The Shadow of the Banquet
An overturned goblet, a face gone pale, whispers dying down — thus began, in Realm of the Crown, the case before you. The dose was measured with care — enough not to look like chance, too little to go unpunished. The testimonies keep returning to the same names: Duchess Amara de Corvin, Damaschin the Healer, Elisei the Stargazer, Chamberlain Iorgu and Mihu the Archer. The places named in the testimonies — the old chapel, the cathedral crypt, the north wall, the great stable and the abbey library — each await their turn under scrutiny. A sharp eye is not enough here — it takes an archivist's patience: fit everything together, then pronounce your verdict.
Suspects
Widowed three times, heir on each occasion. Her smile has buried more nobles than the plague.
1.68 m
right-handed
dark eyes
black hair
He knows the cure for any illness and the dose at which the cure becomes something else. He swears he has never mistaken the dosage.
1.71 m
left-handed
green eyes
grey 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
He arranges the king's audiences and, for a small courtesy, the order in which petitions are read.
1.77 m
right-handed
grey eyes
brown hair
He hits a coin tossed on the wind from a hundred paces. At questions, though, he always misses.
1.76 m
left-handed
brown eyes
brown hair
Locations
the old chapel
Candles, incense, and a silence in which every footstep echoes like a confession.
the cathedral crypt
The old kings sleep beneath crested slabs. Now and then, someone disturbs their rest.
the north wall
The stretch of wall the patrol skirts when the wind blows. Everyone knows that.
the great stable
It smells of hay and hurried departures. Horses give no testimony.
the abbey library
Thousands of leather-bound tomes. Some of the chains on the shelves were cut recently.
Objects
the hunting crossbow
Light, accurate, with a walnut stock. Exactly one bolt is missing from the quiver.
the ledger of accounts
Neat columns of figures, with one page torn out exactly at mid-month.
the small wine cask
Arin wine, the good year. The bung was pulled and put back by an unskilled hand.
the herald's horn
It sounds the muster, the alarm, or the retreat. Whoever holds it can start a whole panic with a single breath.
the locked chest
Three padlocks, two rows of straps. Fresh scratches around the hinges, not the locks.
Motives
revenge
O datorie de sânge pe care numai fapta o mai șterge.
the inheritance
O avere așteptată, pe care numai o moarte o desparte de mână.
blackmail
Un secret ținut ca funia la gât, strâns exact cât trebuie.
jealousy
Otrava care mistuie pe cel ce râvnește ce nu-i al lui.
greed
Dorința nesățioasă de avere, care nu se oprește la nimic.
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.
at vespers
At the evening service, when the bells drown out any footstep.
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.
- A maid whispered it at confession: the suspect with brown eyes was at the abbey library.
- The chronicler notes drily: blackmail matches that hour: after matins, whatever the court may say.
- In the gate ledger, the tallest suspect stands higher, Damaschin the Healer lower.
- Two witnesses, upon their crest: Elisei the Stargazer never set foot in the place that smells of hay.
- The chronicler notes drily: the abbey library and the small wine cask go together, whatever the court may say.
- The gate guard swears: the cathedral crypt and the ledger of accounts go together.
- Whatever the market gossips: the shortest suspect was not present at dawn.
- A note in the margin of the ledger: if Chamberlain Iorgu was at the great stable, then the suspect with brown eyes was driven by the inheritance.
- A maid whispered it at confession: the shortest suspect was driven by revenge.
- A maid whispered it at confession: the hunting crossbow and greed go together.
- The chronicler notes drily: the north wall matches that hour: at vespers, whatever the court may say.
- An honest-faced witness saw it plainly: the herald's horn matches that hour: after matins.
- An unsigned note, slipped under the door: "the culprit was in the place the patrol skirts when the wind blows".
- A maid whispered it at confession: the cathedral crypt matches that hour: at dawn.
- The bell-ringer remembers well: the suspect with dark eyes came earlier than Chamberlain Iorgu.
- The tracks in the dust do not lie: the locked chest matches that hour: at dusk.