A Song of Ice Cold Beer and Fire Mystery Cache
Hidden : 5/27/2015
Difficulty:
5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

This puzzle cache is for cachers of all ages and not located at the posted coordinates.  As the cache name suggests it is a tribute to two things that I enjoy that are not intended for cachers of all ages: Beer and the stories by George R.R. Martin; the author of both the Song of Ice and Fire series of Novels and the Game of Thrones television programs.  You will not need to have any knowledge of these stories or have ever tasted a beer to solve this puzzle.



There is turmoil in the lands of Westeros and Essos. Everyone in the seven kingdoms seems to be drinking wine, murdering, plotting and scheming to try and take the Iron Throne before the long winter arrives. On the other side of the world in the peaceful kingdom of Fa where the happy people drink beer, they are preparing for the King's Beer Festival which is only held right before each winter. This summer has been very long so the upcoming festival will be the biggest one ever.

The King of Fa The kingdom has very few problems and almost seems to govern itself. The king's brewery makes the best beer on the planet and his subjects love him and are very happy as a result.

The Alchemist Is a very clever and good man, he helps the king with any problems both at the brewery and with the kingdom. He also constantly works to insure the kingdom remains safe and that the king's children will inherit the throne someday.

Lord Volsted Does not drink beer and he is an excellent politician, however, as the Germans discovered with Hitler, those two things alone do not insure a man will be a kind and just leader. Lord Volsted is plotting to get rid of the king and his beer, he constantly undermines the king's authority and one day hopes to take the throne.

As the King's Chief Investigator you have a mystery to solve. Both of the King's advisers recently died in a fiery explosion and a rumor is spreading that someone has poisoned the Fa King Beer for the Festival. If the King cancels the Festival or if he serves the poisoned beer his popularity will suffer and he might even be overthrown. Here is what you have discovered so far:

Lord Volstead returns from a vacation in Kings Landing visiting his family at almost the same time a raven bearing this note arrives at the laboratory of the Alchemist.

The Alchemist sends this note to secretly hire several mercenaries to guard the beer storage caves. One of these men, a crossbowman, shoots a man in the throat as he is sneaking out of a cave that is being used to store over 1000 barrels of beer for the upcoming festival. He bleeds out quickly and never speaks a word on account of his wound. No one knows him and only a set of lock-picks, a dagger and two empty poison flasks are found on the body.

The alchemist sends a note with a strange request to the brew-master.

The alchemist sends this note to the king.

That night, Lord Volsted visits the Alchemist. A huge fiery explosion destroys the Alchemist's laboratory. The Alchemist and Lord Volsted both die in the fire. You send your most clever assistant investigator to find out what he can by examining what little remains of the Alchemist's laboratory. He finds several clues in the ashes and reports back to you what he has discovered.

Click here to more closely examine all the documents you recovered during your investigation as a PDF file.




If you are first to solve this puzzle, post a note, and I will give you the same coin Jaqen H'ghar gave to Arya Stark while they were at Harrenhal. It bears the symbol of the faceless man on one side and their motto valar morghulis which means "everyone must die" on the other.

Congratulations to Drew136 for being first to solve.


If you are first to find this cache and save the Fa King Beer Festival you will win an unactivated geocoin from our planet's largest beer festival. This coin comes in many styles: I chose "Christy" for the FTF prize, she has blonde hair and two frosty Maßkrüge filled with sweet malty copper colored Märzen style beer. Since blonde girls and Märzenbier are traditional at Oktoberfest "Christy" is the version of this coin that I picked as your reward. She also looks the most like the "Khaleesi" (Daenerys Targaryen) from Game of Thrones.

Congratulations to Drew136 for a FTF on this difficult puzzle cache.




Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Vgf abg n jvrejbbq, ohg vgf yrnirf jvyy ghea erq jura jvagre vf pbzvat.

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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