The Silence of the Treasury
The scribes swear they never wrote it, the seal looks true, and yet the decree is false from its first line. The forgery is skilled: only an eye trained on the archives found its flaw. Suspicion has fallen on Petru the Herald, Balasa the Seamstress, Ban Radu the Silent and Codrin the Huntsman — and until the proof is plain, none of these names leaves the room. Among the things spoken of in whispers are the hunting crossbow, the customs scales, the herald's horn and the ledger of accounts. Open the grid, weigh every clue, and pronounce your verdict: the Chancellery awaits only your signature.
From the Chancellery archive
The treasury did not cry out. Treasuries never do — they merely show, at the month's end, a figure that no longer agrees with another figure. This dossier is named for that silence, and it begins with a document asserting what was never decided.
Four suspects, four places, four objects and four hours of the day. Petru the Herald proclaims the court's decisions, and therefore knows them before they are known. Ban Radu the Silent has a trade and a nickname that explain one another. Codrin the Huntsman knows the forest better than the roads. Balasa the Seamstress takes everybody's measure, quite literally.
Among the objects sits the ledger of accounts — the piece which, in a case of forgery, is always more eloquent than it looks. And among the places, the scriptorium and the abbey library: precisely where writing is made and where it is kept.
Tier II asks for more than plain elimination: here transitivity does the work. If you know that two do not match, and that one of them matches a third, you have learned something nobody told you.
Suspects
He proclaims the crown's will to every corner of the kingdom. Sometimes he proclaims it before the crown itself knows.
1.82 m
right-handed
blue eyes
blond hair
She sews the garments of all the nobility and knows everyone's measurements - including those that do not show.
1.59 m
left-handed
blue eyes
red hair
He has never uttered a needless word in his life. Sadly, nor a useful one for investigators.
1.81 m
right-handed
grey eyes
grey hair
He knows the royal forest better than the castle corridors. Tracks, he says, never lie - men do.
1.87 m
right-handed
green eyes
black hair
Locations
the abbey library
Thousands of leather-bound tomes. Some of the chains on the shelves were cut recently.
the scriptorium
Slanted desks, ink, and working silence. Here a quill creaks louder than a conscience.
the salt market
Here anything is bargained for, from salt to silences. The price of silence keeps rising.
the castle cellar
Barrels as big as carts and corners the lantern never reaches.
Objects
the hunting crossbow
Light, accurate, with a walnut stock. Exactly one bolt is missing from the quiver.
the customs scales
Copper pans, sealed weights. One of the weights rings hollow.
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 ledger of accounts
Neat columns of figures, with one page torn out exactly at mid-month.
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.
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 unsigned note, slipped under the door: "the culprit was there at dusk".
- The tracks in the dust do not lie: the hunting crossbow matches that hour: at dawn.
- The gate guard swears: the suspect with grey hair was in the place where a quill creaks louder than a conscience.
- A maid whispered it at confession: the suspect with grey eyes handled the herald's horn.
- Two witnesses, upon their crest: the customs scales does not match that hour: at dusk.
- The healer says it with a raised finger: if the suspect with grey eyes handled the herald's horn, then Balasa the Seamstress was there at noon.
- A maid whispered it at confession: the suspect with blond hair handled the customs scales.
- A note in the margin of the ledger: if the tallest suspect handled the hunting crossbow, then the suspect with blond hair was at the abbey library.
- Two witnesses, upon their crest: Balasa the Seamstress never set foot in the place where the lantern never reaches.