The La Unión payroll
The La Unión mining hills, 1899. It's payday Saturday, the mine's paymaster is found dead beside the empty strongbox and the Civil Guard already has a culprit: the strike leader.
- Master
- 1–10 players
- 90–120 min
- Ages 16+
The story
A demanding deduction case. The La Unión mining hills, their lead-and-silver fever and their songs are real; the mine, the characters and the crime are made up.
La Unión, 1899. The hills are riddled with hundreds of shafts and headframes; every day the miners go down hundreds of metres for lead and silver, and at night the café-cantantes fill with tarantas and mineras. Since November, the men at the Esperanza mine have been on a half-strike: they work, but demand to be paid in silver duros rather than in vouchers for the owner's company store.
Yesterday afternoon, the paymaster, Leandro Martí, brought the fourteen thousand pesetas of wages from the bank in Cartagena and locked them in the strongbox in the pay office, where he sleeps on Fridays to guard them. There are only two keys to that strongbox: his and that of the mine's owner, Don Rodrigo Peñalver.
This morning they found him dead on the floor, with a blow to the head, the strongbox open and empty and the window smashed to pieces. Sergeant Benítez is in no doubt: the strike committee said “no pay, let the mine burn”, and he has arrested Ginés “el Picaor”. At two he leaves with him for Cartagena. The miners are waiting at the door for their wages.
What awaits you
Mode
Deduction
Search places, question the suspects and piece together what happened. The accusation is put to a group vote.
Goal
Uncover: culprit, how he died, why, and where the payroll is.
Difficulty
Master
- A single hint per game
- A single accusation
On Enigma Oculto
Just released: no stats yet.
Content warnings
- A violent death, without explicit details.
- The harsh conditions of 19th-century mines.
Characters
5 suspects. Listen to everyone: not everyone tells the truth.
- Don Rodrigo PeñalverOwner of the Esperanza mine58. He came to La Unión with nothing and got rich on lead. He has the big house next to the mine and a reputation for never letting a penny go.
- Doña Pilar RosDon Rodrigo's wife50. Daughter of a notary from Cartagena. She runs the mine's company store and the vouchers the miners are paid with.
- Ginés Martínez “el Picaor”Miner, the strike leader40. A hewer since he was twelve. He speaks for the four hundred miners of the Esperanza. He's in the cell, handcuffed.
- Rosario “la Minera”Singer at the Rojo café28. The finest voice for mineras in all the hills. She sings every night at the Rojo café-cantante.
- Ernesto VillarThe mine's engineer33. A mining engineer from Madrid. He keeps the plans, the reports on the lode and the mine's accounts.
- JuanicoThe mine's lamp boy14. He looks after the miners' lamps and writes in his book who takes each one and when they bring it back.
6 locations
The pay office
The lamp room
The engine house
Don Rodrigo's study
The Rojo café-cantante
The Civil Guard post
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