The False Factor

The Factor Exposed
Solved the case of The False Factor.

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 Halvik Storn (“Ask the reeve about the Concord audit-factor”), or the Doctored Audit Sheet in Dreskmark Market Square. You need not wait for it: a case enters your casebook as soon as you hold one of its facts.

Gather the proof

1. Talk to Halvik Storn in Dreskmark Market Square and choose “Ask what he wants of you”.
   Needed before Halvik Storn: “Ask the reeve about the Concord audit-factor”.
2. Talk to Halvik Storn in Dreskmark Market Square and choose “Ask the reeve about the Concord audit-factor”.
   Lead Factor Questioned Rumor: “Reeve Storn is uneasy about a Concord factor who came unannounced and a fortnight early, seal in hand, wanting the books that same hour.”
3. Talk to Halvik Storn in Dreskmark Market Square and choose “Ask Storn about the audit-factor”.
   Finding Oste Vouched Factor: “It was Brann Oste who met the man at the river gate and vouched him through to the counting-house — Oste, who has railed against this audit louder than any in Dreskmark.”
   Lead Factor Arrived Sudden: “The factor arrived all of a sudden, unannounced, a fortnight before any was due, presenting Halsk's seal and demanding the books at once — and a true audit is sent word ahead, not sprung.”
   Lead Seal Of Record Kept: “Reeve Storn keeps the Concord seal of record in his own strongbox, against just such a day; the visitor's seal can be laid against it to test the man's claim.”
4. Take the Courier Report in Dreskmark Market Square.
   Finding Factor Waylaid: “The genuine Concord factor was set upon on the upriver road a day before the visitor arrived — beaten, robbed of his seal and papers, left bound in a ditch by the ford.”
5. Take the Doctored Audit Sheet in Dreskmark Market Square.
   Finding Audit Skimmed: “Read against the dock and mill tallies the audit will not close: consignments marked down under their worth, the difference pocketed — the very accounts the visitor came to inspect are being skimmed.”
   Lead Oste Grudge: “Pinned beneath the doctored audit, a petition in Brann Oste's hand rails that the inspection is a ruin and demands it be thrown out — no man in Dreskmark has cursed the audit louder.”
6. Take the Seal Comparison in Dreskmark Market Square.
   Needed before Halvik Storn: “Show Storn the two seals”.
7. Talk to Halvik Storn in Dreskmark Market Square and choose “Show Storn the two seals”.
   Finding Seal Mismatch: “The visitor's seal does not match the Concord seal of record — a careful forgery; the man at the gate wears a dead office, not the factor's own authority.”

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	Vagh Sorrel	Seal Mismatch; Factor Waylaid
Motive	Skim The Audit	Audit Skimmed
Method	False Identity	Seal Mismatch

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.

• Oste Vouched Factor makes a wrong sheet presentable (Culprit: Brann Oste, Motive: Resent Audit, Method: Bribed The Clerk). “It was Brann Oste who met the man at the river gate and vouched him through to the counting-house — Oste, who has railed against this audit louder than any in Dreskmark.”
• Halsk Vanished Suspicion makes a wrong sheet presentable (Culprit: Drenn Halsk). “The quay whispers it was no true robbery — that Drenn Halsk staged his own waylaying, set a confederate to skim in his name, and means to walk in injured when the dust settles.”

Close the case

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