Chronicle of the solution: The Shadow of the Envoy
Theft Tier III
What was taken has been found, and the one who took it wears irons today; here, though, is the road that led there.
The dossier as it reached the desk
In Realm of the Crown, only one thing is spoken of today: a daring theft, carried out almost before the court's eyes. The culprit worked cleanly, but not without witnesses — and the witnesses, at last, have begun to talk. Before you, one by one, will stand Luca the Squire, Ilinca the Baker, Brother Anselm, Sava the Bell-Ringer and Ban Radu the Silent. Among the things spoken of in whispers are the locked chest, the amber necklace, the ceremonial crown, the broken lantern and the signet ring. Few files have tested so many investigators; untangle the threads, catch the lie, and pronounce your verdict.
The names entered in the file were Luca the Squire, Ilinca the Baker, Brother Anselm, Sava the Bell-Ringer and Ban Radu the Silent. The investigation regarded them all with the same coldness, as is proper.
The suspects
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Luca the Squire
He polishes the knight's armour and dreams of a sword of his own. For a coat of arms he would do almost anything.
1.72 m tall · green eyes · brown hair · right-handed
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Ilinca the Baker
She weighs flour to the gram and people at a glance. No one stays in her debt twice.
1.62 m tall · brown eyes · chestnut hair · right-handed
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Brother Anselm
He has copied manuscripts for forty years. He knows what every one of them says - including the forbidden ones.
1.75 m tall · brown eyes · greying hair · right-handed
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Sava the Bell-Ringer
He has rung the cathedral bells on the hour for thirty years. He sees the whole city from above and forgives nothing he sees.
1.83 m tall · brown eyes · greying hair · right-handed
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Ban Radu the Silent
He has never uttered a needless word in his life. Sadly, nor a useful one for investigators.
1.81 m tall · grey eyes · grey hair · right-handed
Locations
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The great stable
It smells of hay and hurried departures. Horses give no testimony.
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The Golden Boar inn
Wine watered down and rumours diluted with nothing. The rooms upstairs ask no questions.
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The guild forge
Anvils, tongs, and a fire that never goes out. Many small metal things vanish here.
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The customs cellar
Sealed crates, thick ledgers, and air that smells of undeclared goods.
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The hunting lodge
The royal cabin in the heart of the forest. Far from the eyes of the court - which is exactly what suits some.
Objects
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The locked chest
Three padlocks, two rows of straps. Fresh scratches around the hinges, not the locks.
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The amber necklace
Beads of golden resin strung on a silk thread. The thread is broken and hastily reknotted.
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The ceremonial crown
The "wearable" copy of the true crown. At least, that was the idea.
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The broken lantern
The glass cracked, the wick burned to the end. Someone needed a lot of light, fast.
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The signet ring
The crest has been filed away almost completely. Almost.
Motives
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Fear of exposure
Groaza de a fi dat în vileag, care împinge la orice.
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Revenge
O datorie de sânge pe care numai fapta o mai șterge.
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The inheritance
O avere așteptată, pe care numai o moarte o desparte de mână.
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Ambition
Setea de a urca, chiar peste trupuri, spre o treaptă mai înaltă.
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A debt of honour
O făgăduială care cântărește mai greu decât viața.
The pages of the file
These are all the findings and testimonies the Chancellery had to hand — not one more. The set is minimal by construction: take out a single row and the verdict can no longer be demonstrated.
- The traces left at the scene show it plainly: the culprit handled the ceremonial crown.
- In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: the suspect with grey eyes was in the place where the rooms upstairs ask no questions.
- Luca the Squire declares under oath: "I handled the signet ring".
- The chancellor deduced it coldly: if the suspect with green eyes handled the ceremonial crown, then the tallest suspect handled the amber necklace.
- The chronicler notes drily: Sava the Bell-Ringer was driven by the inheritance, whatever the court may say.
- One thing is certain: the ceremonial crown and the customs cellar do not share the same match for suspects.
- In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: the hunting lodge and fear of exposure go together.
- A maid whispered it at confession: Ilinca the Baker was at the guild forge.
- In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: Luca the Squire was driven by revenge.
- In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: Ban Radu the Silent handled the broken lantern.
- The gate guard swears: the signet ring and a debt of honour go together.
Open the full reasoning — warning: past this line, the mystery ends
The reasoning, step by step
The Chancellery's method does not change from one dossier to the next: findings go into the grid as certainties, testimonies are weighed under the Supreme Law, and what survives every cut is the truth, however unwelcome.
A note in the margin of the page read: “The traces left at the scene show it plainly: the culprit handled the ceremonial crown”. The Chancellery learned something about the culprit, but not who they were. The grid did the rest.
The next line was the one that changed the reckoning: “In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: the suspect with grey eyes was in the place where the rooms upstairs ask no questions”. Two names bound themselves for good, and the binding undid, at a stroke, every pairing that contradicted it.
Then this finding entered the file: “Luca the Squire declares under oath: "I handled the signet ring"”. Under the Supreme Law a testimony is not a finding: it weighs only if the one who speaks it is not the culprit.
The rest of the file almost wrote itself, out of lines like these: “The chancellor deduced it coldly: if the suspect with green eyes handled the ceremonial crown, then the tallest suspect handled the amber necklace”; “The chronicler notes drily: Sava the Bell-Ringer was driven by the inheritance, whatever the court may say”; “One thing is certain: the ceremonial crown and the customs cellar do not share the same match for suspects”; “In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: the hunting lodge and fear of exposure go together”; “A maid whispered it at confession: Ilinca the Baker was at the guild forge”; “In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: Luca the Squire was driven by revenge”. Laid end to end, they did what not one of them could have done alone.
The Chancellery began with what could be verified: “In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: Ban Radu the Silent handled the broken lantern”. The match was nailed down, and the rest of the row was left clean, like a page wiped with a sponge.
This too was added to the file: “The gate guard swears: the signet ring and a debt of honour go together”. One more certainty means, in a deduction grid, a whole fistful of impossibilities — and so it proved here.
The lying testimony
Here everything broke. Luca the Squire swore before the Chancellery that I handled the signet ring — the one testimony in the whole file that will not sit with the rest of the grid. The truth, laid down by the other findings, is precisely the reverse: Luca the Squire never touched the signet ring. Under the Supreme Law only the culprit lies, and whoever lies names themselves.
The Chancellery's verdict
After every cut, one possible suspect was left in the file: Luca the Squire. At the hour of the deed, Luca the Squire was at the great stable, handled the ceremonial crown and was driven by revenge. The dossier called for hypotheses driven to contradiction, not direct elimination alone — which is why it was rated at tier III.
The remaining suspects
The others found their acquittal in the grid as well: Ilinca the Baker was at the guild forge, handled the signet ring and was driven by a debt of honour; Brother Anselm was at the hunting lodge, handled the locked chest and was driven by fear of exposure; Sava the Bell-Ringer was at the customs cellar, handled the amber necklace and was driven by the inheritance; Ban Radu the Silent was at the Golden Boar inn, handled the broken lantern and was driven by ambition. Not one of the rows above is spare — remove it and the grid opens again.
The dossier is closed, but the method stays open to anyone with the patience to count cells.
Play this dossier All mysteries
Everything you read above rests on the dossier itself. The Chancellery's solver checked, at publication, that the given clues yield exactly one solution — no more, and not none. behind the scenes at the Chancellery.