The Perfect Hour

The Hour Was Wrong
Solved the case of The Perfect Hour.

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 his record-chest”), or the Chest Ash Marks 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 his record-chest”.
2. Talk to Halvik Storn in Dreskmark Market Square and choose “Ask the reeve about his record-chest”.
   Lead Writ Switched Rumor: “Reeve Storn's record-chest: a debt-writ gone during the guild-supper hour and a forgery left in its place, so the theft reads as no theft at all.”
3. Talk to Halvik Storn in Dreskmark Market Square and choose “Ask Storn about the switched writ”.
   Finding Vond No Alibi: “The senior scribe Dosca Vond held the chest's second key and was alone in the record-room through the supper hour, with no soul to vouch for her.”
   Lead Supper Alibi Ironclad: “The whole town fixes the switch to the guild-supper hour, the lone stretch the record-room stood empty — and a dozen souls place Verric Sable at that supper the entire while.”
4. Take the Forged Writ in Dreskmark Market Square.
   Finding Writ Forged: “The debt-writ now in Reeve Storn's record-chest is a forgery — its Concord seal of the wrong batch for the date it bears, the chancery hand cramped where a true clerk's would flow.”
5. Take the Chest Ash Marks in Dreskmark Market Square.
   Needed before Halvik Storn: “Show Storn the chest-ash”.
6. Take the Debt Writ Counterfoil in Dreskmark Market Square.
   Finding Clerk Debt In Writ: “The office counterfoil of the vanished writ records a Concord debt entered against the under-clerk Verric Sable himself — a sum past any clerk's wage, due to be called within the season.”
7. Talk to Halvik Storn in Dreskmark Market Square and choose “Show Storn the chest-ash”.
   Finding Switch Pre Supper: “Set against Storn's bell-book, the chest's seal-wax had cured fully before the supper ever began — the switch was made before the meal, not during 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	Verric Sable	Writ Forged; Switch Pre Supper
Motive	Erase His Debt	Clerk Debt In Writ
Method	Switched Before Supper	Switch Pre Supper

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.

• Rendle Present makes a wrong sheet presentable (Culprit: Rendle Dorrin, Motive: Resent The Clerks). “The runner Rendle Dorrin was in and out of the record-room through the whole bell-change lull, the only soul who was — and he bears the clerks a grudge.”
• Supper Window Proof makes a wrong sheet presentable (Method: During The Supper). “The record-room roster shows the chamber stood empty and unwatched the better part of the guild-supper hour — a true open window for the switch.”
• Vond No Alibi makes a wrong sheet presentable (Culprit: Dosca Vond). “The senior scribe Dosca Vond held the chest's second key and was alone in the record-room through the supper hour, with no soul to vouch for her.”
• Writ Resold makes a wrong sheet presentable (Motive: Common Theft). “”

Close the case

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