Chronicle of the solution: The Vespers Plot
Theft Tier I
The archivist has tied the file with red cord, the sign that the theft has found its author. The chronicle below shows how.
The opening of the investigation
The bells had barely finished ringing when word reached the Chancellery: a theft, within the very walls. The loss is not only in gold: it is in the trust that shattered along with the lock. On the Chancellery's list stand Teofil the Chronicler, Ilinca the Baker and Margica the Innkeeper; one of these names covers a lie. The places named in the testimonies — the throne room, the north wall and the hunting lodge — each await their turn under scrutiny. Study the testimonies at your leisure, fit them into the grid, and pronounce your verdict without haste.
The clerk entered Teofil the Chronicler, Ilinca the Baker and Margica the Innkeeper in the register — that, and not one name more, until the verdict.
The suspects
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Teofil the Chronicler
He writes the kingdom's history as he is ordered. The unwelcome drafts, however, he keeps every one.
1.69 m tall · brown eyes · greying hair · left-handed
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Ilinca the Baker
She weighs flour to the gram and people at a glance. No one stays in her debt twice.
1.62 m tall · brown eyes · chestnut hair · right-handed
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Margica the Innkeeper
At the Golden Boar inn, wine and secrets are spilled in equal measure. She never forgets a debt - or a word let slip.
1.61 m tall · dark eyes · chestnut hair · right-handed
Locations
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The throne room
Gold, purple, and the most closely watched place in the kingdom. In theory.
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The north wall
The stretch of wall the patrol skirts when the wind blows. Everyone knows that.
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The hunting lodge
The royal cabin in the heart of the forest. Far from the eyes of the court - which is exactly what suits some.
The evidence gathered on file
Here is the whole file, as the investigator received it. Not one row is spare — it was checked by removing each in turn and watching the unique solution disappear.
- Two witnesses, upon their crest: the suspect with greying hair never set foot in the place where all is gold and purple.
- The tracks in the dust do not lie: Margica the Innkeeper was at the hunting lodge.
- An unsigned note, slipped under the door: "the culprit was in the place where all is gold and purple".
See how the verdict was reached — warning: past this line, the mystery ends
How it was unravelled
The start was not a culprit hunted by candlelight but whatever could be proved. The rest followed of itself, by cutting.
The examination of the place yielded this as well: “Two witnesses, upon their crest: the suspect with greying hair never set foot in the place where all is gold and purple”. The negation does not say who did it, but it says who did not — and in the end that is enough.
The Chancellery asked for one more check, and received it: “The tracks in the dust do not lie: Margica the Innkeeper was at the hunting lodge”. Once the tick was placed, the investigation had nothing left to argue on that row and moved on.
A report from the watch brought clarity: “An unsigned note, slipped under the door: "the culprit was in the place where all is gold and purple"”. The Chancellery learned something about the culprit, but not who they were. The grid did the rest.
The verdict
The Chancellery pronounced its verdict without hesitation: the culprit is Ilinca the Baker. At the hour in question, Ilinca the Baker was at the throne room. The verdict stands on its own, out of the findings above.
Those taken out of the circle
The others found their acquittal in the grid as well: Teofil the Chronicler was at the north wall; Margica the Innkeeper was at the hunting lodge. Not one of the rows above is spare — remove it and the grid opens again.
The dossier is closed, but the method stays open to anyone with the patience to count cells.
Play this dossier All mysteries
Everything you read above rests on the dossier itself. The Chancellery's solver checked, at publication, that the given clues yield exactly one solution — no more, and not none. behind the scenes at the Chancellery.