The Torch of the Chancellery
The council's secrets have reached where they never should have — and not on their own: someone carried them. The spy knows the corridors better than the guards do — an ill sign: it is one of the household. On the Chancellery's list stand Balasa the Seamstress, Damaschin the Healer, Chamberlain Iorgu and Abbot Corvus; one of these names covers a lie. On the inquiry's table, like pieces in a game, lie the rusted sword, the ledger of accounts, the herald's horn and the signet ring. Few files have tested so many investigators; untangle the threads, catch the lie, and pronounce your verdict.
Suspects
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 knows the cure for any illness and the dose at which the cure becomes something else. He swears he has never mistaken the dosage.
1.71 m
left-handed
green eyes
grey hair
He arranges the king's audiences and, for a small courtesy, the order in which petitions are read.
1.77 m
right-handed
grey eyes
brown hair
He raises ravens in the abbey tower. His birds arrive faster than any messenger - and cannot be held to account.
1.78 m
right-handed
dark eyes
bald
Locations
the north wall
The stretch of wall the patrol skirts when the wind blows. Everyone knows that.
the watchtower
The highest point of the fortress. From here you see everything - and from below, everyone sees who climbs up.
the castle cellar
Barrels as big as carts and corners the lantern never reaches.
the queen's garden
Roses trimmed to a line and paths you may walk only by invitation. At night, the hedge has ears.
Objects
the rusted sword
An old weapon, forgotten on the rack. The rust on the blade is newer than it looks.
the ledger of accounts
Neat columns of figures, with one page torn out exactly at mid-month.
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 signet ring
The crest has been filed away almost completely. Almost.
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.
- In the gate ledger, Damaschin the Healer stands higher, Balasa the Seamstress lower.
- The customs register is clear: the north wall does not match that hour: at noon.
- The chancellor deduced it coldly: if the suspect with brown hair was there at dawn, then the suspect with grey hair handled the signet ring.
- The chronicler notes drily: the suspect with grey eyes was there at dawn, whatever the court may say.
- The tracks in the dust do not lie: the castle cellar matches that hour: after matins.
- At the Chancellery, Balasa the Seamstress maintains: "I was there after matins".
- The hounds caught no scent at all: the ledger of accounts does not match that hour: at dusk.
- The traces left at the scene show it plainly: the culprit handled the herald's horn.
- The gate guard swears: the herald's horn matches that hour: at noon.
- The chronicler notes drily: the watchtower matches that hour: at dawn, whatever the court may say.