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The Predecessor's Position

In a small Austrian town where the municipal utility company handles electricity, water, funerals, and cremation, sixty-three-year-old Egon Reitner—the safety and environmental inspector who had submitted eight requests to monitor emissions from that room for just two consecutive hours, receiving eight rejections that this facility was not subject to such testing—died four days after spending one such night there. On the night when a backlog of cremations from the two-day holiday for visiting the dead was crammed into a single shift, he entered alone the exhaust filtration room on a night he wasn't even scheduled to work, closed the door, and remained inside for over two hours. On that room's wall hangs a cabinet for protective equipment, and on the door a placard bears not a person's name but a job title—and that night, more than one person held that title. Question the five who worked in that facility that night. Whose hand made the air in that room what it was.

Scene

municipal crematorium exhaust/filter room in operation · early winter night after the holiday

5 suspects

  • Alois GruberAlois GruberEquipment maintenance workerThe pride particular to someone who's spent eleven years in one zone, and a loud manner of speaking that never learned to hide dissatisfaction.
  • Dietmar HoferDietmar HoferNight crematorium operatorFew words, answers in the manner of someone who's been standing for twenty hours. Leads with defense to every question. If pressed, collapses all at once; after collapsing, asks questions back.
  • Florian PichlerFlorian PichlerExhaust/filter equipment technicianAnswers questions with sequences. Doesn't state judgments. If the words the other person uses differ from his own, from then on he uses theirs exactly.
  • Verena MoserVerena MoserNight equipment assistant and duty officerDoes assigned tasks in order without omissions. Tends not to volunteer things among what she's done that might look unfavorable.
  • Harald EderHarald EderFilter delivery/replacement support technician (contractor)Cautious about conveying what he's seen at others' workplaces—but when asked, says what he saw.

Exhibits

  • Handover memo pad hung on filter room wall

    Equipment maintenance procedures written in longhand. Paper is worn, and the handwriting changes partway through the pages.

  • Air recorder and paper strip he left behind

    Found placed on the floor inside the room. Two lines drawn on the paper strip.

  • Condensate trap and floor beneath it

    Trap is dry without moisture, set upright to the side. Dried stains around the floor drain.

  • That night's duty roster and radio communication log

    Roster lists not names but three job titles. Radio log records only time and title called.

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Field Guide

One question = one turn. Examine the clues, shake statements with confrontations, question everyone, then accuse — there is no undo.

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The Predecessor's Position · THE TELL Mystery Game