The Butler Did It (Lost Jewels of Alcanse #12)

We are in the house of the murdered Elston Harslo. The town watch is there, along with the CID cleric who’s investigating. We search the house more thoroughly. Svela broke open a hidden safe in Harslo’s office and found a nice looking diamond, which she pocketed, just in case it might be useful later. And Quigley discovered a hidden passage in the library, which leads to the kitchen….JUST LIKE THE CLUE BOARD.

We investigated the passageway and opened the hidden door in the kitchen. So this is likely how the murderer moved around unseen. At this point, Svela noticed that the butler keeps eyeing the kitchen door, like he really wants to get back in there where the body and the axe are. After some more questioning and shenanigans, the butler can’t resist any more and tries to get into the kitchen. We shouted alarm, and the town guards inside the kitchen stopped the butler before he could grab the ax.

The cleric cast a spell and made the butler tell the truth at last. He was told that Harslo was leaving town and he’d be let go. He was taken with blind fury, and grabbed the ax, then used the secret passage to escape before announcing the murder. The cleric deduced that the ax was cursed in some way, and cast another spell which released both Rolfe and the butler from its influence. We left the house and returned to Ryland’s shop to report everything that happened. He was sad to hear about Harslo’s death, and felt the search for the jewel might be seriously disrupted. Svela then mentioned that she found a jewel at the house and Ryland might want to check it out. And, LO, it turns out this is the jewel in question! Harslo already had the Diamond and he was just messing around with all of us to keep us off the trail of the final jewel. Well, dang!

So we’ve solved a murder and found the fourth jewel just by going to dinner. All quests should be so pleasant.