The Kingdom of Sandhurst Mystery Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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The Kingdom of Sandhurst
Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Sandhurst lived a young maiden
named Lady Morris. As a resident of the great Kingdom, Lady Morris
was often called upon to rescue bungling travellers who had strayed
into the fair land. People came in droves to Sandhurst in search of
the Kingdom’s treasure but would often lose their way, for it
surely was a frustrating place to visit.
A meeting was called of the Noble Court to discuss this matter of
great importance. All the elders of Sandhurst were present for the
meeting, along with a few travellers who visit regularly. They all
mingled and exchanged pleasantries before Lady Morris rose to
address them.
"It concerns me that people travel far and wide to visit out fair
Kingdom but often leave empty handed. Messages of help are sent
with great urgency to all members of the Kingdom, but are usually
not received because the messenger boys are turned off during
business hou...."
"Ditditdit, dahdah, ditditdit!"
Lady Morris was rudely interrupted mid sentence. A sheepish looking
Hondo quickly got up and slapped his messenger boy. "Oops, sorry,
please continue," he said, returning to his seat.
Lady Morris went on. "To make life easier for our guests I have
decided to hide my new treasure in a different manner. Finding the
treasure will not demand great skill or powers of observation, it
will depend entirely upon a game of chance!" Discussion within the
Court continued with a sense of delight and anticipation, for even
residents of Sandhurst had trouble finding their own treasure at
times.
Lady Morris invited all the guests to gather around the table to
participate in the unveiling of her new treasure. "This game is
very simple. Some of the cards have been marked with the
information needed to locate the treasure. You may each draw five
cards at random from the pack, but they will be returned at the
completion of your go. Furthermore, the cards will remain here at
the Hall of the Noble Court for all to access. No skill or great
power of observation is required, just chance."
The guests took it in turns to remove cards from the deck. Hondo
was up first, "Damn, my cards are worse than the time I was filling
in for Rebecca’s Bridge game!" Romax drew his cards, "No luck
here! I know you can exchange your stock, but I wish I could
exchange these cards!"
And so it went on. Hardyman, The Little Troopers and Team Tandoori
all declared losing selections, but continued to give tremendously
witty plugs for their own treasures. However, the absence of any
winner began to wear thin and the members of the Court were not
amused. "Lady Morris, this is no fun at all. Why would travellers
from afar waste their time playing this game?" asked
Hardyman.
"I don’t know what’s happened; this should have been
much easier. I marked quite a few of the cards with the information
- the chances of finding one were actually in your favour!" she
said, quite distressed by what had unfolded.
The silence of dismay was shattered by the diabolical chortling of
a figure who stepped out from the shadows at the back of the hall
and approached the table. Clad in purple velvet with curly toed
slippers and a three pronged cap it was Rubik the Court Jester! He
approached with a jaunty swagger nonchalantly swinging a large
sword made of vermicelli.
"Look out!! He’s noodle armed!" screamed Silver Dice, as he
cowered under a table.
"Well my friends, I’m afraid the joke is on you. I
couldn’t sit back and allow chance to decide the fate of a
fortune! I’m sure most of you are somewhat suspicious of the
cards that were pulled during that game. Most of you pulled a
Joker, some of you two. That goes against the odds a bit,
doesn’t it? And how did you manage to hold two of the same
card in your hand at the one time? Ha-ha! You have fallen foul of a
little sabotage!"
Rubik bored everyone with his rubbish for a while before finally
getting to the point.
"...and so I have hidden the treasure in a little place I’m
sure you will find appropriate. How do you find it? With plenty of
skill and the power of observation of course! I manipulated the
deck of cards so it would play out perfectly. All you need to do is
recall the cards that each of you drew. All the information you
need is there."
"What? No clues?" asked Bevfre. *sigh* "For this puzzle to be
solved I will have to work on it for somewhere in the order of 500
years! Blimey!"
UPDATE
The cache location and puzzle have been modified.
Click here for a full size version of the
image.
Remember, the final coordinates are within a few kilometres of the
posted coordinates.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[One:] Gur wbxref ner n qvfgenpgvba.
[Two:] Gurer ner gjb pyhrf va gur vasbezngvba Oriser cebivqrf, bar vf boivbhf, gur bgure vf uneqre gb svaq.
[Cache:] Fghzc abg ybt.
Treasures
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