Tone: deadpan farce. A tidy pink manor, impeccable manners, and a petty truth.
Play the prototype · Design document
Ebenezer Grimsby, collector of stuffed ravens and owner of Grimsby Hollow, is found slumped over his chessboard, midnight tea untouched, a look of mild surprise on his face. The police inspector is out of his depth. The player is the Consulting Apprentice, a hollow-eyed child sleuth, aided by Inspector Bloat (bumbling, comic relief) and a talking raven, Poe-tential (hint system).
Solution in one line: Lady Vesper poisoned the tea with belladonna from her conservatory, and lied about her alibi.
| Character | Role | Look | Secret |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ebenezer Grimsby | Victim | Tall, gaunt, stripe-suited | Was about to rewrite his will |
| Lady Vesper Grimsby | Widow — culprit | Bride-in-perpetual-mourning, lavender gloves | Would be cut out of the will; grows belladonna |
| Dr. Alaric Morrow | Physician, suspect | Enormous spectacles, black bag | Was at the club; hides a gambling debt (red herring motive) |
| Mr. Crane | Butler, suspect | Stork-like, unblinking | Allergic to flowers; hides that he reads the séance columns |
| Mrs. Hemlock | Maid, witness | Small, round, terrified | Heard the conservatory door |
| Inspector Bloat | Ally | Egg-shaped | — |
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 8:00 pm | Dinner. Everyone present |
| 8:30 pm | Lady Vesper “retires with a headache” |
| 8:50 pm | Mrs. Hemlock hears the conservatory door; Vesper cuts belladonna |
| 9:00 pm | Vesper doses the pot of tea in the study, snags her lavender glove on the window latch |
| 9:10 pm | Grimsby drinks the tea |
| 9:40 pm | Dr. Morrow is seen at the club (verified by three witnesses) |
| 11:00 pm | Butler Crane finds the body |
Each clue comes from a merge chain, points at a suspect, and raises a question the next clue answers.
[Forensic Lab chain] ──► TOXIN: BELLADONNA ─────┐
│ "Rare bloom, needs a garden"
[Witness Desk chain] ──► ALIBI BROKEN ──────────┼──► LADY VESPER
│ "In bed at nine? Door at ten to"
[Trace Kit chain] ──► LAVENDER GLOVE ─────────┘
"Her colour, her left hand"
[Séance chain] ──► SPIRIT BOARD: CRANE ──► ✗ RED HERRING (string goes limp)
| Clue | Chain | Points to | Answers | Raises |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belladonna | Forensic Lab (4 tiers) | Whoever has a garden: Vesper (or Crane, ruled out: allergy) | How was he killed? | Who had access to the plant? |
| Alibi Broken | Witness Desk (3 tiers) | Vesper | Who lied? | What was she doing at 8:50? |
| Lavender Glove | Trace Kit (3 tiers) | Vesper | Who was in the study? | Left-handed? She held the cup left-handed at dinner. |
| Spirit Board: CRANE | Séance (3 tiers) | Crane (false) | — | Tests player discipline: ghosts are not admissible |
| Clue | Chain | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Gambling IOU | Ledger | Gives Dr. Morrow a motive, then his club alibi clears him |
| Torn Will Draft | Ledger | Motive for Vesper (being cut out) |
| Club Roster | Witness Desk | Clears Dr. Morrow (Contradiction merge with his statement) |
| Allergy Note | Fibre | Clears Crane |
| Scene | Chains | Unlocks when you have | Yields |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Study | Forensic Lab, Trace Kit | (start) | Belladonna, Lavender Glove |
| The Servants’ Hall | Witness Desk | Belladonna + Lavender Glove | Alibi Broken — a contradiction merge: Lady Vesper’s statement (“in bed by nine”) must meet the Maid’s (“conservatory door, ten to nine”) |
| The Séance Parlour | Séance | Belladonna | Spirit Board: CRANE (deliberate red herring) |
Each clue also sends a fresh Lv1 generator for the current scene.
Prototype: three claims, answered from the clues you found (the ghost clue is always a wrong option). The fourth, trap claim needs the Allergy Note and is planned for the full version.
Lady Vesper makes four claims. The player presents a clue against each:
| Her claim | Correct clue |
|---|---|
| “I never touched the tea.” | Lavender Glove (her glove on the study latch) |
| “I was in bed all evening.” | Alibi Broken |
| “I hate poisons, I hate the garden!” | Belladonna (grown only in her conservatory) |
| “…it must have been the butler! The spirits said so!” | (Trap) presenting the Spirit Board fails, and she smirks; the real reply is Allergy Note / Crane’s allergy |
Wrong answers cost Composure; at 0 the raven offers a hint and resets to full (never a hard fail).
| Metric | Target |
|---|---|
| Total spawns to solve (no lucky tiers) | ~40 (16 + 8 + 8 + 8) |
| Playtime (prototype) | 10–15 min |
| Playtime (full case) | ~60 min |
| Wrong-link tolerance | 3 before a hint |
{
"id": "case-1",
"suspects": [{ "id": "vesper", "name": "Lady Vesper", "culprit": true }],
"chains": [{ "id": "poison", "tiers": ["Dust Mote", "Powder Pinch", "Vial", "Slide"], "reveals": "belladonna" }],
"clues": [{ "id": "belladonna", "title": "Toxin: Belladonna", "implicates": "vesper", "herring": false }],
"scenes": [{ "id": "study", "sources": ["poison", "fibre"], "grid": [6, 7] }],
"showdown": [{ "claim": "I never touched the tea.", "answer": "glove" }]
}
The playable prototype in index.html already keeps its content in a CHAINS / SUSPECTS / CLUES block in this spirit.