Who Shot King Beld?

Being a Learned Treatise by Slayn Starseeker

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It is an acknowledged fact by those who were present at the deciding battle, that King Beld of Marmo met his end from two causes: first, from an arrow out of nowhere; second, from the sword of King Kashue. (Rumors that it was in fact a bolt of energy, or a particularly tasteless comment by King Kashue have been refuted by all knowledgable witnesses). The question is not of whether these two events occured, nor is it of the simple matter that King Beld died. The issue at hand is, rather, the source of that mysterious arrow.

Who was it that shot the arrow? There are several obvious suspects:

Parn, the son of Tessius, a long time foe of Marmo and present on the battlefield, did he take advantage of this opportunity to slay his foe?

Deedlit, of the Forest of Light, could this seemingly innocent elf-girl truly be a murderess?

Shadam, King Kashue's right hand man, is known to be exceptionally loyal to Kashue, might he have commited murder on his king's behalf?

Karla, the Grey Witch, did she take advantage of this opportunity to end the war she began and bring to Lodoss?

Ashram, Beld's right hand man, who had everything to gain by Beld's fall, did he turn on his master to gain control of the Marmo forces?

Pirotess, Ashram's dark elven leman, might she have killed Beld on Ashram's behalf?

The issue, however, is not so simple. Parn and Deedlit claim not to have left each other's sides throughout the battle, an alibi which is confirmed by Ashram, who claims to have been doing battle with Parn at the time of the arrow's flight. Parn upholds this claim as well. Were the three in cohoots?

Pirotess claims no alibi, but is equally loud in her protests that she could not commit a murder. As there is no one living to argue with her, this scholar shall not raise the issue.

The sage Wort claims to have seen Karla at the time and claims that she was not at the battlefield. Yet, could Wort also have been in on the dreadful ploy?

Despite these complications, however, the true answer to this mystery is quite clear, when you consider the locations of the individuals and their abilities with specific weapons. It is quite obvious that the culprit was . . .

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P
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G
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D
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N

A
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D

L
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T
H
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H

It was: SHADAM on the BATTLEFIELD with the LONGBOW!