Scy's Tale: A shaggy dog story? Mystery Cache

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Hidden : 6/7/2011
Difficulty:
4 out of 5
Terrain:
3.5 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:


After the death of her father, Charles Kasche (the notorious highwayman known as ‘The Phantom’ see Daylight Robbery), Miss Terri Kasche and her mother moved to Carey in the Wye valley, where Terri grew up and received a classical education. She particularly loved the tales of lost worlds, hidden treasure, and ancient methods of espionage.

One day, Terri was rummaging through her father’s old possessions when she came across a dusty note-book with “The Lost Valley” written on the cover in her father’s handwriting. She sat down and became engrossed in his tales of an ancient wooded valley hidden in the Mendip hills and warnings of subterranean monsters that lay in wait of unwary visitors who ventured too close to the openings of their lairs in the valley walls and floor. It was also here that Charles Kashe had hidden a small stash of trinkets. As Terri turned the page, a piece of paper fluttered to the floor. She picked it up and, with growing excitement, saw it was a map showing the location of the stash in the lost valley. Terri knew she had to find it.

Terri


Next day, she packed her travel bag and, along with her dog, “Scy”, took the stagecoach to Somerset. For weeks Terri and Scy scoured the Mendip hills searching for the valley until finally, late one evening, she stumbled across the entrance shrouded in trees. As it was too dark to explore further, she decided to head to the top of the hill and set up camp near an old wooden post. Later, as she sat by the camp fire, Terri noticed two holes in the wooden post. She walked over and peered through one of the holes. "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with T”, she told Scy.

The following morning Terri awoke to see brooding storm clouds gathering over the distant Quantock hills. After a light breakfast they set off back to the valley. Terri’s heart was racing with excitement and fear. Surely the tales of monsters lurking in the shadows and pits were a myth, she told herself as they approached the entrance to the valley. She clipped Scy onto a lead, stepped through the tree cover, and entered an ancient world.

The trees rustled and creaked gently in the wind, as if whispering to one another. The moss-covered rocks softened their footsteps as they headed deeper into the valley and the rocky walls rose ominously around them. The base of the walls contained many dark cracks and crevices, and Terri shivered at the thought of what might be lurking in them. She pulled Scy’s lead a little closer to her. After 40 paces she stopped and checked the map. On her right, the rocky wall was covered in ivy and a narrow crevice ran up the height of the wall. She peered up into the crevice. Was that something near the top? She wasn’t sure; she would have to climb up a short way for a better look. She let go of Scy’s lead and started to make her way up the crevice. A few feet up the rocks she reached forward and a rush of excitement flowed through her veins as her hand touched a box lodged at the top of the crevice. Suddenly, Scy started barking and a spine-tingling shriek filled the air. She looked down and could see the gruesome and gnarled arms of a hideous monster emerging from a dark pit at the end of the valley a short distance ahead of them.

Terri slid down to the valley floor and ran towards Scy, who was snarling at the menacing arms. As she reached Scy, she lost her footing on the rocky ground and slipped, feet first, into the pit. The monstrous arms snapped around her legs. She grasped at Scy, who’s lead had now become entangled around his tail. But it was no use; she could feel herself being slowly and relentlessly dragged into the depths of the dark chamber. She clawed at the soil, then clutched at the lead that was now tightly coiled around Scy’s remarkably broad tail. As a last desperate effort, she scratched the coordinates of the stash onto the lead before she disappeared down into the depths, never to be seen again.

Scy whimpered and bolted out of the valley and back up the hill towards their camp. He cowered at the base of a hawthorn tree that Terri had spied with her eye the evening before. Later, a group of walkers passed nearby on their search for an old ammo can on the hillside. Scy heard them and sat up, but his lead had snagged on the tree. He began to struggle and bark, and the walkers turned towards him. Scy strained at the lead and suddenly it snapped from his collar but remained caught at the tree base. Scy ran to the walkers and jumped into their arms. One of them read his name tag and said, “Hello, Scy, you must have a tale to tell… if only you could talk”. They noted the location of the old wooden post (headline coordinates) as a landmark near to where they found Scy. Happily, they quickly traced Scy's owners and he was soon reunited with Mrs Kasche in Carey.

No-one ever knew of what had become of Miss Terri Kasche, and knowledge of the location of her father's secret stash in the ancient valley was lost forever........... or was it? Can you retrace the journey of Scy’s tale and discover the cache?


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When in the final location, please stay away from any holes in the ground (for fear of falling in or being dragged underground by monsters!) and keep dogs on a lead
Thanks to the National Trust for granting permission to place this cache on their land

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ylfnaqre bs Fcnegn

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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