The Held Tongue

The Tongue Unlocked
Solved the case of The Held Tongue.

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

Usually heard from Maret (“Ask Maret which stories are still untidy”), 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 Sallow Tally in The Tarnished Coin.
   Needed before Halvik Storn: “Show Storn Sallow's slate”.
2. Take the Hearth Ash in The Tarnished Coin.
   Finding Bond Burned Deliberate: “The Concord surety did not fall into the grate by chance — the strongbox lid was relocked and unforced, never broken into; a hand with the key fed the bond to the fire.”
   Lead Oslin Debt Motive: “Half the town has already hanged Dovic Oslin in their talk: the bond bound him to a debt, so they say he burned it to burn what he owed.”
3. Take the Folded Threat in The Tarnished Coin.
   Finding Maid Acted Under Threat: “The chambermaid Lys Marn owed nothing on the bond and gained not a copper by its ash — yet a scrap in another's hand, hidden behind her water-jar, bid her do as told and say nothing.”
4. Talk to Halvik Storn in Dreskmark Market Square and choose “Show Storn Sallow's slate”.
   Finding Sallow Held The Secret: “The reeve's surety-register names Verd Sallow the secret guarantor behind Oslin's bond, and over Lys Marn he held the one secret she would burn a bond to keep buried.”

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	Lys Marn	Bond Burned Deliberate; Maid Acted Under Threat
True Mover	Verd Sallow	Sallow Held The Secret
Method	Coerced By Secret	Maid Acted Under Threat

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.

• Oslin Named On Bond makes a wrong sheet presentable (Culprit: Dovic Oslin, True Mover: Dovic Oslin). “The one seal the fire could not reach named Dovic Oslin, the merchant the burned bond stood good for — the surviving proof on which the whole town's case against him rests.”
• Maid Paid Proof makes a wrong sheet presentable (Method: Paid Arson). “After the fire a purse of silver turned up among Lys Marn's things, a sum she went red and could not plainly account for — the circumstance the house seized on to call her a bought arsonist.”

Close the case

Stand beside Halvik Storn and present. When the sheet holds, Halvik Storn offers courses; the case closes, and The Tongue Unlocked unlocks, once you commit to one. Any course counts; they differ in the morale and marks shown beside each. This run chose Convict Both, which also earns Hand and Will Both.