The Flight of Mikhail Kuzma Mystery Cache
The Flight of Mikhail Kuzma
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Hunt Mikhail Kuzma and, if you find him, trade some books or other
items in this well-hidden ammo can.
THE CACHE, OF COURSE, IS NOT AT THE LISTED
COORDINATES.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on
Geochecker.com.
***** CONGRATS TO
rkangas ... FTF !! *****
First Inspector
Markhov: I am routing to you the final communiqué from suspect
Mikhail Kuzma to his fiancé, Marya Grigorieva. It is written in the
usual pompous and melodramatic style that we have come to loathe.
If it contains any clues as to his whereabouts, you must inform me
immediately. Make haste. Your colleague,
Simeon
My Dearest
Masha,
With a heavy heart and a mind plagued by fear and doubt, I sit to
write these lines. Night has come and I am utterly alone. I must
halt, but can rest only briefly.
You have heard the accusations against me, which, I only hope, you
know are false. I fear you doubt my innocence. The happiest day of
my life, when I was appointed to serve the family of the tsar (and
did so, happily and devotedly!) seems to lie in an impossibly
remote past. Why would I seek to harm them, after serving loyally
... as my father and grandfather before me ... for many years? Like
many recent events, it makes no sense. That I cannot see your eyes
to read your belief, your understanding, and your trust, pains me
greatly. I have fled the city and will not return. I am pursued, do
not follow. How much longer can I go on? Though I should be young,
I feel as if I have stepped into an open grave. I will not last
these next five years to reach forty and a proper middle age. I see
your father in his home in St. Petersburg, contented, surrounded by
a loving family. I will never be that man. That he doubted me adds
to my woe. I must rest. My eyes fall shut, my head spins. If I see
dawn, I will write more. Till morning.
I have slept only fitfully. Dawn will soon arrive and bring me
little peace. You will forgive me for telling little of where I am
or where I go. Lest you seek to find me, I dare not. Kind friends
aid me now. They are better than I could ever hope to be. Will they
be caught, condemned like my brother to a cold nine-by-six stone
cell, ignominy, or death? My brother! ... though twelve full years
my junior, more a father to me ... imprisoned in my name. Will my
name forever mean failure, suffering, and death? And your father!
... so blessed to live in peace for but one short of four score
years, so calm, so wise ... would his doubt of me now be justified?
Is yours? My pursuers have no such doubts. They may search the four
corners of the earth for me, I will hide.
Last night as I waited for sleep to come, I thought only of you and
of the lost member of the tsar’s family. In twenty three
years it will be two full centuries since the greatest of that
noble family assumed the throne and my family was blessed to begin
serving them. At that moment our names were joined in honor, now
they are joined in shame.
My candle burns low, exhaustion drives me to my bed. I pray you
will not discard me from your thoughts and that I will see you once
more.
Your Mikhail.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Vs lbh ernq Zvxunvy'f yrggre naq pna'g svaq gur pbbeq-ahzoref ... V'z tbvat gb unir gb fraq Svefg Vafcrpgbe Znexubi nsgre lbh!