The Mediterranean
What he left behind
The case
Nothing was taken. That is the problem.
Sebastian Vale dealt in objects with histories. He boarded at Marseille with a cabin full of them and a meeting booked in Miami for the fourteenth. He did not reach Miami.
The cabin was undisturbed. His wallet was where he left it. The pendant around his neck — a navigator’s star that three separate catalogues insist is in a museum in Lisbon — was still there.
A robbery that takes nothing is not a robbery. Which means whatever Vale was killed for, he was going to say it, not sell it. Twelve investigations across twenty nights to work out what.
Content note
A fictional homicide investigation. No graphic violence, no on-page gore. Written for ages 13 and up.
At a glance
- Genre
- Murder mystery — deduction, contradiction and alibi
- Setting
- MSC Grandiosa · Marseille to Port Canaveral · twenty nights
- Structure
- 5 chapters · 12 core investigations · 4 bonus investigations
- Players
- 2–8 investigators · one device is enough
- Play time
- 6–10 hours spread across the voyage
- Suspects
- Six, plus one the case does not name for you
- Language
- English
- Format
- Physical evidence file + offline iOS & Android app
Structure
Five chapters,
twenty nights.
Chapters unlock across your sailing rather than all at once. The long investigations land on sea days; port days stay light enough to play after a day ashore.
3 investigations
Approaches
Statements that do not fit
The Crossing
Eight days of open water
Landfall
The fourteenth
Loose Threads
Optional
A taste of the first six
The investigations in chapters one and two — the ones you will open in the Mediterranean, before the ship turns west and the water gets deep.
- The Dead Man’s LetterWritten, sealed, addressed — and never sent.
- Two Floors, One SkyThe Galleria has two levels. Only one of them can see the other.
- The ChocolatierA receipt for two drinks and a witness who served one.
- The Theatre AlibiEverybody was at the show. Not everybody was in a seat.
- A Second SignatureThe same hand, signed twice, nineteen years apart.
- Seven MinutesThe gap nobody can account for, including the person who noticed it.
The manifest
Six people had a reason.
Each carries a portrait card, a statement, and at least one thing they would rather you did not check.
Marcus Reed
Vale’s business partner of nineteen years.
Clara Voss
A former protegée, and the last person known to have met him.
Adrian Cross
The ship’s headline illusionist, on his fourth crossing.
Elena Moreau
Travelling as an ordinary passenger. She is not.
Victor Hale
Wealthy, patient, and interested in one object above all.
Sofia Bellini
Runs the onboard sales. Knows what everything is worth.
The accusation
You get one answer.
When the twelfth investigation closes, the accusation unlocks. Six questions: who killed Sebastian Vale, what the motive actually was, who was being framed, what the pendant really meant, and the two pieces of evidence that prove both.
You commit once. There is no reopening it and no second attempt — which is the point, because a mystery you can brute-force is not a mystery. Once sealed, the full resolution opens and tells you exactly how close you came.
Ranks
Evidence found, investigations closed and field missions completed all score. Hints cost a little; revealing a solution costs more. Where your party lands decides the rank on the final page.
- Rookie Investigator — you named someone.
- Ship Detective — you did the reading.
- Senior Investigator — you caught the frame-up.
- Master Investigator — you caught the sentence he should never have said.
Case file 001
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