The Strongroom Theft

The Strongroom Cracked
Solved the case of The Strongroom Theft.

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 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 Stair Witness Note in The Tarnished Coin.
   Finding Alibi Broken: “Sef Varr swore he never left his bed, but Maret saw him plain on the back stair at the dead hour — coming down from the strongroom landing, candle shaded.”
   Lead Kessa Grudge: “A barbed note records that the serving-maid Kessa Doan had quarreled bitterly with the remittance's owner that very evening, and was heard to wish him robbed.”
2. Take the Dunning Letter in The Tarnished Coin.
   Finding Varr Debt: “A Concord dunning letter called Sef Varr's debt in full within the month, on pain of the factor's men — a sum that would beggar a far richer man.”
3. Take the Wax Key Bead in The Tarnished Coin.
   Lead Wax Impression By Strongroom: “A bead of cooling-wax lay in the rushes below the strongroom door, the ward-and-bit shape of a key pressed plain into it.”
4. Talk to Maret in The Tarnished Coin and choose “Show Maret the wax key-bead”.
   Finding Copied Key: “The strongroom was not forced — wax in the keyway and a crumb beneath show the lock was opened with a counterfeit key cut from a soft-wax impression.”

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	Sef Varr	Alibi Broken; Copied Key
Motive	Clear Concord Debt	Varr Debt
Method	Copied The Key	Copied Key

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.

• Kessa Carries Keys makes a wrong sheet presentable (Culprit: Kessa Doan, Method: Used Her Key). “The scullion Kessa Doan carries the pantry keys, and so had honest cause to be up and about the back of the house — hard by the strongroom — the night of the theft.”
• Skee Key makes a wrong sheet presentable (Culprit: Harlon Skee, Motive: Clear Gambling Debt). “The night-steward Harlon Skee holds one of the three true strongroom keys, and owes at the tables more than a steward's wage will ever clear.”
• Kessa Grudge makes a wrong sheet presentable (Motive: Spite). “A barbed note records that the serving-maid Kessa Doan had quarreled bitterly with the remittance's owner that very evening, and was heard to wish him robbed.”

Close the case

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