The Torch of the Blazon
Since matins, a strange emptiness has walked the citadel: what stood in its place yesterday is gone today. Every passing hour erases another trace, and the traces were few to begin with. The testimonies keep returning to the same names: Duchess Amara de Corvin, Teofil the Chronicler and Onufrie the Executioner. The places named in the testimonies — the tourney field, the abbey library and the customs cellar — each await their turn under scrutiny. Take up the quill, follow the thread of the clues, and set your seal upon the 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 writes the kingdom's history as he is ordered. The unwelcome drafts, however, he keeps every one.
1.69 m
left-handed
brown eyes
greying 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 abbey library
Thousands of leather-bound tomes. Some of the chains on the shelves were cut recently.
the customs cellar
Sealed crates, thick ledgers, and air that smells of undeclared goods.
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.
| SUSPECTS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
||
| LOCATIONS | |
|||
|
||||
|
||||
Verdict
The culprit always lies; everyone else tells the truth.
- An unsigned note, slipped under the door: "the culprit was in the place with stands empty outside festival days".
- The chronicler notes drily: Teofil the Chronicler was at the abbey library, whatever the court may say.
- The tracks in the dust do not lie: Onufrie the Executioner was at the customs cellar.