Romeo & Juliet by Bill S.
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A multi-cache in 5 Acts. Hopefully not a tragedy. Loosely based on the work of Bill Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare (Bill to his friends) wrote Romeo and Juliet, probably between 1591 and 1596, but as he didn't leave any scripts in his own handwriting, and he's not around to answer our questions, we're not really sure when he wrote them or if it was even his work.
Romeo & Juliet is a play in 5 Acts, so this multi has 5 stages. They don't mirror the play perfectly, but it's worked out fairly closely in the end. You can play the role of Romeo, or just observe the action as it unfolds…
I remember being forced to sit through some appalling 50's film version in high school. I thought the Baz Luhrmann film version was stylish, but the 2010 production by the SA State Theatre Co., where every one of the actors played every one of the main characters was definitely very cool!
To the cache itself...
Total distance is 30+ km, so a bike is the minimum transportation requirement. Carparking is available at each location. There are other caches near each waypoint that you can visit, so there is plenty of opportunity to find something else along the way.
The listed coordinates are the Prologue to our story. Act 1 is at the end of the Prologue (about 300 m along the street).
Waypoints (or Acts) 2 & 3 have to be worked out from questions based on clues found at the preceding waypoints and are presented as S34 yy.yyy, E138 zz.zzz. Acts 4 and 5 (GZ) are to be found from coordinates provided in typical small caching containers/hides.
Set initially in the fine street of Verona, our protagonist Romeo (of the Montague family) wanders North along the street, admiring the architecture and bemoaning the state of his love life. Until that is, he comes to Act 1 (End of the street, around the corner, in a small carpark.)
Act 1. Romeo is desperate to meet Rosaline (a Capulet, sworn enemies of the Montagues) and convince her he is "the one". Reaching the end of the street, Romeo overhears that the Capulets are holding a party . He decides to meet Rosaline at the party.
The Waypoint appears. (I don't think this bit was in the original play.) A set of numbers is on a low wall which are coded as follows:
A B C D
E F G H
I J K L
Romeo decodes the invitation as follows:
S34 (B+F)*H.(B*F*H*K)
E138 (F*I)+1.(C*D*E)-I
As he finishes his calculations, some Capulet family members see Romeo and his friends and a fight breaks out between the two families. The Prince intervenes and tells them to all pull their heads in and behave. The Montagues head off to sneak in the back of the party...
Act 2. The party.
Arriving at the party, Romeo tries to climb a number of staircases to get into the venue. There are several around the vicinity of the Waypoint, each with a different number of steps. (Count them. NB he can't get to the spiral staircase because that's "inside" the venue. You don't have to enter the building.)
Inside the party, all thoughts of Rosaline are instantly forgotten when he meets Juliet and they are smitten, fall in love, then discover they are from opposing families. Unfortunately, the Capulets discover Romeo, challenge him and his friend Mercutio, who unfortunately is run through with a sword. Romeo retaliates and kills Tybalt. He remembers the Prince's warning, escapes and heads out of town for a few days, but not before marrying Juliet and planning to return when the heat dies down.
To avoid the fight and find out where he is hiding in Act 3, calculate the following Waypoint coordinates:
S34 (total number of outside steps)-(number of outside staircases).0(lowest even number of steps * lowest odd number of steps).
E138 (add all odd steps)+1.(2224-year of original building)
Act 3. Escape and exile.
Romeo heads off to the not-so-nearby town. He probably went by horse in the original story, but you might need a car or bike.
Here he lay low for a while, by a fence, in the shrubbery. He probably got bored while waiting to hear it was safe to return so he might have done some geocaching for several nearby caches. (Shakespeare was a bit vague on the details at this point.) There are quite a few caches on the way there and back again, depending on your route(s).
He certainly found an engraved plastic box with coordinates which he followed to Act 4. Note: The shrubbery has been cleaned up a bit recently, the original tin may have been removed. The new box is currently (July 2012) hidden under a chunk of concrete. Be stealthy, the dog behind the fence is very yappy.
Act 4. An annoying diversion.
Fate steps in again at this point and delays Romeo's return to Juliet. The message is not passed on to him and he goes to a park where all he finds is a camouflaged stick (not on the ground) with coordinates inside telling him where he really should be going.
Juliet meanwhile has been fending off the attentions of Paris (a local nobleman), and decides it is easier to feign death by taking a potent liquor than defying her parents. She is interred in the family tomb (Act 5).
Act 5. More tragedy.
Romeo finally catches up with the action, spots Paris coming to pay his respects at the tomb. Thinking Paris is a vandal stealing jewellery or muggling the cache, they fight. Paris is killed, Romeo thinks Juliet is dead so takes his poison and dies just as Juliet wakes up. She sees her beloved dead and kills herself with a dagger.
The Montagues and Capulets, realising their feud wasn't worth the loss of five lives, resolve their differences, and the play ends.
I presume they took up geocaching instead of fighting each other. Much more civilised.
The cache is camouflaged and located just above a feature somewhat like a tomb, but isn't.
The cache contains a CD of R&J related songs I had, some wedding related trinkets and a logbook etc.
Thanks to Dani C of Winnipeg who also set up a R&J multicache and gave me a few ideas.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)