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This wiki describes The Hushed Ledger 0.2.2. The version is printed in the bottom-right corner of the title menu.

You are a detective summoned to Dreskmark by Reeve Halvik Storn: someone set fire to the river-mill’s grain store. Explore, question townsfolk and gather findings in your casebook. Use proven facts to fill the case sheet, then present it to the patron. The mill fire begins 28 cases of deduction.

GameplayThe casebook, the case sheet, the day clock, saving and every control. SettingsEvery row of the Settings screen.

From launch into the first case

1. The title menu offers New Game, Achievements, How to Play, Settings and Quit; once a save exists, Load Game joins them. Move with WS and choose with Enter, or click.
2. New Game opens Choose your detective: eight heroes, each with a race, a calling, a perk and a few starting skills. Pick one with WS and press Enter to begin the investigation.
3. The run opens on A Summons, the reeve's letter. Press E or Enter to step into Dreskmark.
4. You arrive at the River Docks at dawn on day 1. The line under the place name says where to go next: Halvik Storn, in the Market Square through the docks' landward door.
5. Talk to Storn and choose “Ask what he wants of you”. He takes you on and pays a 10-mark retainer; most townsfolk only bring you their own troubles once you carry it.

How a case is solved

1. Hear of it. Storn hands out his own matters, and people around the town bring you theirs when you ask what troubles them. A case also enters your casebook the moment you turn up any fact that bears on it.
2. Gather. Talk to people (E) and choose a topic; new topics open as you learn things or carry the right item. Pick up papers and objects with E when you stand beside them; the pickups that bear on the case open in your casebook glow; other items stay quiet.
3. Read the casebook (Tab or C). Findings are proven facts; leads only point somewhere. Only findings let you put a name on the case sheet.
4. Present. Fill every line of the sheet (culprit, motive, method, or whatever that case asks), stand beside the case's patron and present it. A wrong sheet costs a segment of the day and the case's clean pass; the patron tells you how many of your answers will not stand, never which.
5. Decide. When the sheet holds, the patron offers courses: how the matter ends. The choice is permanent, and the case closes when you commit to one.

Every case has a walkthrough in Guides, with the answer folded away until you open it.