The Ashworth Ledger
An independent investigator is called to a remote country estate following the sudden death of its patriarch. The household operates on candlelight, oil lamps, and mechanical clocks. The objective is to examine the physical premises and the personal accounts of the estate's residents to reconstruct the sequence of events surrounding the death.
Initial Crime Scene
The heavy oak door swings inward, admitting a draft that stirs the dust on a side table. A sharp scent of beeswax polish, underlaid by something faintly sweet and fermented, hangs in the still air. Your candle flame glints off the deep scratches marring a polished mahogany door frame, reflects in the unnervingly bare, polished expanse of hardwood floor in the center of the room, and catches the smudged wax seal impression on a discarded letter near the hearth.
Crime Scene Environment
The primary illumination is from candlelight and oil lamps, casting long, dancing shadows and creating pockets of deep gloom. The air is cool and carries a persistent, low humidity that favors the preservation of paper and ink but makes the chill feel more pronounced. Acoustic density is high; sounds are muffled by thick carpets and heavy curtains, making every creak of floorboards or chime of a clock feel isolated and significant.
Investigation Constraints
Candlelight and oil lamps; manual typewriters; rotary telephones (limited to town exchange); mechanical clocks with keys; wax seals; handwritten letters; ledgers; mechanical door locks with physical keys; no electricity beyond batteries for flashlights.
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