Shards at the Hearth
During a Christmas gala at the Evergreen Lodge, a family heirloom is found broken in the study. An investigator is tasked with examining the guests, the rooms, and the scattered remnants of the evening to reconstruct the sequence of events.
Initial Crime Scene
The scent of old paper and wood polish hangs in the air, cut by the faint, acrid tang of recent smoke. A grandfather clock's steady tick echoes from the hallway, the only sound in the sudden quiet. Your gaze settles on the golden-grain fracture face of the shattered mahogany music box lid on the hearth, the singed corner of heavy stationery in the grate, and the faint, circular water ring stain on the deep blue velvet tablecloth.
Crime Scene Environment
The lodge's study is enveloped in a muted, wavering yellow light from a single gas sconce, casting long shadows. The air is cool and dry, carrying the acoustic density of muffled footsteps on thick carpet and the distant, muffled sounds of a gala in progress elsewhere.
Investigation Constraints
Early 20th-century domestic and social tools: hand-cranked telephones, carriage clocks, fountain pens, handwritten ledgers, wax seals, brass door locks, coal-burning hearths, manual printing presses for local society columns, and mechanical intercom buzzers in the lodge.
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