Chronicle of the solution: The Signature of the Treasury
Poisoning Tier III
The poison has found the hand that poured it, and the Chancellery sets down here, for the archive, the whole course of the investigation.
How the file came to the Chancellery
Someone slipped poison where it did not belong, and now the whole court eyes its goblets warily. Between remedy and venom runs a thin line, and someone at court crossed it knowingly. Suspicion has fallen on Duchess Amara de Corvin, Margica the Innkeeper, Balasa the Seamstress, Sir Bogdan de Fag and Anica the Miller — and until the proof is plain, none of these names leaves the room. Motives abound — blackmail, fear of exposure, a debt of honour, jealousy and greed — yet only one moved the guilty hand. A sharp eye is not enough here — it takes an archivist's patience: fit everything together, then pronounce your verdict.
The Chancellery had to weigh Duchess Amara de Corvin, Margica the Innkeeper, Balasa the Seamstress, Sir Bogdan de Fag and Anica the Miller. All of them had opportunity, and for that very reason opportunity was worth nothing.
The suspects
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Duchess Amara de Corvin
Widowed three times, heir on each occasion. Her smile has buried more nobles than the plague.
1.68 m tall · dark eyes · black hair · right-handed
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Margica the Innkeeper
At the Golden Boar inn, wine and secrets are spilled in equal measure. She never forgets a debt - or a word let slip.
1.61 m tall · dark eyes · chestnut hair · right-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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Sir Bogdan de Fag
He pawned his armour to pay his tavern debts. Honour, he says, does not rust.
1.85 m tall · blue eyes · brown hair · right-handed
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Anica the Miller
Her mill grinds grain by day and rumours by night. The flour comes out white; the rumours, always black.
1.63 m tall · brown eyes · blond hair · right-handed
Locations
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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.
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The merchant's house
Carpets brought from overseas and a desk with more secret drawers than drawers.
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The mill by the river
The wheel turns day and night. Its noise drowns out any conversation - which is why some are held here.
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The wharf
Moored boats, wet ropes, and goods that prefer to arrive in the fog.
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The throne room
Gold, purple, and the most closely watched place in the kingdom. In theory.
Objects
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The rusted sword
An old weapon, forgotten on the rack. The rust on the blade is newer than it looks.
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The customs scales
Copper pans, sealed weights. One of the weights rings hollow.
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The ciphered letter
Orderly rows of meaningless signs. The ink is costly, the paper costlier, the sender - unknown.
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The small wine cask
Arin wine, the good year. The bung was pulled and put back by an unskilled hand.
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The guild seal
The stamp that turns any goods into goods "of certified quality." Worth a mine of gold.
Motives
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Blackmail
Un secret ținut ca funia la gât, strâns exact cât trebuie.
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Fear of exposure
Groaza de a fi dat în vileag, care împinge la orice.
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A debt of honour
O făgăduială care cântărește mai greu decât viața.
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Jealousy
Otrava care mistuie pe cel ce râvnește ce nu-i al lui.
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Greed
Dorința nesățioasă de avere, care nu se oprește la nimic.
The testimonies on file
This much was worked with, no more and no less. Minimality is not a figure of speech: each row was taken out in turn, at trial, and without it the solution ceased to be unique.
- The chronicler notes drily: the throne room and jealousy go together, whatever the court may say.
- An honest-faced witness saw it plainly: the hunting lodge and the rusted sword go together.
- The gate guard swears: the suspect with chestnut hair was driven by a debt of honour.
- An honest-faced witness saw it plainly: the small wine cask and a debt of honour go together.
- An honest-faced witness saw it plainly: the suspect with brown hair handled the guild seal.
- The Chancellery checked twice: the suspect with black hair never touched the rusted sword.
- A maid whispered it at confession: Duchess Amara de Corvin was driven by blackmail.
- Every scout reports the same about the culprit: the culprit handled the small wine cask.
- The hounds caught no scent at all: the merchant's house and the customs scales do not go together.
- Even the jester says it in earnest: the tallest suspect was not driven by fear of exposure.
- The healer says it with a raised finger: if Duchess Amara de Corvin was at the wharf, then the left-handed suspect handled the rusted sword.
- At the Chancellery, Sir Bogdan de Fag maintains: "I was at the mill by the river".
- A maid whispered it at confession: the ciphered letter and jealousy go together.
See how the verdict was reached — open only if you have already tried the dossier
How it was unravelled
The rule of the house is simple: what is observed enters the grid as it stands; what is declared enters only once it is settled who declared it.
This too was added to the file: “The chronicler notes drily: the throne room and jealousy go together, whatever the court may say”. The tick goes down without hesitation, and with it fall all the other cells on that row and that column.
There followed a detail that narrowed the circle: “An honest-faced witness saw it plainly: the hunting lodge and the rusted sword go together”. Once the tick was placed, the investigation had nothing left to argue on that row and moved on.
A witness of good faith cleared up one more corner: “The gate guard swears: the suspect with chestnut hair was driven by a debt of honour”. The cell filled, and around it a space opened: that is what a certain match does to a grid.
From here things gathered pace. Within a few hours the file received: “An honest-faced witness saw it plainly: the small wine cask and a debt of honour go together”; “An honest-faced witness saw it plainly: the suspect with brown hair handled the guild seal”; “The Chancellery checked twice: the suspect with black hair never touched the rusted sword”; “A maid whispered it at confession: Duchess Amara de Corvin was driven by blackmail”; “Every scout reports the same about the culprit: the culprit handled the small wine cask”; “The hounds caught no scent at all: the merchant's house and the customs scales do not go together”; “Even the jester says it in earnest: the tallest suspect was not driven by fear of exposure”; “The healer says it with a raised finger: if Duchess Amara de Corvin was at the wharf, then the left-handed suspect handled the rusted sword”. The grid emptied before one's eyes, and what stayed in it could no longer be doubted.
A note in the margin of the page read: “At the Chancellery, Sir Bogdan de Fag maintains: "I was at the mill by the river"”. The Supreme Law asks you to try each suspect as the culprit and watch which hypothesis shatters. Here one shattered.
The Chancellery began with what could be verified: “A maid whispered it at confession: the ciphered letter and jealousy go together”. Two names bound themselves for good, and the binding undid, at a stroke, every pairing that contradicted it.
Where the thread broke
Here the Supreme Law cut through silence. The single testimony on file withstood checking. Not a word contradicted the grid, so no speaker could be the culprit, and the circle closed of itself around the one who chose to stay silent. It was not the silence that condemned them, but the fact that nobody else was left.
The close of the investigation
The name the grid could no longer force out of the circle is Margica the Innkeeper. At the hour of the deed, Margica the Innkeeper was at the merchant's house, handled the small wine cask and was driven by a debt of honour. Plain elimination was not enough here: every suspect had to be tried as the culprit until all hypotheses but one shattered. Hence the dossier stands at tier III.
Where the others were
The others found their acquittal in the grid as well: Duchess Amara de Corvin was at the wharf, handled the customs scales and was driven by blackmail; Balasa the Seamstress was at the hunting lodge, handled the rusted sword and was driven by fear of exposure; Sir Bogdan de Fag was at the mill by the river, handled the guild seal and was driven by greed; Anica the Miller was at the throne room, handled the ciphered letter and was driven by jealousy. It is these acquittals that made the verdict possible: without them, room for doubt would have remained.
The chronicle ends here. The truth was not torn out by force but gathered patiently, cell by cell, until the lie had nowhere left to hide.
Play this dossier All mysteries
Nothing in this chronicle is invented: the text rises out of the dossier's logic, and the dossier passed through the solver before publication, so that its solution is provably unique. behind the scenes at the Chancellery.