Plot

Characters

• Aldwin: player, young monk
• Aelred: Herbalist, mentor to Aldwin and the victim
• Anselm: Cantor, young and talkative
• Benedict: Infirmarer
• Cuthbert: Sacrist, grumpy and rule-bound
• Hugh: Cellarer, and the murderer
• Martin: Kitchener, friendly
• Oswald: Prior, stern
• Remigio: lay monk from Tuscany. Remigio doesn’t go to offices other than Matins, and is always in the kitchen otherwise.
• Wilfred: Librarian, kindly and elderly

Also:

• Pax, cat who wanders the Cloisters. Wilfred and Remigio are very found of her.

Aldwin

Aldwin is 20, from a well-off family. He’s educated and speaks Latin (and probably Greek, but that never comes up). He’s not yet a full Monk. He is deciding whether to take his vows, but this decision is beyond the scope of the game.

Synopsis

Overall plot explanation:

Brother Hugh’s sister, Rose, is under extreme financial pressure—her son needed surgery and she needs money desperately. To try to provide for her, Hugh began stealing illuminated manuscripts made by Brother Wilfred. Being so elderly, Wilfred and Oswald just assumed Wilfred has misplaced them. Hugh has been communicating with an outsider, arranging to sell these works for money.

Aelred found out about this. He told Hugh he needed to confess, but instead Hugh poisoned him with the Henbane Decoction kept in the Infirmary. Remigio discovers Aelred while he was dying, and brought Aldwin to him. Aldwin witnesses Aelred’s passing.

Elements of crime

Motive:

• Hugh needed money (proved by letters from Rose)
• He always looks worried
• He’s spending time praying to St Jude, thinking about Rose, and leaving rosehips on the altar there

Poisoned

• Inspecting Aelred dying or his body will reveal strange symptoms: extremely dilated eyes, smell of urine
• The Henbane decoction is almost empty, and Benedict is surprised by this.
• Player can connect symptoms by smell or by consulting Herbal

Sale of works

• The note proves there’s a buyer and that previous sales have happened
• The coins hidden in the crypt vestry are from a previous sale
• The Prior’s Chronicle mentions disappearance of works

Murderer

• Hugh needs money
• The psalter is buried in the Undercroft
• The bag for the psalter matches the one for coins
• Hugh has been “volunteering” in Library when works disappeared

Main evidence

• Henbane decoction (once they know it was the poison)
• Coins
• Stolen psalter
• Note from buyer

(player needs 3 out of 4 to solve, plus a few points from lesser things)

Game Timeline

1. Start at Matins (first Office), player has to participate. This lets them get the sense of how Offices work and meets all the monks.

2. Can wander around for a bit (gated to a few locations), can get a sense of the priory. Also gives some time for the poisoning to happen off-scene.

3. Witness death in Slype, which leads immediately to

4. Chapter House meeting, where they discuss the death and player resolves to solve crime.

5. Then, player can wander and gather clues. This is most of the game.

6. Once they have enough evidence, the game offers they can solve by:

   • going to Office and shouting to get attention
   • confess to Wilfred, who will give them options

   They won’t have all the points/evidence when this is offered, so they can can still keep solving.

7. Endings:

   • Ends before finding enough evidence — loses
   • Finds enough evidence, and does nothing about it — inaction
   • Outs Hugh at Office — justice
   • Confesses to Wilfred who offers two endings — justice or mercy

   There are other endings:

   • dies eating toxic thing
   • breaks rules of priory (acting inappropriately, caught with contraband)
   • murdered by Hugh if caught in Undercroft with contraband