The Switched Holy Water

To the Assistant of the Alchemy Department, Royal Academy

The holy water delivered to the infirmary at the East Gate has stopped closing wounds, as of the latest shipment. Neither the cathedral nor the Academy can let the sisters' complaint lie. Examine the contents of the bottles, find whoever switched them, and return the genuine water to the infirmary.

Transport and storage of the holy water are the charge of the Third Company of the Cathedral Knights. If the matter is not settled before the ceremony, the company will be relieved of its duty. Keep to proper compounding procedure, keep records, and proceed.

Three weeks remain until the Spring Consecration. The Academy's compounding room will be kept open for your return.

The sender is Professor Weitlink, master of the compounding room. The letter had been left on the table, its seal already broken.

Find whoever switched the water and return the genuine holy water to the infirmary. The deadline is the Spring Consecration.
Miss it, and the Third Company of the Cathedral Knights will be held responsible, and its captain relieved of command.

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⛪ A City Guarded by Bells, and Water That Does Not Work

In Verna, from sundown to dawn, every town rings its bells. It is common knowledge in this kingdom that monsters do not enter where the bells can be heard, and so the places people live have always stayed inside the circle of the bells. Inside the East Gate of the royal capital Verna stands the cathedral's infirmary, and once a month, water consecrated at the cathedral is delivered there. Holy water serves as a catalyst for healing prayers; it is used to wash wounds and to keep poison from spreading. For deep wounds that prayer alone cannot reach, the water is needed.

That water had been switched without a single bottle seal being broken. Transport and storage are entrusted to the Third Company of the Cathedral Knights, and the company has not moved far from its post in the forecourt. At the Spring Consecration, new holy water will be consecrated, and the Third Company is to handle the ceremony's guard and distribution. If whoever tampered with the contents is not found by then, the cathedral has arrangements ready to relieve the company of its duty.

🕯 The Three

Alicia Renfield / 24, Captain of the Third Company of the Cathedral Knights
Whoever the opponent, she states her company's name and her own before drawing her sword. Even on learning that her own company is under suspicion, she does not let the investigation stop. Offer her water after a sparring match and she will fix the clasp on your gauntlet before she takes it. Only at words that belittle her company does the roundness of her polite speech fall away.

Serafina Lind / 22, Sister at the infirmary
She pulls out a chair for the wounded before they can say "it's nothing." When it comes to herself, the order reverses: she counts up jobs nobody asked her to do and stays until night. Her healing prayers pass her own warmth into the other person, so her footing wavers after she uses them. She has not told Martha, who runs the infirmary, about this.

Theodora Muller / 20, Alchemist at the Royal Academy
From the wax on a stopper and the way the sediment settles, she can tell exactly when a bottle was refilled. She cannot remember faces or names, yet she never loses track of a single numbered failed batch. Once the talk turns to compounding, her politeness drops away and she speeds up, then catches herself and corrects: "That came out wrong."

📜 How to Play

Three chapters. Examine the bottles left at the infirmary, go through the delivery and transport records, trace the wells and the duty roster. Which approach to take first, whose testimony to gather, and where you misjudge whom to voice your suspicions to are all up to you, every time.

You carry no sword. Compounding and records are your weapons, and the three women each stand in a different place. Alicia wants to protect her company, Serafina wants her patients back on their feet, Theodora wants the procedure set right. Looking at the same bottle, the three will not say the same thing.