A14-TMPT LONGSWORD
ABOUT THIS CACHE:
This cache is part of the TRIANGLE MAN PUZZLE TRAIL (TMPT). You can read more about this trail after the section on this specific cache.
As with all Puzzle Caches the container is not hidden at the above listed coordinates. You must determine the actual coordinates by solving the puzzle.
MARTIAL ART
A Martial Art is a codified system of fighting, which military warriors trained in, and used on the battlefield. Today a martial art can make use of weapons or it can be completely empty-handed. However, a complete martial art includes both.
When people think of martial arts today they are inclined to think only of the eastern martial arts which first became popular in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s: Kung Fu, Tai Chi Chuan, Karate, Judo, Jujitsu, Aikido, Iaido, Kenjutsu, etc.
But in fact, the West has had just as rich and long, if not more so, of a heritage of fully developed and complete martial arts as the East.
In fact, historical evidence suggests that the eastern martial arts had their origin in the western martial arts of the Greek and Macedonian Warriors, which were carried by soldiers to India during Alexander the Great’s conquests.
Chinese history tells us that these western martial arts were then brought from India to China by a wise man named Bodidharma (he was called the “Blue-Eyed Barbarian" by the Chinese) where he taught parts of it to the Shaolin monks, because they were greatly in need of physical exercise and self-defense training.
The Shaolin monks began teaching a form of what they had learned from Bodidharma, and called it Kung Fu, Variations of it spread throughout China and the rest of Asia where each village or family emphasized certain aspects of it.
EUROPEAN KNIGHTS
While the East remained in obscurity, largely ignored by the rest of the world, in the West the original martial arts continued growing, culminating in the martial arts practiced by the European Knights.
The European Knights were well trained and experienced in all aspects of fighting on horseback and on foot, including the use of multiple weapons, as well as hand to hand combat. They had fully developed empty hand systems which included grappling, disarms, punches, kicks, chokes, locks, take downs, and wrestling. In his day, the European Knight was the most fierce and well trained soldier that had ever existed. The Longsword was one of his favorite weapons.
The Longsword, was widely used in Europe during the late Medieval period through the Renaissance (14th through 17th centuries). The Longsword is also called a “Hand and a Half Sword” because its handle length, blade length, and balance were designed to allow it to be used equally well one handed or two-handed. It was used by knights as well as unarmored opponents. Two primary schools and complete systems of Longsword developed, one in Germany and one in Italy.
The above photo is of the Maitre d’ Armes of the Mississippi Academy of Arms, giving a private Longsword lesson in 2004 to one of his students, at his Salle d’Armes. Both of them are Geocachers. You get a free pass on one “A” series Triangle Man Puzzle Trail cache of your choice (NOT THIS ONE!), if you send a private email to CaneMaster identifying those two Geocachers’ screen names.
LONGSWORD PARTS
The cache container is at: NORTH: NK MG.ACH and WEST: OLI FJ.BDE
To figure out the correct coordinates, correctly label the parts of the sword, convert the letters in your labels into numbers, add all of the numbers in a label, then perform the required mathematics to determine that labels missing digit.
NAME THE PARTS OF A LONGSWORD:
CONVERT THE LETTERS TO NUMBERS:
A = 1
B = 2
C = 3
D = 4
E = 5
F = 6
G = 7
H = 8
I = 9
J = 0
K = 1
L = 2
M = 3
N = 4
O = 5
P = 6
Q = 7
R = 8
S = 9
T = 0
U = 1
V = 2
W = 3
X = 4
Y = 5
Z = 6
Missing Digit A: Take the sum and subtract 15 to find Missing Digit A.
Missing Digit B: Take the sum and subtract 11 to find Missing Digit B.
Missing Digit C: Take the sum and subtract 18 to find Missing Digit C.
Missing Digit D: Take the sum and subtract 23 to find Missing Digit D.
Missing Digit E: Take the sum and subtract 21 to find Missing Digit E.
Missing Digit F: Take the sum and subtract 27 to find Missing Digit F.
Missing Digit G: Take the sum and subtract 8 to find Missing Digit G.
Missing Digit H: Take the sum and subtract 47 to find Missing Digit H.
Missing Digit I: Take the sum and subtract 20 to find Missing Digit I.
Missing Digit J: Take the sum and subtract 15 to find Missing Digit J.
Missing Digit K: Take the sum and subtract 19 to find Missing Digit K.
Missing Digit L: Take the sum and subtract 48 to find Missing Digit L.
Missing Digit M: Take the sum and subtract 22 to find Missing Digit M.
Missing Digit N: Take the sum and subtract 13 to find Missing Digit N.
Missing Digit O: Take the sum and subtract 23 to find Missing Digit O.
ABOUT THE TRIANGLE MAN PUZZLE TRAIL (TMPT):
The Triangle Man Puzzle Trail is a series of 100 Mystery/Puzzle Caches hidden in Scott County, Mississippi.
They are divided into six categories. Five of the categories make up the visible parts of the TRIANGLE MAN geoart which can be see on the geocaching.com map. (Actually, the full geo-art will not be visible on the map until I finish hiding all of the individual caches in this series. So until that is done, I have posted below an image for you of what it will look like.) The sixth category is an invisible mystery to be solved after all of the others.
TRIANGLE MAN PUZZLE TRAIL CATEGORIES:
1. HAT: 16 caches (H1-TMPT, H2-TMPT, H3-TMPT, ...)
2. TRIANGLE: 34 caches (T1-TMPT, T2-TMPT, T3-TMPT, ...)
3. ARMS: 16 caches (A1-TMPT, A2-TMPT, A3-TMPT, ...)
4. LEGS: 10 caches (L1-TMPT, L2-TMPT, L3-TMPT, ...)
5. BOW TIE: 7 caches (BT1-TMPT, BT2-TMPT, BT3-TMPT, …)
6. MYSTERY: 17 caches (M1-TMPT, M2-TMPT, M3-TMPT, ...)
LOCATION: All of the geocaches in the Triangle Man Puzzle Trail (TMPT) are hidden in or around the Beinville National Forest. None of the ones hidden inside the Beinville National Forest are hidden on privately owned in-holdings. They are also all on non-management land, which is open to the public, free of charge and without need of a permit. The ones hidden around (outside of) the Beinville National Forest are hidden on public right-of-way. Forest Road FR 530 is a gated gravel road which runs through this part of the forest and is open for hiking and cycling year round. However, it is only open for motor vehicles from Sept 15 through April 30. During those months you will find that all of the gates (except one) will be open. You will have to figure out on your own which ones are open and which one is always closed.
RATINGS: I have tried to give a good mix of D&T ratings. Some legs of the more remote portions of the trail will by nature become progressively harder because of the distance needed to reach them on foot or bike. In those cases their ratings will become increasingly higher.
Difficulty Ratings reflect not only the difficulty in finding the cache and signing the log book at ground zero, but also the effort needed to solve the puzzle. The amount of effort it takes to solve a puzzle is an extremely subjective quality to attempt to quantify with a definitive number. What one person considers easy, another may find difficult. For that reason, I expect different finders to have differing opinions about these ratings.
Terrain Ratings reflect the physical effort needed to arrive at the coordinates. For caches hidden in areas where it is advantageous to use Forest Road FR 530 I have sought to be fair to all. Therefore I have chosen to use ratings which reflect the effort you would expend if you hunted for those caches during the four months of the year which FR 530 is only open for hiking and cycling. If you hunt for those caches during the eight months of the year when motor vehicle traffic is allowed, you will find the physical effort needed to reach those caches to be less (in some cases a whole lot less) than reflected in the ratings. However, rainy weather (mud) or an occasional fallen tree (across the road) could change that.
ORDER OF ANCIENT AND HONORABLE GEOPUZZLERS:
Verified Finders of all 100 of the caches in the Triangle Man Puzzle Trail are eligible to be inducted into the Order of Ancient and Honorable GeoPuzzlers at the annual Triangle Man Event Dinner. A Verified Finder is a Geocacher who has proven to the cache owner that he actually solved the puzzle himself (as opposed to simply obtaining the coordinates from a previous finder) and has proven to the cache owner that he himself found and signed the paper log (as opposed to being a “Drive-by Geocacher” or “Arm-Chair Geocacher”).
Verification is NOT a requirement for logging this cache online as found!
However, verification IS a requirement for induction into the Order of Ancient and Honorable GeoPuzzlers.
Verification may be obtained by either Method 1 or 2 below:
Method 1. Have the Cache Owner with you when you solve this puzzle and also when you find this cache.
or
Method 2: (Must do both A & B below)
A. In your online log, post a photograph of yourself holding the paper log sheet beside your face. Both your face and your signature, along with the previous finders’ signatures, must be visible and clearly readable.
and
B. Send a private email to the Cache Owner with a detailed explanation of the process you used to solve this puzzle. Give details such as: any math involved, the name of cipher, the keyword, the clues..etc, if applicable.
VERIFIED FINDERS:
1.
2.
3.
USEFUL INFORMATION: At the bottom of each geocache page in this series, right after this blurb, I will be placing information, which while not useful for solving the geocache puzzle on the page it appears on, will be very useful in solving other subsequent geocache puzzles in the series. So finding these geocaches in their numbered order could be to your advantage.
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