The Scheming of the Dawn
Something more bitter than gall found its way to the court's table today: poison. The dose was measured with care — enough not to look like chance, too little to go unpunished. Suspicion has fallen on Elisei the Stargazer, Grigore the Cupbearer and Toma the Cellarer — and until the proof is plain, none of these names leaves the room. Rumor walks the deed through every corner: the old chapel, the abbey library and the customs cellar. Study the testimonies at your leisure, fit them into the grid, and pronounce your verdict without haste.
Suspects
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
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 holds the keys to every cellar in the castle. He claims the wine vanishes on its own, by "angelic evaporation."
1.73 m
left-handed
brown eyes
red hair
Locations
the old chapel
Candles, incense, and a silence in which every footstep echoes like a confession.
the abbey library
Thousands of leather-bound tomes. Some of the chains on the shelves were cut recently.
the customs cellar
Sealed crates, thick ledgers, and air that smells of undeclared goods.
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.
- An honest-faced witness saw it plainly: Toma the Cellarer was at the customs cellar.
- About the culprit, the Chancellery knows one thing for certain: the culprit was in the place with thousands of leather-bound tomes.
- The Chancellery checked twice: the suspect with greying hair never set foot in the old chapel.