SQ - Cryptozoology #1 - The Lindwurm Traditional Cache
SQ - Cryptozoology #1 - The Lindwurm
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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Excerpt taken from the Arcane Journal of Fusion Chamberlain, dated 10 18 2003:
Ever since adolescence, bizarre happenings have seemed to occur around me in what, to my perception, has been higher than average frequency. This evening's events are no exception, although I have to admit, this one was major even by my standards. Recently my longtime friend and associate Jimmy System has taken an interest in exploring graveyards. I admit in my younger days I was also a cemetery enthusiast, however my interest has faded over the years, and I rarely accompany him. Last week he called me to inform that he may have found the grave of one of my relatives. Today was the day we chose to investigate, and I wish we would have chosen any other day...
The sun was just beginning to sink in the sky as Jimmy and I drove through rural Hancock County, the area where a large percentage of my family has lived at some point in our lives, and many still do. The day was like any other in an Ohio mid October, slightly chilly, with a brisk wind blowing and large masses of billowing, metamorphic clouds sailing as if late for an important event across the deep blue midwest sky. There had already been a frost, and most of the landscape was becoming the particular melancholy shade of brown that covers the land here throughout the colder months, but I was enjoying the ride, and the lack of congestion that only rural routes provide. Jimmy turned down the radio, and asked me what I knew about the older generations of my father's side of my family.
"Mostly farmers, I think. I always remember when I was young how long it would take to get to my relatives' places on the rare visits we made. I think a lot of them were much more focused on their work than raising families. None of them had more than three or four kids, if I remember correctly." "And this guy was related to your grandmother on your dad's side?" "Yes, the illustrious Parrs. Artists and performers all. Everyone I've met from that branch I've really liked. Definitely my favorite cousins." "Ah, I think we're almost there", Jimmy informed me as he checked his map, "The guy who gave me directions seemed like he knew what he was talking about, but he didn't want to give me directions at first." "I wonder why?" Jimmy shrugged as he flicked his cigarette out. "Dunno. Doesn't matter 'cause we got them. Hey, I think that's it!"
All that could be seen from the road was a very large, very old stone arch and a gravel path leading back into some very thick woods. The branches of the trees that hung over the path interlaced like clasped hands, and it was much darker than it should of been for that early in the evening.
"Nice place!" Jimmy remarked.
I was less enthusiastic.
As we rolled down the path in Jimmy's Big Phat Ride (TB18MHD), we could see light on the stones, indicating a clearing ahead. "It must be up there."
Sure enough, there was an old cemetery in a patch of meadow that had obviously been neglected for quite some time. Everything had overgrown, and all of the stones were leaning at odd angles, like the teeth of an skeleton with a bad underbite. We stopped the car and got out to investigate. As Jimmy begun to examine the stones, I noticed large patches of grass looked like they had been trampled or matted down... and recently at that.
"I don't think it's here, man." I wanted to leave. "Maybe it was that smaller one we passed."
"No, this one is the one the old man described. It shouldn't take long to check these out, Fusion. There really isn't that many."
"Fine, let's get this over with", I muttered, mostly to myself, as I began to inspect gravestones. As we got farther into the plots, I began to notice the earth had been disturbed in a few places, and there were brownish stains on some of the stones.
"Hey Jimmy, you feel that?"
The air seemed to feel thick all of the sudden, and the light in the clearing made everything look older somehow, almost grainy. Kind of like the effect they use in flashbacks in crime movies. Everything that isn't stationary almost looks blurred.
"Yeah man, something's goin on. We should probably go. How did we manage to get so far from the Ride?"
At just that moment, just when everything took on that odd sheen and we could clearly hear the birds and insects NOT chirping. As the spiritual pressure almost became too much to bear, and the breeze that should have been moving the grass and dead leaves, wasn't, and as worst of all, we noticed the source of the stains and dirt, a mound of what could only been human remains, stripped of flesh and tossed about carelessly, a high pitched whine mixed with a hiss came from the woods, very near to where we were standing.
"Yep, not here, let's go", Jimmy said, nodded, and took off for the car, with me on his heels.
And as the ivy and thorns clutched at our legs, a long serpentine figure came shrieking out of the back of the cemetery in our direction. We managed to get to the car before even turning around (thank God he always leaves the engine running), and saw what looked like a salamander the size of a horse, with only two legs, and horns, coming at the Jeep at preternatural speed, with what appeared to be a human femur clutched in its powerful looking jaws. We braced for impact as the creature whizzed passed us and down the path.
"We must have scared it?" Jimmy seemed confused.
"Chase it?" I asked. Jimmy threw the Ride in reverse, spun around, and skidded out of the cemetery in the direction the beast bolted, kicking up enough stones and dirt to completely block out a reverse view of the graveyard, which we have never found again.
Somehow it was dark now as we passed under the arch, and we caught the movement of our quarry as it darted through fields to escape us. "Doesn't seem like something that large should be afraid," Jimmy said around the cigarette clenched in its teeth.
"It looks like it's after something, not running from us." As I spoke, the lights of the town directly in the serpent's path became visible.
"It's heading for the town."
"Not on my watch." Jimmy gunned the engine and launched the Jeep into the field in pursuit. The beast was much faster than the off-roading vehicle, and we were losing ground quickly, but at the last second it turned, and leapt across the road ahead into a larger, well-kept cemetary on the edge of town.
"Kill the lights, man. Get close and we'll walk. We gotta see what this thing is up to." Jimmy and I crept into the front of the cemetery, and walked toward the crunching noises and almost unbearable smell. There it was, feasting on its most recent meal, which had been pulled out of a relatively fresh grave.
"Watch this, Jimmy. A little trick I picked up from a necromancer named Orpheus when I had an unfortunate run-in a few years ago with these guys that called themselves Team Venture." Quietly creeping up behind the great beast (I didn't see ears, I think it's sense of smell would have been it's keenest), I pulled a small capsule out of my jacket with a sealing charm attached. Using the incantation I was taught, I forced the desecrater of the departed into it, and sealed it forever. As it hit the ground, all manner of unpleasant plants sprung up around it; thorny bushes, nettles, sumac, hemlock and the like, and promptly died, protecting and camoflaging the tiny capsule for all time.
This is not a typical geocache. This is a warning to those who may try to seek out the Lindwurm to STAY AWAY. Do not sign the log. Do not leave small trade items in the matchstick container sized prison. And most of all, do not free the Lindwurm.
***The SQ in the cache name above signifies Spirit Quest, a project by the Northwest Ohio Geocachers to distinguish those caches that are set in cemeteries or memorial gardens. This cache is part of that series created by NWOGEO members to highlight cemeteries in the area. Please be respectful of the area, and observe the posted hours which are sunrise to sunset.***
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Guvf vf n zvpeb va n przrgrel. Srry serr gb fvta gur ybtobbx.