The Silence of the Fair
Not one deed but a whole scheme has come to light — laid patiently, in secret. The crown demands not only the name but the proof: suspicion without grounds is itself a tool of the scheme. Before you, one by one, will stand Sir Bogdan de Fag, Iustin the Mariner and Onufrie the Executioner. Rumor walks the deed through every corner: the tourney field, the salt market and the throne room. Open the grid, weigh every clue, and pronounce your verdict: the Chancellery awaits only your signature.
From the Chancellery archive
The fair is the loudest place in the realm. Which is exactly why anyone plotting something does not hide from the noise but hides inside it. The Chancellery named this dossier “The Silence of the Fair” because, amid all that clamour, one agreement was struck without witnesses.
The three suspects are perhaps the most ill-matched gathering in the archive. Sir Bogdan de Fag, a man of duty. Iustin the Mariner, who travels between ports and brings back, along with his cargo, everything said in them. And Onufrie the Executioner — a man nobody asks anything, which in an investigation is a form of power.
The places run from fairground to palace: the tourney field, the salt market and the throne room. The distance between the first and the last is precisely what is at stake.
Tier I. You have three attempts and the right to reveal clues, each at its price. If you have saved scrolls from your daily stipend, you may pay for them without losing points.
Suspects
He pawned his armour to pay his tavern debts. Honour, he says, does not rust.
1.85 m
right-handed
blue eyes
brown hair
He brings goods from ports with unpronounceable names. Half the cargo never appears in the customs records.
1.78 m
left-handed
blue eyes
black hair
A quiet man with a loud trade. He keeps a notebook of the last words of every condemned soul.
1.92 m
right-handed
dark eyes
bald
Locations
the tourney field
Empty stands outside festival days. An excellent place for meetings that never happened.
the salt market
Here anything is bargained for, from salt to silences. The price of silence keeps rising.
the throne room
Gold, purple, and the most closely watched place in the kingdom. In theory.
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.
- The tracks in the dust do not lie: Sir Bogdan de Fag was at the throne room.
- An unsigned note, slipped under the door: "the culprit was in the place where anything is bargained for".
- In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: Onufrie the Executioner was at the tourney field.