Filthy Rich Mystery Cache
Mr.Charlie: Injuries have prevented me from getting out to replace the missing stage. Opening up the location for new caches.
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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The cache is not at the posted
coordinates. The coordinates mark the location of the door to
Richard Playfair's cabin. You will use this knowledge and the
information below to find the location you seek.
Richard Playfair was a recluse. He stayed in his small cabin near
the river and kept to himself. The locals all knew him as "Filthy
Rich" and he was the source of much speculation. Nobody was quite
sure if he gained the nickname due to his reputed great wealth or
the fact that he rarely bathed. Nobody really wanted to get close
enough to ask. It hardly mattered since he almost never came out.
It was rumored that he had a stash of gold and jewels hidden on his
property but nobody knew where.
When Filthy Rich finally died the neighbors all tore apart his
cabin looking for his treasure. None was found. Apart from a few
meager belongings the only thing the man seemed to have owned was a
collection of books. The books were donated to the local library
and the rest of the items and the cabin were burned. The village
condemned the property and put it to good use by building a waste
treatment plant on the land. They say it was built to cover up the
lingering odor left behind by Filthy Rich but when the wind is
blowing just right you can still smell him.
No clues to his treasure were found and the story faded away with
the stench. But recently some strange writings were discovered in
some of the books that landed in the library. It is believed that
they may be related to finding the lost treasure of Filthy Rich.
There were directions to decipher a message and a message to
decipher but so far nobody has been able to solve the puzzle. It is
suspected that a keyword is needed and that the keyword is in
another book.
The directions to solve the message are a bit complex, but can be
followed with careful attention.
The cipher uses a five by five letter grid with the arrangement of
the letters determined by a variable keyword. The keyword is
entered from left to right starting at the top of the grid. All
unused letters are entered alphabetically after the keyword. The
letters I and J are interchangeable and share a space in the grid.
For example, if we use the keyword "sample" the grid would look
like this.
S A M P L
E B C D F
G H I K N
O Q R T U
V W X Y Z
To encipher a message the text is divided into groups of two
letters. Spaces and punctuation are ignored. If we are sending the
message "LOOK HERE" we would divide the letters into LO OK HE RE
for enciphering. If double letters occur in a group they are
separated by an X. The message "HOLLOW LOG" would appear as HO LX
LO WL OG. If a message is an odd number of letters an X will be
added on to the end. The word "HOLLOW" by itself would become HO LX
LO WX.
Once the message has been broken down into letter groups it is
ready to be enciphered using three simple rules along with the
letter matrix established by the keyword. The letters in each pair
have one of three possible relationships with each other in the
matrix; they can be in the same row, the same column, or neither in
the same row nor same column.
If the letters in a pair are in the same row, the letter to the
right of the letter being enciphered becomes the replacement for
that letter. Using the example matrix above the letter pair AM
would become MP. A is shifted one letter to the right to become M
and the M is shifted right to be enciphered as P. The rows are
cyclical and wrap around to the beginning of the same row so the
letter N would be enciphered as G.
If the two letters in a pair are in the same column, the letter
below will replace the letter being enciphered. So using our
example above, DT would become KY. The D is shifted one letter down
to become K because the D and T are in the same column in our
matrix. The letter T is shifted to become Y. As with the rows, the
columns are cyclical and wrap to the top of the column as needed.
NZ would encoded as UL.
If the letter pairs are in neither the same column nor the same row
then each is replaced by the letter at the intersection of its own
row and the other letter's column. For example, the letter pair AT
becomes PQ. A and T are in separate rows and columns. Move across
the row containing A until the column containing T is reached. The
letter in that space is P. The letter in the same row as T and same
column as A is Q.
Using these rules we can encipher the message TEST MESSAGE with the
keyword set as SAMPLE as above.
First the message would be broken down into groups of two letters
as TE ST ME SX SA GE. Using the rules above the message would be
enciphered as OD PO SC MV AM OG.
To decipher the message it is necessary to know the keyword used in
the matrix. Then the rules can simply be reversed to spell out the
original text. If the letters are in the same row they will be
shifted one letter left to reveal the original message. If the
letters are in the same column the cipher text letters shift one
space up. If the letters in the pair are in neither the same row
nor column then they would be replaced by the letter in the same
row as themselves but the same column as the other letter in the
pairing.
The message found in one of Mr. Playfair's books is as
follows:
KA HP HA AD NE KN CW PE NE KP
ON KF KP BZ PO KN QY PY RN CW
PE WL DA GN EP KF KP NR MU IC
GO OA CF GD NK AE MR OK FO
BO RO DF EQ DA GS YS FW PE
PO LF ZX AD HB GK BC MR ZY
In another book the word HOARDINGS was circled. It is
believed to be a keyword used in the cipher, but so far it hasn't
been solved. Perhaps someday the mystery will be unraveled and the
lost treasure of "Filthy Rich" Playfair will be discovered. If,
that is, it ever existed.
You would be wise to bring paper and a pencil with you if you seek
the treasure. Filthy Rich would not have given up his secret easily
and there may be more than one layer of encryption involved. Please
feel free to take a piece of treasure with you if you find it, but
don't plunder the entire loot.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)
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