You and the Sorcerer's Stone

A “Choose Your Own Adventure” style geocache where YOU are the main character in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone!*

*All rights belong to J.K. Rowling and yes, I completely ripped off her text for the sake of my geocache story.

We now return you to your story, already in progress. . .

You’ve made up your mind. You are going out of here tonight and you are going to try and get to the Stone first!

Under the cover of your invisibility cloak, you find yourself outside the third-floor corridor--and the door is already ajar!

You push the door open.

As the door creaks, low, rumbling growls meet your ears. All three of the dog’s noses sniff madly in your direction, even though it can’t see you. You see a harp at the dog’s feet and surmise that it must fall asleep the moment the music starts playing.

If you decide to make a run for the harp and hope you can start playing it before Fluffy bites your head off, turn to page 2.

If you decide that there must be another way to put the dog to sleep, continue reading.

You reach into your back pocket and pull out your trusty recorder that you always have on you. You put the recorder to your lips and blow a lovely little tune, Hedwig’s Theme, to be exact. From the first note the beast’s eyes begin to droop. Slowly, the dog’s growls cease--it totters on its paws and falls to its knees, then it slumps to the ground, fast asleep.

You slip out from under the cloak and creep toward the trapdoor in the floor. You can feel the dog’s hot, smelly breath as you approach the giant sleeping heads.

You climb over Fluffy and look down through the trapdoor. There is no sign of the bottom. You lower yourself through the hole until you are hanging on by your fingertips. You let go. Cold, damp air rushes past you as you fall down, down, down and ---

FLUMP. With a funny, muffled sort of thump you land on something soft. You sit up and feel around, your eyes are not used to the darkness. If feels as though you are sitting on some sort of plant.

Unfortunately, the plant has started to twist snake-like tendrils around your ankles, and soon your entire legs are already bound tightly in long creepers.

You struggle to pull the plant off yourself, but the more you strain against it, the tighter and faster the plant winds around you.

If you decide to struggle further against the Devil’s Snare, while it continues to curl around your neck, turn to page 2.

If you suddenly remember what Professor Sprout says about Devil’s Snare, while it continues to curl around your neck, continue reading.

You reach into your back pocket and pull out your trusty UV flashlight that you always have on you. You wave it at the Devil’s Snare and send a jet of white-blue light at the plant. In a matter of seconds, you feel it loosening its grip as it cringes away from the ultraviolet light. Wriggling and flailing, it unravels itself from your body and you pull free.

You head down a stone passageway, which is the only way forward. You stop to listen. A soft rustle and clinking seems to be coming from up ahead. You reach the end of the passageway and see before you a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above you. It is full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber is a heavy wooden door.

You sprint across the room and pull at the handle of the door, but it is locked. You look at the birds soaring overhead and realize that they’re not birds--they’re keys! You notice a note pinned to the door that you missed the first time you looked at it. You read the note:

To open this door, you need the right key.

To find the right key, you need the correct number.

To find the correct number, you must answer this following puzzle--

What is the next number in the series?

75 11 6 3 ____?

Sure enough, when you look closer at the flying keys, you see they have small numbers written on them. You take a minute to spot the number you need and grab it out of the air. You ram the squirming bugger into the lock and hold your breath.

If you picked the wrong numbered key out of the air, turn to page 2.

If you picked the correct numbered key out of the air, continue reading.

You turn the key. It works! You pull the door open.

The next chamber is so dark you can’t see anything at all. But as you step into it, light suddenly floods the room to reveal an astonishing sight.

You are standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which are all taller than you and carved from what looks like black stone. Facing you, way across the chamber, are the white pieces. Behind the white pieces you can see another door. You see now that you will have to play your way across the room. You take the place of the missing black King and immediately the white pawn springs forward two squares to signal the start of the game. You direct the black pieces and they move silently wherever you send them. You play out your chess game.

If you play the game of chess and white wins, turn to page 2.

If you play the game of chess and black wins, continue reading.

The white king takes off his crown and throws it at your feet. You have won the game! The chessmen part and bow, leaving the door ahead clear.

You charge through the door and up the next passageway. You have reached another door. You push it open.

A disgusting smell fills your nostrils, making you pull your robe up over your nose. Eyes watering, you see, flat on the floor in front of you, a troll even larger than the one you tackled before, out cold with a bloody lump on its head.

You are so glad you didn’t have to fight this one, you think, as you carefully step over one of its massive legs.

You pull open the next door, scared of what you’ll find next--but there is nothing very frightening in here, just a table with nine differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line. You step over the threshold, and immediately a fire springs up behind you in the doorway. It isn’t ordinary fire either, it is purple. At the same instant, black flames shoot up in the doorway leading onward. You are trapped.

You look around and seize a roll of paper lying next to the bottles. You read it:

Only one of the nine will let you move through the flames unscathed.

Two among our number hold only nettle wine.

Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.

A pair of bottles contain nothing more than harmless water,

or if you so choose, the last bottle will keep you here forever.

To help you out, we give you these five clues.

Though different at first sight, the end bottles are twins.

Different are those that stand second from the ends;

they do not hold death, but to move onward, neither is your friend.

No two bottles that look alike are the same.

To keep you rooted in place, its bottle stands higher than its fermented neighbors.

Poison’s left is always innocuous.

You look at the bottles on the table. They stand as follows and are all evenly spaced next to each other:

(1)Medium (2)Small (3)Large (4)Medium (5)Small (6)Large (7)Medium (8)Large (9)Small

You pick up the bottle you think is the answer to the puzzle. You take a deep breath and turn to face the black flames. “Here I come,” you say aloud, and you take a swig of the bottle. It is like ice water flooding your body. You put the bottle down and walk forward.

If you picked the wrong bottle, turn to page 2.

If you picked the correct bottle, continue reading.

You brace yourself, see the black flames licking your body, but you can’t feel them--for a moment you can see nothing but dark fire--then you are on the other side, in the last chamber.

There is already someone in here.

It is Quirrell.

“Now, wait quietly, uh whats-your-name, you there. I need to examine this interesting mirror.”

You notice what is standing behind Quirrell. It is the Mirror of Erised.

“This mirror is the key to finding the Stone,” Quirrell murmurs, tapping his way around the frame.

“Come here,” Quirrell commands. “Look in the mirror and tell me what you see.”

If you decide to tell Quirrell the truth about what you see in the mirror, turn to page 2.

If you decide to lie to Quirrell about what you see in the mirror, continue reading.

You close your eyes, step in front of the mirror, and open them again.

--Page 2--

You die. You miscalculated something and you die a horrible, miserable death.** You either:

get your head bitten off by Fluffy before you can reach the harp.
you are strangled to death by the Devil’s Snare as you struggle against it.
the winged key breaks off in the lock when you turn it. All the other keys stop flying innocently around your head and instead, come flying at you until you are pecked to death, like in Hitchcock’s “The Birds.”
you are checkmated by the White King and WHAM--off comes your head as he crashes his scepter into your noggin.
you drink the wrong potion and die an agonizing death in the black flames as you try to pass through them. Or. . .
you join the dark side because they have cookies, and become old Moldy Voldy’s right-hand deatheater! How could you?! Except for he kills you anyway in the end . . . like he does Snape . . . with a snake to the throat. Whoops--Spoilers! sorry.

**An inside joke where one of our family members, as a kid, would write his own choose-your-own-adventure stories and anytime you turned the page, you died an excruciating death!

You and the Sorcerer’s Stone cache is located at the following coordinates: N 39º 40.BFD W 104º 45.EAC

A: How many fingers are covering the holes on the top of your recorder when you play the first note of the song?

(See attached recorder sheet music to “Hedwig’s Theme.”)

B: At the posted coordinates, search for a small caching container holding this number. You will still need the help of your trusty UV flashlight! Beware of imposter containers, however, as only one will give you the true coordinate you are seeking.

C: What is the number on the winged key that you shove into the lock?

D: Here is your chess game in algebraic notation. What rank do you need to move one of your pieces (not necessarily yourself, the Black King) to in order to checkmate the opposing White King?

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. d3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nc6 5. Bh4 d6 6. Bg3 Bf5 7. Bxe5 Nxe5 8. exf5 Qe7 9. Nd5 _____#

E: What is the number of the bottle that you drink to get through the flames?

F: Your number is 6.

Small handmade resin Sorcerer's Stone to the FTF. Also, in honor of the "7 Souvenirs of August" digital badges you can get for solving different types of geocaches, I made my own physical souvenir badges for this puzzle cache and you are free to take one if you want.

Additional Waypoints