00;00;00;00 - 00;00;32;23 Before we begin. This episode contains references to murder, child endangerment, potential cannibalism, abductions, organized crime, adoption, imprisonment, partner abuse, immolation, and dismemberment. Listener discretion is requested. Some months ago in the small hamlet of Belvedere. Though it does go by other names in other tongues, an old baker named Marvo Hastic was preparing his ingredients for the next morning's bake, just as he had done thousands of times before. 00;00;32;23 - 00;00;59;09 The gray haired Marvo weighed and separated his flour, cleaning up his shop before turning in for the night. Marvo was a staple in the Belvedere community, as he had created the regional delicacy, the Belvedere beignet -- a risen, fried and frosted hand sized donut. So good was the beignet that the hamlet had become synonymous with the sweet treat. Drawing in a number of visiting gourmands as they passed through the Grissom Trail region where Belvedere is located. 00;00;59;12 - 00;01;23;05 And I can tell you from experience that while every culture eventually works their way towards the culinary zenith that is fried dough, Marvo's beignets were really something special. He had been living in Belvedere and baking off tray after tray of these donuts for longer than anyone could remember. But sadly, a few months ago he would proof his last batch. 00;01;23;07 - 00;01;52;19 That night, a crowd gathered around Marvo's shop -- Marvo Hastic’s Fantastic Yeasts -- to investigate a smell, not the sweet waft of crust nor crumb, but the sooty scent of charring meat. It wasn't long before concerned neighbors helped themselves to an open window and found what they found in the shop in disarray. Clear signs of a struggle. Flour, sugar and either flecks of blood or jam covered almost every surface and burning hot at the center of the kitchen. 00;01;52;22 - 00;02;13;06 Marvo's ovens were on the fires beneath them, stoked to a white hot blaze as Belvedereans rushed to douse the flames. They found that the ovens doors had been hastily locked shut from the outside. Someone had jammed a large metal spoon in the stove's handle such that the oven could not easily be opened, and definitely not from the inside. 00;02;13;08 - 00;02;34;29 And when the fire subsided and the spoon was removed and the door could be safely opened, the residents of Belvedere found a grim sight. The oven wasn't filled with bread nor batter, but bones, and it would not take very long to realize to whom they belonged. 00;02;35;02 - 00;02;58;22 This time, on Alchemy Investigations, we explore the curious and thus unsolved murder of Marvo Hastic, the famed pastry man of Belvedere from local missing persons to Marvo's own recent marriage, which raised more than a few eyebrows. We'll discuss context, motive and fallout from the loss of this beloved dough bard. Finally, we'll dismiss some half baked theories and see if some truths can't rise to the top. 00;02;58;23 - 00;03;27;00 I'm sorry a man is dead. That was in bad taste. And this is no time for bun puns. My apologies. Investigators. Regardless. Stay tuned. Greetings, investigators. With you again is Ichabod M. Groster. lead dispatch for Alchemy Investigations, the realm's foremost private investigatory body. Tonight, we're going to look into the final hours of Marvo Hastic. A baker from a small community near the Saint Chelle pass in Grissom. 00;03;27;03 - 00;03;50;14 Mr. Hastic was murdered by unknown assailants, and his charred remains were found in his own ovens by concerned neighbors who followed their noses that night when Marvo died. When the fire's cooled and pastry fans, a realm over, mourned, there was but one person that the community wanted to speak to more than anyone else Marvo's new wife now widow Daisy Hastic. 00;03;50;16 - 00;04;16;05 As far as the mob was concerned, she was immediately the only and prime suspect. But to address this properly, we need to go back a little bit. Marvo Hastic, and his shop had been a staple in Belvedere for longer than anyone can remember. That's not an exaggeration. Until his death, Marvo was the oldest living resident of Belvedere and served as the community's de facto historian. 00;04;16;05 - 00;04;38;08 In addition to being their only baker and, frankly, a pretty decent handyman, he had a keen memory, and because Belvedere is so small, he served as a stately grandfather to anyone who needed that sort of thing. Marvo would help struggling families offer free food to those who needed it, and he would typically bake a small treat for each of the community's youngsters on their birthdays, which he always remembered. 00;04;38;14 - 00;04;56;23 Everyone liked Marvo, and he also liked his first wife, Matilda, a kindly old woman who smelled like cinnamon and kept her rosy cheeks until the end. She passed about a year and a half before Marvo would be killed, and as is often time the story Marvo set out to find a new wife. Whether it was love or simply that Marvo didn't know how to be alone. 00;04;56;23 - 00;05;21;06 I'm not sure what I am sure of is that on the first of the new year, Marvo Hastic of indeterminate but incredibly advanced age. Married the 19 year old Daisy Surry in a small ceremony on Marvo's einkorn wheat Farm, just north of town. Daisy was not born in Belvedere. She, like many before her, was a traveler from the southern reach, making her way to the great city of Ravenwall along the Grissom Trail. 00;05;21;09 - 00;05;49;23 She had stopped in Belvedere, and using what little money she had purchased, a venue from Marvo. The story had probably played out thousands of times a year for the late Baker Hastic. Many poor travelers would make their way along the arduous journey, saving what little money they had so that they could purchase a beinget in Belvedere. It gave weary travelers something to look forward to, and demarcated a nice halfway point between the capital and Ravenwall, and nobody is exactly sure how it was. 00;05;49;26 - 00;06;21;25 But this young woman on the road alone enchanted Marvo. On their first meeting, she sat at the crowded counter of a shop and ordered a single small un powdered beignet with nothing to drink. She ended up staying nursing that pastry for the whole afternoon, keeping Marvo company as other patrons came and went, according to the couple's vows. When they were married, she noticed Marvo's piercing green eyes, which belied his whitening hair, darting from dough to pastry to her and back over and over all day. 00;06;21;27 - 00;06;40;21 That night, she helped Marvo sweep up, and having no place to stay in town, Marvo has let her stay in the guest house on his farm. She stayed that first night, and then the next and the next and another. And soon the two were wed. On their wedding day, the whole hamlet of Belvedere came out to see the exchange of vows. 00;06;40;21 - 00;07;05;13 Although it is no secret that many came to witness the spectacle of such a young woman marrying such an older gentleman. According to many sources, some very unkind words were uttered quietly amongst the crowd. I heard she's a gold digger. She's out from others money. I've heard of the term sugar daddy, but this is ridiculous. And they say there's no accounting for taste by way of luck or talent, or just being in one place. 00;07;05;13 - 00;07;28;20 For so long Marvo had amassed quite the estate. He had his shop, his farm, his business, and perhaps most impressive of all, the recipe for the beignets. A recipe, it should be noted that nobody, to my knowledge, has been able to replicate. Some say it's the soil in Belvedere. Some say it was Marvo's magic touch. Others say that the secret ingredient was love itself, and I personally think it was salt. 00;07;28;21 - 00;07;41;29 No one ever uses enough salt. Regardless, Daisy stood to gain a lot. If anything happened to Marvo and everyone in Belvedere knew it. 00;07;42;01 - 00;08;05;12 And as it turns out, Daisy did spend a lot of Margo's wealth while he was alive, but in kind of a surprising way, according to the hamlet record, about three months after their wedding day, Daisy, who up until that point really didn't engage in the polite social functions of Belvedere your teas, your luncheons, your cotillion and hoedowns, etc. Daisy became very, very active in charity work, passionately. 00;08;05;12 - 00;08;27;11 So it's like a switch was flipped and she came alive. Marvo would occasionally bake a pie with some gold tucked into it for a struggling family or to celebrate a birth. But Daisy, she took this to a whole new level. She began to organize these large charity drives, even drawing in crowds from Gosfer and Ravenwall, always with a focus on children. 00;08;27;14 - 00;08;49;15 You see the Grissom Trail, the path north, which brought Daisy to Belvedere in the first place, is a very well traveled but incredibly dangerous journey. Not only is it long, with difficult terrain, historically bad weather, and few safe stops along the way, but because of its length and remote location, it is all but unguarded. It passes through no fewer than five governing regions. 00;08;49;15 - 00;09;13;07 Most of whom dislike one another and none of whom are willing to pay for security. So travelers are oftentimes left to fend for themselves. As you can imagine, people go missing from the trail all the time. And what's worse, generally speaking, the trail is used primarily by people seeking new opportunities after having run into difficulty in the capital, not something you do if your life is going great. 00;09;13;10 - 00;09;19;18 The Grissom Trail is a road for last chances. 00;09;19;20 - 00;09;53;24 Though census data here is spotty, it's proposed that somewhere between 50 and 120 people go missing from the Grissom Trail every year in the Saint Chelle Pass region alone. It's estimated that some 61% of that number are children under the age of 16. In response to this volunteer organizations have sprung up. Raven Watch and Cybex Keep are both regionally organized search and rescue operations, but the largest group of travelers aid comes from the Saint Chelle Searchers is a group who pulls resources to hire adventurers to locate missing children. 00;09;53;24 - 00;10;20;23 Gone from the Grissom Trail in the Saint Chelle Pass region, which happens to be home to Belvedere and to the Hastics, and it would be a fundraising event for the Saint Chelle Searchers that provided a near perfect alibi for Daisy Hastic on the night of her husband's murder. It was. And I'm not making this up. A beignet eating contest, to quote, raise the dough, end quote, for that season's search party called Hungry, Hungry Helpers Say What You Will. 00;10;20;24 - 00;10;49;27 It was a resounding success. At the Bright’s Knott Guild Hall, a few hours ride from Belvedere. About 70 people gathered to eat pastry, hobnob and donate money to the rescue organization. All in all, Daisy Hastic helped raise near 20,000 gold for search efforts, the organization's most generous season yet. At the end of the night, Daisy stood up in front of the crowd and thanked them profusely, reportedly with tears in her eyes for their efforts. 00;10;50;05 - 00;11;20;11 Dozens of people had been with Daisy for the entire day and the whole evening. There's just no conceivable way that she could have traveled all the way back to Belvedere after the shop closed, killed Marvo, and returned without someone noticing. Even with profound magical aid, the timing just doesn't line up. No, as far as any witness could testify, Daisy, despite being the most likely suspect, had to be innocent. 00;11;20;14 - 00;11;44;25 So it would be that the most obvious suspect, and the person who stood to gain the most, had a perfect alibi for the night of the murder. And that's where the regional police had to start their investigation in earnest. With Belvedere being so remote, it took quite a while for riders to reach authorities and return with them, and even longer for Daisy to be notified in Bright’s Knott of what had happened to her husband in Belvedere. 00;11;44;27 - 00;12;12;13 The police arrived first and began to question witnesses and go over the scene of the crime. In the disheveled bakery, the regional police captain, a slight man with an eyepatch named Dejar Wesper, found several items that felt very out of place to this seasoned inspector. First, according to the witnesses, the oven itself was latched from the outside with a large copper spoon which would have caught on one of the oven doors flanges should the oven be opened. 00;12;12;16 - 00;12;44;06 Basically, this locked the oven shut if anyone inside the oven tried to kick their way out of it. So, Wesper noted in his journal, that it's likely that Marvo Hstic was pushed into the oven. Whether he was conscious at the time or not is up for some debate. And then the attacker or attackers jammed the spoon in the door handle to seal Marvo inside. Wesper noted that if the crime was motivated by greed, some kind of random theft, or breaking and entering, it is wildly unlikely that the assailant would have gone through such lengths to dispatch poor Marvo. 00;12;44;09 - 00;13;10;11 They could have just rendered him unconscious and went about their thieving business, Wesper concluded in his notes that this must have either been personal ritual or a very targeted attack. Secondly, the arcane and occult detection Unit found some really interesting findings when going through the bakery. First and foremost, the place lingered with some notable and intense magical energies, mostly enchantments, illusions. 00;13;10;11 - 00;13;29;25 Whatever happened in Marvo's last moments, high magics were used spells and incantations of notable power which lingered and probably still linger. Not the sort of thing that one sees in a relatively backwater place like Belvedere. Some of the police speculated that this could have been a hit, called out on Hastic by some unknown but very powerful enemy. 00;13;29;28 - 00;13;52;22 But that raises the question what kind of enemies could Marvo have had? It's one thing to spend a few gold to hire a marauder to ransack a shop, but to hire a killer to send this kind of message using whatever arcane talents were used in the bakery? Such things are not easy nor cheap. You would have to really hate someone to induce this level of carnage, and I cannot overstate that. 00;13;52;22 - 00;14;15;12 Everyone in Belvedere at least thought Marvo was the sweetest man alive, and that brings us to the matter of the necklace. It was a small brass necklace found amongst the wreckage, and it definitely didn't belong to Marvo. It was the sort of inexpensive jewelry that one might give when one is short on funds, but big on heart. The little piece was engraved with the initials D, S and read: 00;14;15;14 - 00;14;40;23 Always a family. The necklace, fitted for a slender neck, was found in a small pile of blood and flour -- just in front of the oven where Marvo's bones were found, and until the police were able to verify Daisy's alibi, this put her front of mind. They were sure that Daisy Surrey had killed her husband. The locket was just proof in the pudding. 00;14;40;26 - 00;15;13;06 But shortly thereafter, Daisy arrived back in Belvedere and it became clear to everyone that she could not have been in the two places so far apart at once, not with so many eyes on her and so many people to corroborate her story. When Daisy walked into the ruined bake shop, the Onlooking crowd fell silent. The police watched her intently as Daisy walked around the entire floor, looking at foot and hand prints made in the flour and blood, and eventually she came to the oven, which would be Marvo's final resting place. 00;15;13;08 - 00;15;36;20 She stared there for a moment and began to weep. She broke down into tears, crying and screaming, falling to the floor in a heap. One onlooker told the police that she looked almost like a wolf howling at the moon. And then, according to Officer Wesper, the good lady caught in the grip of grief, let out one final bleat like the little lamb, and fell silent. 00;15;36;22 - 00;15;59;03 And then it came slowly at first, and then louder. A laugh, a kind of chuckle. She stood up from the dirty floor and thanked me personally in a calm voice for coming all this way. She didn't say anything about finding who'd done this, or even what to do with Mr. Hastic's body. Still not quite cool in the oven. 00;15;59;05 - 00;16;21;20 She walked out the door, mounted her horse, and rode off into the night. If I didn't know now that she had to have been innocent, I swear she looked like the most guilty person I had ever seen. Now, I have to say that grief hits us all differently, and we never know how trauma will affect us in the moment. 00;16;21;23 - 00;16;50;21 And if we're very lucky, we'll never have to know. But I can urge you to. If you ever find yourself in a similarly grim position, as Daisy Hastic with your newly murdered husband still smoldering, not ten feet in front of you, resist the urge to chuckle. It does not breed confidence. And then, in the pre-dawn hours, Daisy Hastic rode her horse, Rosemary, straight back to Bright’s Knott, where the event was held the previous night and arrived just before dawn. 00;16;50;23 - 00;17;15;27 Daisy sat herself at the bar in the Bright’s Bar Stool Tavern. Just as it was opening for breakfast. She ordered a mug of ale and then another. And it would seem that she's kept up that cadence until probably the moment I'm speaking. Now, several months later. So this is where we are left. Marvo Hastic has died at the hands of some very violent, very magically inclined killers. 00;17;15;29 - 00;17;42;19 Daisy Hastic, his poor young widow seems very guilty and has not helped her case to seem innocent, but based on corroborating evidence, could not have been her husband's killer and has since taken up residence bar side in the Bright’s Knott Tavern. And so I can paint you this picture. Belvedere is a small community who just lost one of their most prominent citizens to the kind of murder that would make big waves in the capital. 00;17;42;21 - 00;18;06;19 Belvedere has never seen anything like this, and Belvedere is talking. Everyone has a theory. And what's more, even though this case is very fresh in our minds, we at Alchemy Investigations have been able to uncover some very interesting though at first seemingly unconnected loose threads. Perhaps the death wasn't meant for Marvo he was just in the bakery at the wrong time. 00;18;06;22 - 00;18;25;06 Perhaps the violence on the Grissom Trail has bled over into even the most peaceful and bucolic of places, and Marvo's death was to send a message. All of this could raise a question for a canny investigator. But the question I have for you right now is if Marvo is dead and gone, why are the lights in the bakery on? 00;18;25;06 - 00;18;41;07 And who has been baking beignets in Belvedere? Even as we speak, the bakery is no longer closed and our minds are open. That and more after our break. Stay tuned. Investigators. 00;18;41;09 - 00;19;07;17 This episode of Alchemy Investigations is brought to you by Azorette Summit cryptozoological and faunal-arcane family excursions. 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Before we continue, I must make a small disclosure when selecting cases to assign to our investigators, I have a great deal of choice between the vast archives of cold cases and mysterious happenings in our holdings, as well as some more recent paranormal fare. Generally, I try to avoid very current events because I would hate for our investigations to interfere with the proper governing bodies and their agents. 00;19;51;13 - 00;20;17;08 I will generally not assign a recent or time sensitive case unless I am specifically asked to. Which brings us to Isalla Ha. Hamlets like Belvedere generally do not have mayors, but if they did, the mayor of Belvedere would definitely be Isalla Ha. A wise and talented person who has since retired from a life of adventuring to return to the hamlet of their birth and help who needs helping and fix what needs fixing. 00;20;17;08 - 00;20;42;13 Their words. I met Isalla many years ago when they made quite the impression on me during my time at the Aasyth School of Radiance’s Bard Correspondence Track. Isalla Ha visited to tell the tale of their victory over the Ysonian Bile Cult, and I was enthralled. I still am now, many years later, and being empowered by their fellow Belvedereans, Isalla Ha has reached out to ask if Alchemy Investigations can assist and assistance. 00;20;42;15 - 00;21;08;24 I am happy to provide so consider that disclosed. Since Marvo's death, it is estimated that for every ten people in Belvedere, there are somewhere between 11 and 14 theories on how he came to meet his grim fate. These range from plausible -- Daisy is actually secretly a very powerful enchantress, and use the charity event as cover to kill Marvo and take his money with outrageous magics -- to the far fetched -- 00;21;08;28 - 00;21;31;24 Marvo faked his own death using a trick oven, and is now living a new life in Quahrto Beach -- To the very, very far fetched: Marvo Hastic’s dough is sentient and has been this whole time, but on the night of his murder, that dough did not want to be baked and rebelled against its cruel shaper. To separate the chaff from the wheat, our researchers have put together four major theories which attempt to explain how Marvo came to be killed. 00;21;31;26 - 00;21;55;22 Let's call them the Enchantress. The Highwayman. The Opportunity, and the Replacement. First up, the Enchantress. This would be obvious if not for its missing pieces. The story goes that Daisy Surrey came to Belvedere with the explicit intention to seduce, marry, and murder Marvo Hastic taking his money and his estate in a sort of Black Widow esque con. 00;21;55;27 - 00;22;37;05 This theory presupposes that Daisy is herself an unbelievably powerful enchantress from the capital, who used her arcane talents to win over Marvo's attention and, on the night of the murder appear to be at the charity event while also ending Marvo's life and Belvedere in gruesome single culinary combat. There are certain spells and abilities artifacts even, which could accomplish those feats, and it's not wholly impossible that Daisy could be a practitioner of such high level arcane skills, however, and just come with me on this if you possessed enough cunning and power to permanently enthrall the person, bend them to your will and also be in two places dozens of miles away from one another at 00;22;37;05 - 00;23;01;18 once, with no discernible detection. Is your end game really killing a baker? Marvo had money, sure, but it's not a target of a large scale murderous plot money, or perhaps standards for such things have slipped as of late. Society. I think much of this theory is borne out of a piece of information that came to light after Marvo had died, and some of the flour had settled. 00;23;01;22 - 00;23;18;21 It was already known that Daisy had come from the capital, a fact which bred distrust from many Belvedereans on its own. Fair or unfair as that may be. However, it came out that the reason she had to leave the city was that she was on the run from a group of unsavory characters to whom she owed money. 00;23;18;21 - 00;23;44;05 Loan sharks, I suppose you'd call them. We do not know for sure how Daisy fell in with these folks. She certainly has not volunteered that information, but it does seem like she had to leave the capital in a hurry. What some people think. And for the record, I do not, is that she was part of a criminal organization running murderous cons like the one she pulled on Marvo all over the capital until she crossed the wrong member of the guild, and she had to make for the Grissom Trail. 00;23;44;05 - 00;24;04;04 And fast. People can get in trouble in the underworld for lots of reasons, but I think it's easier for the people of Belvedere to imagine Daisy as a powerful antagonist, bringing the troubles of the big city to their quiet neck of the woods. Even if she was most probably a person on the run after having their own life threatened by street level criminals. 00;24;04;04 - 00;24;25;08 Still, it does make sense to scrutinize Daisy's role in this just because we don't have an answer for how she was involved doesn't mean she wasn't, even if that means being in two places at once. The highwaymen theory is a discreet reaction to Daisy's charity work, and like the Enchantress, it also involves allusions to organized crime in the area. 00;24;25;10 - 00;24;56;22 As I mentioned earlier, the Grissom Trail is a dangerous place. In addition to the natural perils like weather and food scarcity, there's also a number of bandit groups that rob from abduct and at times kill passers by in the Saint Chelle area. Recently, within the past few years, one group in particular has come to notable infamy. They're known by a few names, but the moniker that it's stuck most prominently is the Grave Jobbers, which, for the record, is a terrible name, and I would strongly urge them to rebrand. Numbering somewhere between 50 and 150. 00;24;56;28 - 00;25;18;05 This organization is led by the retired pirate Queen, Aurbech of note from her daring assassination of Lord and Lady Matumii of the Norcell Province almost a decade ago. That murderous streak has continued. It's thought that about 80% of the criminal activities on the Grissom Trail in the Saint Chelle region will get back to the jobbers again, that name. 00;25;18;07 - 00;25;40;00 The theory goes that with Daisy's newfound passion for charity, the grave jobbers had taken notice. Not six weeks before Marvo's murder, Daisy had helped support an effort for a local adventurer's group to retrieve a family from Newton, thought to be abducted near Belvedere. The family was found and their captors, five members of the grave jobbers, were hanged in the Bright's Knot Main square. 00;25;40;03 - 00;26;14;08 It is believed that this put a target on the back of the Hastics. The theory goes that Queen Aurbech sent members of her organization to kill Marvo in a gruesome and public way, to send a message to Daisy, stop the charity work or else. Some would say that based on an interpretation of Officer Wesper’s account of Daisy's behavior when she returned to the scene of the crime, that she in that moment understood that this murder was a message meant for her, and that's why she fled to Bright’s Knot and has seemingly discontinued her charity work in the area. 00;26;14;11 - 00;26;43;23 The opportunity theory, to me seems like a bit of an outlier, but an important one. It actually goes back a number of years to when Marvo's first wife, Matilda, was still alive. That was a particularly difficult year on the Grissom Trail. The weather had been bad, and it was a high watermark for disappearances in the area. One of the hired hands who helped Marvo work his einkorn farm, a young lad named Boothby Vrett, found two mangled corpses in the field just outside the Hastics farmhouse. 00;26;43;23 - 00;27;05;17 When he arrived for work early one morning, Boothby ran into town down the main street, yelling to tell someone, anyone. The bodies were so damaged when he found them that he feared that they were the Hastics. But when the young man arrived back with some neighbors, he found the Hastics, Marvo and Matilda, alive and giving the bodies a proper burial on the edge of their farm property. 00;27;05;17 - 00;27;25;14 The aging couple told Boothby and the company that he had brought that the Hastics had in fact been attacked. In the night when two people broke into their farmhouse, a fight erupted, and luckily Marvo and Matilda were able to defend themselves, subduing their attackers. But according to the baker and his wife, the encounter had taken a toll on them and they, exhausted, 00;27;25;15 - 00;27;50;15 fell asleep soon thereafter. When they were awoken by Mr. Vrett’s screams, they felt it was their duty to bury the bodies. Apparently, Marvo felt just terrible about having to defend his property like that. He surmised that these people were just desperate refugees, and even though they made poor choices, he told Boothby that they deserved a proper burial. 00;27;50;18 - 00;28;11;14 So, according to the Belvedere Ledger, Marvo had been attacked before, which means that the events of his death may illustrate a pattern it could have been a crime of opportunity where passers by, desperate and in need of care, may have broken into a shop and, as the situation turned violent, killed Marvo. It may add credence to the way his body was found. 00;28;11;16 - 00;28;33;20 Trapping someone in an oven to burn alive is either an act of passion or desperation or delirium. If this is the case, we may be hard pressed to find the assailants. They very probably have moved on by now and may have us several weeks head start, so we'll have our work cut out for us. If the direction leads in that way. 00;28;33;23 - 00;28;54;23 The replacement theory is what we in the business consider a long shot. It's not even really a theory, but people have been talking about it in Belvedere, and it's worth noting it all revolves around the new baker in town. About two weeks after Marvo's death, a young man showed up in Belvedere. He's maybe 19, with a slim build, an patchy mustache. 00;28;54;26 - 00;29;18;00 He also notably has the same piercing green eyes that Marvo had. He introduced himself as pal, and he, like his great great uncle Marvo, is a baker. He had heard of his kin's death and wanted to reopen the shop and continue the family business. In addition to the coincidental eye color, Pal eventually produced a copy of Marvo's will, which corroborated his story. 00;29;18;00 - 00;29;41;22 And what's more, when he finally talked his way into the bakery, swept it up clean from top to bottom, and relit the fires. He was able to remake the Belvedere beignet perfectly on his first try. Everyone in town agreed. It was uncanny, something that court cooks and the best patisseries the side of Aclyffs Bay were unable to do this young wonderkid did without skipping a beat. 00;29;41;25 - 00;30;05;14 It was like the recipe was in his blood. Whether he's actually related to Marvo or just an incredibly talented baker, the power of the beingets speaks for itself. What's more is that Pal is, by all accounts, incredibly nice. He's already won favor with some of the more established families in Belvedere. And Isalla Ha the hamlets keeper, has said, that pal is to be welcomed. 00;30;05;14 - 00;30;28;21 They see Pal as a boon, a blessing, a kind turn of the wheel after such a tragedy. And I suppose it fits. Belvedere needs a baker who can bake the Belvedere beignet and this boy certainly has the bona fides. So if you get to Belvedere and smell something sweet wafting from the bakery, that would be Pal, the long lost great great nephew of the marvelous, Marvo Hastic. 00;30;28;24 - 00;30;55;18 But if you ask me, that's just a little too coincidental. Our researches have heard several members of the community say, though not on the record, permutations of I wouldn't be surprised if Pal killed Marvo to take his place, but it sure is good to have those beignets back. Yikes. So, dear investigator, those are the main theories. The Enchantress, the highwaymen, the opportunity and the replacement. 00;30;55;20 - 00;31;21;08 I'm sure you have some of your own to add to the list. A list that will only grow when you step on the soft grass of Belvedere Hamlet. But before you do, there's one more thing of which you should be aware, and I'm not exactly sure how this fits into the narrative, but it is worth noting it consists of perhaps two points which create a line that runs near, if not through our story. 00;31;21;11 - 00;31;42;16 There was a commotion at the charity beignet eating contest that Daisy has tackled in Bright's Knot on the night of Marvo's murder, but at the time it did not seem connected to Marvo at all. Perhaps it still doesn't, but it stuck out to me. And now I'm going to offer it to you. Near the end of the festivities, a man burst into the Bright’s Knot Guild Hall, throwing open the large double doors. 00;31;42;20 - 00;32;02;27 He strode in with a weary purpose. The onlookers could tell just from his attire that he was perhaps on the receiving end of their charity, as opposed to the giving. He was soaked through from the rain and covered in dirt, telltale signs of a Grissom Trail traveler, and, according to those on site Daisy immediately went over to the man, bringing him a warm cloak and a beignet. 00;32;03;04 - 00;32;26;10 She sat with him for quite some time, and eventually the man calmed down and started to explain himself to the soon to be widow. Shortly thereafter, Daisy stood up and addressed the remaining donors, and that speech was recorded by the Secretary of the Saint Chelle Searcher's organization. Generous friends, I would like to introduce you to Mr. Samuel Smith, a guest here. 00;32;26;10 - 00;32;46;19 And in fact, the very reason why any of us are here. Mr. Smith is a cobbler from the capital who has fallen on low these hard times. After the death of his goodly wife, he and his three children, Doreen, Kamal, and Wee Baby Birch, have been on the trail for six weeks in an attempt to find work in Ravenwall. 00;32;46;19 - 00;33;09;04 While passing through Saint Chelle, our Saint Chelle, Mr. Smith has become separated from his poor children and he fears the worst. But we will not let the worst happen in the hopes of reuniting the Smith family, I personally pledge a purse of 500 gold to any hero who would bring his children back to him. I ask you, who is with me? 00;33;09;06 - 00;33;29;16 From that, cheers went up and a search party was dispatched immediately. Armed with a description of the children, notably that Doreen, 15, is thin and tall. Kamal, 13, has deep set eyes and notable dimples, and that baby birch --one-- has a birthmark over her right eye, and all of the children, like their father, have a shock of platinum blond hair. 00;33;29;22 - 00;33;55;00 Bright's Knott searched all night, but between the bad weather and the subsequent events in Belvedere, which quickly overshadowed just about everything, to my knowledge, nobody has been able to locate the Smith children in the Saint Chelle area. What was not shared with the crowd, but was noted in the ledgers of the Saint Chelle searchers, was an interesting detail that our researchers were able to uncover from an unnamed source. Before coming to Bright's Knott to ask for help. 00;33;55;00 - 00;34;14;12 Samuel Smith found a note in his pack about the time when his children went missing. It said that his children had gone back to the capital because they didn't want to leave, the only home they knew. And while this would be a dead giveaway as to where to look for his kids, Mr. Smith still sought out help to look for them along the Grissom Trail. 00;34;14;12 - 00;34;39;24 Despite the note from his children that said his children were turning back to the capital. Mr. Smith's worry only grew for the simple fact that his daughter, Doreen spelled her own name wrong in the note. And if that, dear investigator, was not unnerving enough, not two and a half weeks after Marvo had died, there was a midnight knock on the door of Isalla Ha's home. 00;34;39;28 - 00;35;04;26 But when the former adventurer opened up, they only saw a swaddled baby in a makeshift basket. A baby with a birthmark over her right eye and a tuft of blond hair, a baby swaddled in burlap like that cut from a grain sack which had the word “Hastic” imprinted on it. 00;35;04;28 - 00;35;26;17 So, dear investigator, if you find yourself near Belvedere and are willing to take this onto your plate to delve into the seeded underbelly of crime along the Grissom Trail and engage in the whiskey business of asking the right questions, you might find out what happened to poor Marvo Hastic and ensure that his killer or killers get their just desserts. 00;35;26;17 - 00;35;55;25 I'm sorry, I swear this is an emulsion a compulsion. Compulsion, regardless. Good luck. Investigator. And if you have any trepidation, remember you can always bake it till you make it. [Another voice!] “Come on.” [Back to Ichabod] I'm sorry, I'm sorry. The puns control me. Now. Thank you for listening to tonight's episode of Alchemy Investigations, where we've delved into the untimely death of Marvo Hastic, famed baker of Belvedere. 00;35;55;26 - 00;36;28;19 The strange reactions of his widow Daisy. Pal, the brand new baker in town and a missing baby from the capital found safe on Isalla Ha’s doorstep. I won't sugarcoat it. Despite the cozy nature of this mystery, I'm sure the truth has some real bite to it. For now, this has been Ichabod M. Groster for Alchemy Investigations. Farewell, investigators, and beware. 00;36;28;21 - 00;36;54;07 Alchemy investigations is produced at Else Break Labs and is hosted by Ichabod M Groster. This episode and its related materials are released with absolutely no warranty nor support, and are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution noncommercial share alike 4.0 international license. If you are interested in learning more about tonight's mystery or want to explore others, please click the link in the description or visit us at our website. 00;36;54;09 - 00;37;21;07 alchemyinvestigations.com. There, Ichabod will explain the resolution of this particular scenario and offer tips on how it might be run as a tabletop role playing game, one shot, or as part of a larger campaign in your next game night. Tonight's story all names, characters, and incidents therein are works of fiction. No identification with actual persons, living or deceased places, structures, ideals, and or products is intended, nor should be inferred. 00;37;21;09 - 00;37;47;14 Alchemy investigations is supremely thankful to our wide network of correspondence correspondents like Eroll, Fitz ,and Lawrence of the New Lock Bakery for their culinary consultation on this case. We would also like to extend a sincere thank you to Sonia Evarts, the vice president in charge of outreach for the Saint Chelle Searchers organization. A portion of tonight's proceeds will go to the Saint Chelle Searchers to help support the great works that they do. 00;37;47;16 - 00;39;00;15 And of course, thanks to you, dear investigators. Stay well and stay curious. This transcript may contain small inconsistencies. If you encounter one and would like to report it to be corrected in subsequent updates, please contact us at ichabodmgroster@gmail.com Alchemy Investigation and its related materials are offered with absolutely no warranty nor support and are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).