He crashed through the snowy woods, his
labored breath visible in the cold, moonlit air. Every few yards
he’d glance back wondering where his pursuers might have gone. They
had to be close, too close, for that matter. The snow would surely
aid them in following his tracks. "Snow in April? Where are the
lilacs? What a cruel month", he chuckled.
He had to escape this wooded waste land; the secret was too
important. He stopped to get his bearings and allow his senses to
catch up. Looking around, he was deep in the forest. Moon shadows
casting an eerie pattern. The trail all but snow covered; if he
didn’t keep moving so would he. He could feel they were nearby –
that HE was there. Was HE watching?
He thought back on the fantastic secret passed down from
generation to generation. As the story was told, the two brothers,
his great, great - however many greats they were – uncles had made
“the discovery” back in the early 1700’s. A true treasure that
would change everything, it was said. The treasure would have to
stay hidden until the time was right. To hide the secret, they had
created a complex puzzle; as a further safeguard, they divided the
puzzle into several pieces. These pieces were then parceled out
amongst a trusted few who were instructed to devise their own
clever puzzle. Well, 300 years later he was now one of those
“few”.
However, if he was caught…. maybe they wouldn’t be able to
interpret the “booklet” he was carrying. He’d been instructed by
his father to never leave the small leather bound booklet out of
his sight. He was also slightly comforted in knowing that his
cryptanalyst great-grandfather had “modernized” the original 18th
century code just after WWI. The original cipher was just too easy
for these modern times.
He started running down what looked like the trail. He soon
smelled smoke… wood smoke? The cabin had to be close. The map he
had seen at the station did show a small alpine cabin close to the
woods edge.
As he made his way to the clearing, he wondered if the cabin
would be occupied. He’d been told it wouldn’t be. Wet, cold and
tired he’d have to take his chances.
Quickly looking through the window, he noticed no one in the
small one-room cabin. The fire was all but out, the embers emitting
a soft red glow. He quickly entered the warm cabin, shut the heavy
wooden door, took off his wet trench coat and tried to warm up and
calm down knowing that getting out of this wasteland is the
key.
He removed the booklet from his now steaming coat and sat on the
only chair, moving it closer to the fire so he could look over the
booklet. Flipping through the crisp pages he started reading the
familiar text.
He waited. Should only be a few more minutes. He had just
finsihed reading, "Wo weilest du?", when the three men
walked in. The tallest of the three looked around and then asked
for the leather-bound booklet as the other two warmed themselves by
the dying fire.
Taking the booklet, the intruder looked at the cover. It was
worn, dark brown and nondescript. He’d seen hundreds like this one.
Could this be THE one, he wondered? It was heavily scratched but
the title, burned into the leather, was clearly legible.
“Understanding Basic Concepts in Haphazard Integers”. Meant nothing
to him. Flipping the cover open, he noticed an array of
specifically spaced numbers:
From other sources, he knew that the symbols between each number
meant spaces, as a reminder he whispered, "Ahh, two spaces before
the twenty...".
Subsequent pages were filled with text. Straining to see in the
diminishing fire-glow, the intruder started reading and thought he
recognized it from a long time ago in school. Also meant nothing to
him. This was turning into a waste. Another red herring. HE
wouldn’t be pleased.
Tossing the booklet back onto the table. The intruder collected
himself and said to his companions, “Let’s get out of here before
we’re snowed in. There’s nothing here for us. I dislike
numbers.”
As quickly as they entered, they had left leaving him now in a
darkened room, the silence only disrupted by the crackling of the
cooling embers and his pounding heart.
You can check your answers for this PMC on
Geochecker.com.
PMC: PUZZLE MASTER'S
CHALLENGE
This puzzle is part of a
series of puzzles created by the greatest Puzzle Masters of the Mid
Atlantic Region. There are a number Puzzle Masters contributing to
this series. Solve all of the Puzzle Masters' creations, follow the
storylines, gather the clues and find the final. Will you accept
the challenge?
Each puzzle is a unique work of
art created and owned by each Puzzle Master/Puzzle Team. In each
cache there will be a clue that you must gather and record. These
clues will lead you to a final mystery cache located somewhere in
the mid-Atlantic region. This series is designed to lead you on an
epic adventure that will require Master puzzle-solving skills and
extensive travel to unique locations. You must travel and log in at
each cache in order to claim a find on the final. Due to the
extensive time and effort put into this challenge, the cache can be
done as a group but each member of the group must go to each cache
site and sign each log. Dividing into sub groups and pooling your
efforts will not be allowed.
PMC: THE PUZZLE
MASTERS
Listed below are the owners and creators of each cache in the
series. As each cache gets released, the link to the cache will be
added to the roster.
• cinderbankers
PMC - The Box
• CondorTrax
• Dirty Bird and Big Nasty Brain
PMC - Creative Confusion
• East Village Family
PMC - Urban Renewal
• Ekitt10
PMC - The Message
• Frodo_Underhill
PMC - Quick Brown Fox +-25
• GALAP
PMC - Uncle Buck's Cards
• GerIRL
PMC - Hibernia
• Grunriese
PMC - Flatlander
• Hostanut
PMC - The Order
• M_and_W
PMC - Sun Moon and Stars
• mblatch and ericles
PMC - S.E.T.I.
• ODragon
PMC - A Tribute To Caching
• rehobch
PMC - Clueless Again?
• Resolution
PMC - Professor Stone
• Vinny & Sue Team and
MMammel
PMC - Song of the Master Sun
• we3girlsnaguy
PMC - The Meeting House
AND THE
FINAL.....
An elusive cache. It has been
missing for a long time. Can you find it?