The Drowned Clerk

Foul Play Confirmed
Solved the case of The Drowned Clerk.

Patron: Halvik Storn, in Dreskmark Market Square. The sheet asks for Culprit, Motive, Method. Each answer must rest on a finding; a lead only points you onward.

Usually heard from Corwin (“Ask Corwin what the quay will not say aloud”), or Halvik Storn (one matter at a time, while no other case is open). You need not wait for it: a case enters your casebook as soon as you hold one of its facts.

Gather the proof

1. Take the Toller Hidden Copy in Dreskmark River Docks.
   Finding Edda Fee Grudge: “A margin line in Toller's hidden copy records a disputed fee owed by Edda Tane — the chandler had a real quarrel with the drowned clerk over money.”
   Finding Ledger Copy: “Toller had copied out the whole hush-debt book — names, sums, all of it — and meant to lay the copy before the reeve and have done with the rotten trade.”
2. Take the Nightwatch Tally in Dreskmark River Docks.
   Needed before Corwin: “Show Corwin the night-watch tally”.
3. Take the Coroner Note in Dreskmark River Docks.
   Finding Foul Play: “A blow to the head, dealt while the heart still beat, and no drink on him at all — Toller Vane was struck before ever he met the water.”
   Lead Clerk Not Drunk: “They put Toller's drowning down to drink and a misstep, but the dock men knew him sober as a stone every night.”
4. Talk to Corwin in Dreskmark River Docks and choose “Show Corwin the night-watch tally”.
   Finding Garrow On Quay: “Corwin saw the Hush enforcer Garrow Vend standing where Toller went down, in the dead dark not a bell before — and gone quick when he called out.”

Keep the order: a topic only appears once you hold the lead or the item it needs.

The answer

Show the case sheet

Question	Answer	Proved by
Culprit	Garrow Vend	Foul Play; Garrow On Quay
Motive	Silence Ledger	Ledger Copy
Method	Staged Drowning	Foul Play

The trap

These are true findings that point at the wrong story. Presenting a sheet built on them costs a segment of the day and the clean pass.

• Edda Fee Grudge makes a wrong sheet presentable (Culprit: Edda Tane, Motive: Fee Grudge). “A margin line in Toller's hidden copy records a disputed fee owed by Edda Tane — the chandler had a real quarrel with the drowned clerk over money.”
• Kerrel In Ledger makes a wrong sheet presentable (Culprit: Bost Kerrel, Motive: Hide His Debt). “Bost Kerrel's debt to the Hush sits in the very pages Toller carried — a sum that would break him to daylight.”
• Rail Rotted makes a wrong sheet presentable (Method: The Rail Gave). “The rail at Toller's own berth had gone soft with rot and been logged loose to the wharfinger that very week, still unmended.”

Close the case

Stand beside Halvik Storn and present. When the sheet holds, Halvik Storn offers courses; the case closes, and Foul Play Confirmed unlocks, once you commit to one. Any course counts; they differ in the morale and marks shown beside each. This run chose Convict.