Update: This cache was nominated for "Most Satisfying Puzzle"
in the 2010 Metro GC Awards! Thanks everyone!
Yesterday I got another email from Sam. It seems that his
great-uncle William Kitts has sent him another puzzler:
Simply maddening! Another envelope arrived from Polhemus &
Fiske, Great-Uncle William's old law firm. A cover note from them
explained that my late great-uncle had requested that this document
be sent to me on this date.
It appears to be a page torn from the middle of a travel
journal. It's not in his handwriting -- in fact it's not any
handwriting that I recognize at all. I've transcribed the page for
you, maybe you can figure out what it means. It starts in the
middle of a sentence:
-------------------------
come here in search of the artifact. The village elders have
expressly forbidden outsiders to view the cross, only the cruzob
may gain admittance to see it -- if I could only show the photos I
have of the tomb glyphs to the head shaman, he will see the
similarities. One mystery can unlock the other! But for now I don't
even know which of the elders is the shaman. I must first stay here
for some time to gain their trust.
But last night -- last night was a revelatory experience. I am
staying with my guide's family, and after dinner Luis (here he goes
by Chuk) asked his mother to tell my fortune. I did not know that
cartomancy was practiced here, but she pulled out a worn deck and
had me select nine cards through the usual method.
"These represent your past," she said, turning over the first
three cards. "A scorpion, another scorpion -- that is most strange
-- and the lady. The scorpion, it gives pain, even death, to
protect itself, but it is always solitary. This lady, she was
important to you, but you could not get close to her or she would
sting, yes? She has betrayed you, driven you far away from
her."
"These cards are your present, here and now. The mermaid, the
crown, and the star. The star and crown together -- you are
searching for something, something beyond wealth or fame, it is
your destiny that you seek. But the mermaid, another woman, yes?
She sings to you, the siren, to distract you from your destiny.
Beware of her if you would keep to your path and crown yourself
with glory."
"And these cards are your future. The bottle, the heart, the
fish." She grew quiet. "There are two ways to read this. One way,
each card is a path ahead of you." She pointed at the cards in
turn. "You grow obsessed and addicted. Or you reach your heart's
desire. Or the mermaid has taken you, and you have entered her
world forever."
"But to truly read the cards you must not just look at the sign.
To find what you seek, you have to look behind the sign, within the
sign. Reading this way, I would say your future depends on the
choice of your heart: to keep the sea bottled up inside of you, or
to become part of the sea, to swim in it and join in it. I do not
know when you will face this choice, or what form it will take. But
you will know it when it comes."
I spent the rest of the night thinking on the fortune she had
read. My relationship with Helena, the search for the meaning of
the glyphs, the situation with Marisela -- it was all captured, to
a large degree, in just a few minutes of her reading. But how much
of the meaning came from the cards and how much from my own mind?
Do we not as humans all suffer from pareidolia and apophenia?
Perhaps I need to stop looking at the sign and begin to look within
the sign...
Tomorrow I plan to go with Luis and his father to visit one of
the elders -- I hope that
-------------------------
And that's where the page ends. Do let me know what you can make
of this, I'm sure it points to a location but for the life of me I
can't see how.
Yours,
Sam
You're looking for a nano container. You can
check your answer here.
