The Inn
You are at an inn. There are many other geocachers here having
dinner and talking amongst themselves.
> talk to geocachers
They tell you that a local geocacher
and his dog attempted to find an unpublished cache in the woods
nearby alone and at night. While he had a flashlight he had left
his spare batteries at the inn. No one has heard from him
since.
Some of them have tried looking for the
cache and the missing geocacher during the day but had no luck.
They have managed to find the starting point of the cache but could
not figure out how to proceed further. They believe the cache can
only be found at night but none of them have been brave enough to
venture into the woods in the dark.
You tell them you are willing to try.
They give you the coordinates to the parking area, three trailheads
of the route they took and the starting area.
They wish you luck but the tone of
their voices hints that they’re not expecting to see you
again.
> drive to parking
Parking Area
You arrive at the parking coordinates (N43 29.978 W79 59.927). You
are standing next to your vehicle in a small open area at the edge
of the forest.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be
eaten by a grue.
> what is a grue?
The grue is a sinister, lurking
presence in the dark places of the earth. Its favorite diet is
adventurers, but its insatiable appetite is tempered by its fear of
light. No grue has ever been seen by the light of day, and few have
survived its fearsome jaws to tell the tale.
> turn on flashlight
You see a gate with reflective tape on
it to the east. Beyond the gate a path leads into the
forest.
> go east
You head east into the forest. After
500m of walking you arrive at the first trailhead (N43 30.173 W79
59.706).
Trailhead 1
You see a path to the northeast, southwest and
southeast.
> go southeast
You walk down the trail through the
forest. The path soon starts to follow a power line corridor. The
eerie hum of the cables makes the hairs stand up on the back of
your neck.
Trailhead 2
You arrive at the second trailhead (N43 30.137 W79 59.476). There
is a path to the north, south and east.
> go south
You walk south for 200m and then the
path curves towards the east. After another 200m you come to the
third and final trailhead (N43 30.065 W79 59.334).
Trailhead 3
You see a path to the north, southwest and southeast.
> go north
You walk for 250m and arrive at the
start coordinates that the other geocachers gave you (N43 30.190
W79 59.261).
Forest Crossroads
You see a bunch of reflectors here so this must be the correct
spot.
You hold your flashlight next to your
head and scan around. You see some reflectors off the trail about
15m away. You go to those reflectors and find a container hidden
there.
> open container