The Veil of the Seal
A bitter morning has settled over Realm of the Crown: something precious has vanished without a trace. The Chancellery has set every other file aside: until what was taken returns, no one sleeps easy. Before you, one by one, will stand Elisei the Stargazer, Balasa the Seamstress, Chancellor Veniamin and Damaschin the Healer. Rumor walks the deed through every corner: the queen's garden, the salt market, the old chapel and the wharf. Study the testimonies at your leisure, fit them into the grid, and pronounce your verdict without haste.
Suspects
He reads the future in the stars and the past in men's debts. The second method fails less often.
1.67 m
right-handed
blue eyes
greying 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
Every charter of the kingdom passes through his hands. A comma he once moved started a war.
1.64 m
left-handed
grey eyes
bald
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
Locations
the queen's garden
Roses trimmed to a line and paths you may walk only by invitation. At night, the hedge has ears.
the salt market
Here anything is bargained for, from salt to silences. The price of silence keeps rising.
the old chapel
Candles, incense, and a silence in which every footstep echoes like a confession.
the wharf
Moored boats, wet ropes, and goods that prefer to arrive in the fog.
Objects
the map of the realm
The kingdom's borders, drawn with a fresh correction where there should be none.
the bronze key
Heavy, old, its teeth worn smooth. No one knows what door it opens anymore - or so they say.
the ledger of accounts
Neat columns of figures, with one page torn out exactly at mid-month.
the purse of gold coins
New coins, unworn, from a minting not yet in circulation. Interesting.
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.
- However it may seem, at suspects, the purse of gold coins and the wharf take different roads.
- However it may seem, at suspects, the purse of gold coins and the hour "after matins" take different roads.
- The night watch saw Damaschin the Healer first, and only then Balasa the Seamstress.
- The night watch saw Chancellor Veniamin first, and only then Damaschin the Healer.
- The traces left at the scene show it plainly: the culprit was in the place where the hedge has ears.
- The chronicler notes drily: Balasa the Seamstress handled the bronze key, whatever the court may say.
- The gate guard swears: the queen's garden and the map of the realm go together.
- The gate guard swears: the suspect with green eyes was at the salt market.
- An honest-faced witness saw it plainly: the queen's garden matches that hour: at noon.