Ring Quest I: The Nine: Black Riders Traditional Cache
Ring Quest I: The Nine: Black Riders
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Welcome to the first cache of Ring Quest, a twenty-cache series inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
About the Ring Quest Series
Click here to watch a video about this series.
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings legendarium, the Rings of Power were twenty magical rings forged in the Second Age, intended by the Dark Lord Sauron to seduce the rulers of Middle-earth to evil. The Elven-smiths of Eregion, led by Celebrimbor, forged nineteen of these rings: three for the Elves, seven for the Dwarfs, and nine for men. One additional ring, the One Ring, was secretly forged by Sauron himself at Mount Doom.
The Nine: The first nine caches of this series represent the nine rings “for Mortal Men doomed to die,” whose wearers became Nazgûl, the Black Riders. You’ll find them hidden in cemeteries around Tarrant County. In addition to a log, each contains the coordinates of a stone marker somewhere in the cemetery with clues you’ll need to find the final cache of the One Ring. Instructions on each cache page indicate how to obtain the clues, all of which are regular English letters. [Please ignore the fact that the clues printed in the caches refer to “Dwarf Cache” coordinates. This series was originally designed to work through several stages of unknown caches, but that did not meet Geocaching guidelines.]
The Seven: The next seven caches symbolize the seven rings “for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,” given to the heads of each of the seven Dwarf clans. These caches are hidden in more "interesting," harder-to-reach places than the first nine. The seven Dwarf caches also all contain information you’ll need to find the One Ring. These clues are written in Khuzdul, Tolkien’s language of the Dwarves. [Again, ignore the reference to “Elf Cache” information.]
The Three: The next three caches signify the “Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky.” “Immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings,” the Elves who bore these rings lived in the forested lands of Rivendell, Lothlorien, and Lindon, so these caches are hidden in wooded, elf-worthy spots. The three Elf caches contain the remaining information you’ll need to locate the final cache of the One Ring, written in Tengwar, the language of the Elves.
The One: Representing the One Ring -- secretly forged by the Dark Lord Sauron in the heart of Mount Doom in the “Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie” -- the ultimate cache of this series is a night cache, requiring a nocturnal hike in the woods. You’ll need information from each of the other nineteen caches to obtain the coordinates. All finders receive a “genuine replica” of the One Ring, while supplies last!
This Cache:
Ring Quest I: The Nine: Black Riders
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die. Sauron gave nine of the rings of power to nine kings of men. The rings gave them great power and the ability to influence others’ will and also gave them very long lives; however, the men who wore them were unable to resist the evil influence of Sauron and eventually faded away into wraiths, becoming the Black Riders, servants of the Dark Lord.
You are looking for a small container that is completely concealed. After signing the log, be sure to make note of the coordinates printed on the log. To avoid the loss of the cache container, please be sure to return it to the exact place you found it!
Bonus Coordinate Information – Ents
The oldest creatures in Middle-earth were the Ents, an ancient race of beings who closely resembled trees. At the bonus coordinates printed on the log sheet in this cache, you’ll find a stone tree with an owl in its branches. Below, you’ll see the date, June A5, 18B7. Note the values of A and B.
The caches in this series are:
The Nine:
Ring Quest I: The Nine: Black Riders
Ring Quest II: The Nine: Nazgûl
Ring Quest III: The Nine: Ringwraiths
Ring Quest IV: The Nine: The Shadows
Ring Quest V: The Nine: Úlari
Ring Quest VI: The Nine: Fell Riders
Ring Quest VII: The Nine: Shriekers
Ring Quest VIII: The Nine: Khamûl
Ring Quest IX: The Nine: The Witch-king of Angmar
The Seven:
Ring Quest X: The Seven: Ironfists
Ring Quest XI: The Seven: Broadbeams
Ring Quest XII: The Seven: Blacklocks
Ring Quest XIII: The Seven: Stonefoots
Ring Quest XIV: The Seven: Stiffbeards
Ring Quest XV: The Seven: Firebeards
Ring Quest XVI: The Seven: Longbeards
The Three:
Ring Quest XVII: The Three: Narya
Ring Quest XVIII: The Three: Nenya
Ring Quest XIX: The Three: Vilya
The One:
Ring Quest XX: The One Ring
First-to-find this cache gets a laser pointer!
Congratulations to 2Nutz 
for First-to-Find!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Jura cnlvat erfcrpgf ng gur przrgrel, erzrzore gb erzbir lbhe pnc.