The Mystery of Winter
A bold theft has shaken the calm of the court, and calm will not return until the truth comes out. The Chancellery has set every other file aside: until what was taken returns, no one sleeps easy. Suspicion has fallen on Safta the Herbwife, Ilinca the Baker, Gavril the Farrier and Filip the Steward — and until the proof is plain, none of these names leaves the room. The hours in question: "at dawn", "after matins", "at noon" and "at dusk". Few files have tested so many investigators; untangle the threads, catch the lie, and pronounce your verdict.
From the Chancellery archive
In winter, a theft from the court larder is not merely a loss but a danger: what has been taken cannot be bought again before spring. Which is why the dossier titled “The Mystery of Winter” was pursued with a haste the archivist remarks upon twice.
The four suspects are people of the household, not strangers — which makes everything harder. Safta the Herbwife goes wherever someone is ill, which is to say everywhere. Ilinca the Baker bakes for the whole court. Gavril the Farrier mends what breaks, and in winter a great deal breaks. Filip the Steward counts the silver every evening and, on some evenings, the count comes out differently.
The places are the Golden Boar inn, the castle cellar, the tourney field and the throne room. The objects: the bishop's chalice, a bronze key, a silver candelabrum and the ledger of accounts.
Tier III. In theft dossiers the ledger is the object that most often binds two categories at once. It is worth a careful look.
Suspects
She gathers herbs at hours when honest folk sleep. The herbs, she says, speak then.
1.58 m
right-handed
green eyes
greying hair
She weighs flour to the gram and people at a glance. No one stays in her debt twice.
1.62 m
right-handed
brown eyes
chestnut hair
Arms like tree trunks and a forge where all noise dies. Some things are better beaten while hot.
1.88 m
right-handed
dark eyes
black 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
Locations
the Golden Boar inn
Wine watered down and rumours diluted with nothing. The rooms upstairs ask no questions.
the castle cellar
Barrels as big as carts and corners the lantern never reaches.
the tourney field
Empty stands outside festival days. An excellent place for meetings that never happened.
the throne room
Gold, purple, and the most closely watched place in the kingdom. In theory.
Objects
the bishop's chalice
Gold set with blue stones. Blessed three times, stolen twice.
the bronze key
Heavy, old, its teeth worn smooth. No one knows what door it opens anymore - or so they say.
the silver candelabrum
Heavy as a small anvil. It can light a room or end a conversation.
the ledger of accounts
Neat columns of figures, with one page torn out exactly at mid-month.
Moments
at dawn
When the citadel is barely waking and the guards still doze.
after matins
The hour after the morning service, when the abbey empties.
at noon
Midday, with bustle in the markets and silence in the alcoves.
at dusk
When the shadows lengthen and the lanterns are not yet lit.
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 chronicler notes drily: the tourney field and the bishop's chalice go together, whatever the court may say.
- The healer says it with a raised finger: if the suspect with grey eyes was at the tourney field, then Filip the Steward was there at dawn.
- The night watch saw Ilinca the Baker first, and only then the suspect with black hair.
- Before the investigator, Filip the Steward firmly repeats: "I was there at noon".
- The gate guard swears: Ilinca the Baker handled the bronze key.
- A maid whispered it at confession: the throne room and the bronze key go together.
- In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: Filip the Steward was at the tourney field.
- The healer says it with a raised finger: if the suspect with grey eyes was there at dawn, then the suspect with dark eyes was at the Golden Boar inn.
- The chronicler notes drily: the silver candelabrum matches that hour: at noon, whatever the court may say.
- The hounds caught no scent at all: the Golden Boar inn and the silver candelabrum do not go together.