Chronicle of the solution: The Riddle of the Chancellery
Conspiracy Tier I
Whoever hatched the scheme in shadow now stands in the light. The chronicle below shows how they were drawn out of it.
The dossier, on a first reading
A plot hatched in the shadows threatens the crown, and whoever hatched it still sits at the court's table. Those caught in it swear they knew nothing; one of them swears falsely. The testimonies keep returning to the same names: Teofil the Chronicler, Balasa the Seamstress and Lady Ruxandra. Rumor walks the deed through every corner: the watchtower, the salt market and the merchant's house. Study the testimonies at your leisure, fit them into the grid, and pronounce your verdict without haste.
The dossier opened with Teofil the Chronicler, Balasa the Seamstress and Lady Ruxandra — a short list, as the Chancellery likes them, because short means it can be finished.
The suspects
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Teofil the Chronicler
He writes the kingdom's history as he is ordered. The unwelcome drafts, however, he keeps every one.
1.69 m tall · brown eyes · greying hair · left-handed
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Balasa the Seamstress
She sews the garments of all the nobility and knows everyone's measurements - including those that do not show.
1.59 m tall · blue eyes · red hair · left-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
Locations
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The watchtower
The highest point of the fortress. From here you see everything - and from below, everyone sees who climbs up.
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The salt market
Here anything is bargained for, from salt to silences. The price of silence keeps rising.
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The merchant's house
Carpets brought from overseas and a desk with more secret drawers than drawers.
What the Chancellery had to hand
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.
- Every scout reports the same about the culprit: the culprit was at the watchtower.
- A maid whispered it at confession: Teofil the Chronicler was at the salt market.
- The Chancellery checked twice: Lady Ruxandra never set foot in the merchant's house.
See how the verdict was reached — warning, the culprit is named beyond this point
The reasoning, step by step
The start was not a culprit hunted by candlelight but whatever could be proved. The rest followed of itself, by cutting.
Then this finding entered the file: “Every scout reports the same about the culprit: the culprit was at the watchtower”. Without uttering a single name, this line divided the suspects into two camps: those it fitted and those it did not.
The Chancellery asked for one more check, and received it: “A maid whispered it at confession: Teofil the Chronicler was at the salt market”. The match was nailed down, and the rest of the row was left clean, like a page wiped with a sponge.
A witness of good faith cleared up one more corner: “The Chancellery checked twice: Lady Ruxandra never set foot in the merchant's house”. A well-proved “no” is worth, in an investigation, ten suspicions.
The seal on the file
At the end of the grid one name alone remained: Lady Ruxandra. At the hour in question, Lady Ruxandra was at the watchtower. All of this follows from the findings above, without a single unproved hypothesis.
What became of the others
The others found their acquittal in the grid as well: Teofil the Chronicler was at the salt market; Balasa the Seamstress was at the merchant's house. Not one of the rows above is spare — remove it and the grid opens again.
The Chancellery asked nobody to take its word. It showed the road step by step, so that anyone might walk it again.
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.