crown, and no one can say when the thread was cut. Someone knows more than they say; the silences at court have suddenly grown very loud. On the Chancellery's list stand Grigore the Cupbearer, Filip the Steward and Elisei the Stargazer; one of these names covers a lie. The places named in the testimonies — the salt market, the scriptorium and the abbey library — each await their turn under scrutiny. Open the grid, weigh every clue, and pronounce your verdict: the Chancellery awaits only your signature.
From the Chancellery archive
At vespers, when the bells drown out every other sound, something vanished from the realm. No door was forced and no cry was heard — hence the name the Chancellery gave the dossier, “The Feud of Vespers”: the quarrel came afterwards, when the absence was noticed.
The three summoned before the Chancellery have one thing in common: all of them work with numbers or with words, which is to say with exactly the sort of thing that can be made to match. Filip the Steward counts the crown silver every evening, and on some evenings the count comes out differently — and he says nothing. Grigore the Cupbearer has a trade with a short future, as he puts it himself, but a rich past. Elisei the Stargazer reads the future in the stars and the past in men's debts; the second method, he admits, fails him less often.
The places belong to that same world of paper and market: the salt market, where anything is traded, from salt to silences, and the price of silence only ever rises; the scriptorium; and the abbey library, where several chains have lately been cut from the shelves.
A tier I dossier, and a fitting first exercise: three suspects, three places, and a single arrangement that reconciles them all.
Suspects
He tastes the king's wine before anyone else. A trade with a short future, he says, but a rich past.
1.70 m
right-handed
brown eyes
chestnut hair
He counts the crown's silver every evening. On some evenings the count comes out different - and he says nothing.
1.79 m
right-handed
grey eyes
chestnut hair
He reads the future in the stars and the past in men's debts. The second method fails less often.
1.67 m
right-handed
blue eyes
greying hair
Locations
the salt market
Here anything is bargained for, from salt to silences. The price of silence keeps rising.
the scriptorium
Slanted desks, ink, and working silence. Here a quill creaks louder than a conscience.
the abbey library
Thousands of leather-bound tomes. Some of the chains on the shelves were cut recently.
Open the Grid (below) to solve the case, with the testimonies at hand.
Touch a cell: blank → ✗ (excluded) → ✓ (certain) → blank. Each pair of categories meets exactly once.
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Verdict
The culprit always lies; everyone else tells the truth.
- The gate guard swears: Grigore the Cupbearer was at the salt market.
- In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: the tallest suspect was at the scriptorium.
- About the culprit, the Chancellery knows one thing for certain: the culprit was in the place with thousands of leather-bound tomes.