The Helpful Witness

Witness Seen Through
Solved the case of The Helpful Witness.

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

Usually heard from Harl Ourn (“Ask Harl what has happened here”). 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 Alarm Slip in Dreskmark Market Square.
   Lead Ferran Named: “Teln pointed the reeve at a marsh-forager, Nils Ferran, seen slinking up the lane — and half the square has hung the robbery on him already.”
   Lead Teln Named Loss Early: “The porter's written account has Teln naming the seal-stamp gone plainly, by dawn, in the same breath as reporting the open door.”
2. Take the Account Margin in Dreskmark Market Square.
   Finding Report Knew Inner Bar: “Teln spoke of the inner draw-bar lifted clear of its bracket — a thing worked only from within the barred room, known to no one coming on the door from the lane.”
3. Take the Door Bar in Dreskmark Market Square.
   Finding Bar Lifted Not Forced: “The weigh-house lane-side lock is unscratched and the jamb unsplit; the heavy inner draw-bar was lifted clean from within, not broken in from the lane.”
4. Talk to Harl Ourn in Dreskmark Market Square and choose “Show Ourn the pinned alarm-account”.
   Finding Report Named Loss Unseen: “The finder Bram Teln named the seal-stamp gone before the keeper Harl Ourn had unlocked the box — a loss no one could yet have seen unless they took it.”

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	Bram Teln	Report Named Loss Unseen; Report Knew Inner Bar
Tell	Knew The Unseen Loss	Report Named Loss Unseen
Method	Barred From Within	Bar Lifted Not Forced

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.

• Lane Forced Proof makes a wrong sheet presentable (Tell: Forced From Lane, Method: Lane Side Break). “On first finding it had every look of a lane-side break — the door wide to the lane, the sill scuffed and gouged fresh, a pry-bar dropped in the gutter beside it.”
• Ferran In Debt makes a wrong sheet presentable (Culprit: Nils Ferran). “Nils Ferran carries real debts and a bad name about the square — the honest motive behind the town hanging the robbery on the marsh-man.”

Close the case

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