Once, when I was walking in this very park, I
met a man named Brendan Doyle. He appeared anxious at first,
looking around as though someone were chasing him. Thinking that
perhaps I could help, I approached the man, and as he began to
settle he told me the most wondrous tale.
Doyle wove a story of ancient Egyptian cults and
Victorian poets, beggars guilds, shape shifters, and time travel.
He described fantastical inventions - modern technological marvels,
but built with the limited technologies available in the late 19th
Century. What was most amazing was that he seemed to sincerely
believe what he was saying!
It was all nonsense, of course, but he was so
clear in his speech and mannerisms, so lucid in his mental
faculties, that for brief moments he almost had me believing in his
delusion. Not the sort to be so easily overtaken by flights of
fancy, I shook it off. Nevertheless, whether the excitement of the
tale itself or the sincerity of the teller, the story was difficult
to resist.
After telling his tale he looked to his watch,
and declaring that he must go, we parted ways. I have never since
seen or heard of this man or any like him. Before he left, however,
he recounted what he had been doing in this park.
Apparently, according to his yarn, his earliest
time travels happened by way of magical device. Would you believe
it? Magical! At any rate, he had more recently discovered a more
*mechanical* means, he had said. This device, in his opinion,
presented both a great danger to the world as well as great
potential, and should only ever be used by the most virtuous and
clever among mankind.
If his delusion were to be believed, people
would follow after him, searching for the "bridge" - a key that
would unlock the device had been hidden nearby. He had left clues
around this very park, arranged as a sort of game using what he
called the "planetary positional array". This game, which he called
"DeCACHElon", would both lead
to the hiding place of the key and provide the secret needed to
retrieve it.
I wished Mr. Doyle farewell, and secretly hoped
that he would receive the help that he so obviously needed. To this
day I think of him often when I visit this park. His story was so
elaborate and so vivid that he was difficult to forget! I did
search briefly, out of curiosity, and found nothing that resembled
either a game or a key. A pity, too - I think that I would have
liked time travel.
The cache is not at the posted coordinates, which
will lead you to parking. The location of the first stage can be
surmised by reading the text of the story above.
As you may have guessed, DeCACHElon is a game. Yes, I know that
geocaching is a game, but this cache is a game within a game.
Second, it's a puzzle. As the tale above suggests, playing the game
will yield the location of the final, as well as the solution to
the puzzle. The first to find the final will be rewarded with the
key - a hundred-year-old-plus brass skeleton key attached to an
unregistered travel bug dog-tag. This key may or may not have
something to do with a fabulous time traveling machine, if you
believe in such things.
DeCACHElon will take you through elements of
traditional, multi and puzzle hides, custom and off the shelf
containers, various sizes and styles of hide, work clothes friendly
stages and ones where you may get wet and/or dirty, easy and rough
terrain, and will end with an interesting container and hopefully
some cool swag.
HOW to PLAY...
The game itself is pretty easy. At the first stage
you will pick up a simple, self-explanatory game card and a plastic
bag - please only take one bag per group, to reduce the level of
required maintenance. You will want to keep track of the time that
it takes to find each stage, including the first, because you will
get points based on those times. You will also gain or lose points
depending upon whether you've utilized a Phone-A-Friend or picked
up garbage (CITO) along the way to the next stage (thus, the
plastic bag). Low scores are better.
Each stage will have two or three pieces of
information within it: partial coordinates of the next stage (in
most cases only the last three digits will change), a portion of
the puzzle solution, and possibly a clue regarding what to do with
that information. You can write the information down on the back of
the handy-dandy scorecard that I've so thoughtfully provided for
you. You're welcome.
Because the coordinates to each stage are located
only in the previous cache, you must find each one, in order, to
complete the puzzle. In the final you will find a cryptex; a puzzle
box sort of thing that can only be opened after using the clues
provided in the game to solve the puzzle. The log sheet is inside
of the cryptex, which looks like this:
Hopefully everyone that completes this cache will
put their score in their log. Once we see what a good score is,
I'll find some sort of amazing prize give-away to reward the best
players or teams. I have some unregistered 10-year coins, some
micro-coins, maybe a pin, or if you're lucky maybe even one of
those fantastic McDonalds toys. Everyone that completes
DeCACHElon will receive a customized
pin from the labeled baggie at the final.
[Pins provided by my 'cacher buddy CLUBBERS! He does pins for
events and such... I'm just saying. ;-)]
A Few IMPORTANT Items
- The final stage, along with the cryptex, is located over
a mile and a half away, in a more secure location where you can
learn more about Mr. Brendan
Doyle. It is available M - F from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, and
Saturday from 9:00 to 5:00 pm. It is closed on Sundays from
Memorial Day through Labor Day, and open on Sundays from Labor Day
to Memorial Day from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. The final does not need to
be retrieved at the same time that the rest of the puzzle is
hunted, you can come back to the final later. I have also been told
that although it isn't posted anywhere that I can find, either
physically or on the web, the park officially closes at 10:00pm.
This according to local law enforcement via DinaWorks and
Wheels00.
- Theft is a concern, so please use stealth when retrieving
the final.
- If you do not sign the log sheet inside of the cryptex,
you have not made the find. Period. If you log it as found and your
name is not inside the cryptex, your log will be deleted.
- The cryptex is somewhat fragile, and is the product of
quite a bit of work on my part. Please be gentle with it, and
replace it exactly as you found it. If I find that it has been
broken and you are the last one to have found it, I reserve the
right to delete your log under the assumption that you forced it
open.
- Please replace each stage exactly as you found it! Some
stages may be difficult to retrieve, and may be just as difficult
to replace. If you will not be able or willing to replace it,
please do not remove it from its place.
Have fun and happy 'caching!
(And watch out for the bugs! The mosquitoes are
awful!)
