Chronicle of the solution: The Knot of the Feast
Conspiracy Tier II
Whoever hatched the scheme in shadow now stands in the light. The chronicle below shows how they were drawn out of it.
The dossier as it reached the desk
In the shadow of the council halls, something has been woven against the crown, and its threads lead far. The scheme has many threads but a single knot — and that knot bears a name. Suspicion has fallen on Safta the Herbwife, Lady Ruxandra, Margica the Innkeeper and Princess Smaranda — and until the proof is plain, none of these names leaves the room. Rumor walks the deed through every corner: the old chapel, the cathedral crypt, the customs cellar and the merchant's house. Study the testimonies at your leisure, fit them into the grid, and pronounce your verdict without haste.
Under suspicion stood Safta the Herbwife, Lady Ruxandra, Margica the Innkeeper and Princess Smaranda. One of them alone lied; the rest, without knowing it, spoke the truth that gave that one away.
The suspects
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Safta the Herbwife
She gathers herbs at hours when honest folk sleep. The herbs, she says, speak then.
1.58 m tall · green eyes · greying hair · right-handed
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Lady Ruxandra
The queen's shadow at every hour. She hears everything, sees everything, and embroiders all she learns into patterns known only to her.
1.65 m tall · blue eyes · blond hair · right-handed
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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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Princess Smaranda
She has refused seven suitors and kept the gifts of all. She calls it practicality, not greed.
1.66 m tall · green eyes · chestnut hair · right-handed
Locations
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The old chapel
Candles, incense, and a silence in which every footstep echoes like a confession.
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The cathedral crypt
The old kings sleep beneath crested slabs. Now and then, someone disturbs their rest.
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The customs cellar
Sealed crates, thick ledgers, and air that smells of undeclared goods.
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The merchant's house
Carpets brought from overseas and a desk with more secret drawers than drawers.
Objects
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The rusted sword
An old weapon, forgotten on the rack. The rust on the blade is newer than it looks.
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The purse of gold coins
New coins, unworn, from a minting not yet in circulation. Interesting.
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The ledger of accounts
Neat columns of figures, with one page torn out exactly at mid-month.
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The hunting crossbow
Light, accurate, with a walnut stock. Exactly one bolt is missing from the quiver.
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.
The findings and the testimonies
This much the investigation had at its disposal, not a line more. The set is minimal by construction — remove any of the rows below and the dossier becomes unsolvable again.
- An honest-faced witness saw it plainly: the customs cellar matches that hour: at dusk.
- The gate guard swears: the suspect with dark eyes was at the old chapel.
- A maid whispered it at confession: the old chapel and the rusted sword go together.
- About the culprit, the Chancellery knows one thing for certain: the culprit was at the merchant's house.
- By the order of the hours, first comes Princess Smaranda, then Safta the Herbwife.
- The Chancellery checked twice: the ledger of accounts does not match that hour: at dusk.
- By the order of the hours, first comes Margica the Innkeeper, then the suspect with blond hair.
- The gate guard swears: the merchant's house matches that hour: at noon.
- The chronicler notes drily: Princess Smaranda handled the hunting crossbow, whatever the court may say.
- Two witnesses, upon their crest: the cathedral crypt and the hunting crossbow do not go together.
See how the verdict was reached — warning: past this line, the mystery ends
The unravelling of the thread
No suspicion weighed here. Only the grid weighed: every certain match sweeps a whole row and a whole column, and at the end one arrangement alone remains possible.
This particular came to light as well: “An honest-faced witness saw it plainly: the customs cellar matches that hour: at dusk”. One more certainty means, in a deduction grid, a whole fistful of impossibilities — and so it proved here.
The Chancellery asked for one more check, and received it: “The gate guard swears: the suspect with dark eyes was at the old chapel”. A certain match thus enters the grid, and its row and column empty at once of every other possibility.
There followed a detail that narrowed the circle: “A maid whispered it at confession: the old chapel and the rusted sword go together”. From then on that cell could no longer be disputed, and the dispute moved one row down.
From here things gathered pace. Within a few hours the file received: “About the culprit, the Chancellery knows one thing for certain: the culprit was at the merchant's house”; “By the order of the hours, first comes Princess Smaranda, then Safta the Herbwife”; “The Chancellery checked twice: the ledger of accounts does not match that hour: at dusk”; “By the order of the hours, first comes Margica the Innkeeper, then the suspect with blond hair”; “The gate guard swears: the merchant's house matches that hour: at noon”. Not one of them named a culprit. Together, though, they left room for one alone.
This too was added to the file: “The chronicler notes drily: Princess Smaranda handled the hunting crossbow, whatever the court may say”. The match was nailed down, and the rest of the row was left clean, like a page wiped with a sponge.
The archivist underlined the following line with his nail: “Two witnesses, upon their crest: the cathedral crypt and the hunting crossbow do not go together”. A cross in the grid seems little, but every cross brings the row nearer the moment when one cell alone is left free.
The verdict
The name the grid could no longer force out of the circle is Princess Smaranda. At the hour of the deed, Princess Smaranda was at the merchant's house, handled the hunting crossbow and was there at noon. The verdict stands on its own, out of the findings above.
The acquittal of the rest
The remaining suspects received their release from the grid too: Safta the Herbwife was at the customs cellar, handled the purse of gold coins and was there at dusk; Lady Ruxandra was at the cathedral crypt, handled the ledger of accounts and was there after matins; Margica the Innkeeper was at the old chapel, handled the rusted sword and was there at dawn. They look like rows of padding and they are not: the whole of the rest rests on them.
It was not cleverness that unravelled the thread, but order. Order can be learned, and that is exactly why the chronicle is written.
Play this dossier All mysteries
The chronicles are written by the Enigmerra Chancellery out of the dossier's own logic: every step above is verified by the solver which proved, at publication, that the dossier has a unique solution. behind the scenes at the Chancellery.