Horcrux #3 - The Locket Mystery Cache
Geocaching HQ Admin: Property trustees contacted Geocaching HQ to request archival of this cache. -Geocaching HQ Admin 839154
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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About the Horcrux Series
If you haven't heard of Harry Potter, allow me to refer you to a different set of caches: GC2RAD6, GC2TQQP, GC2Z6KE.
This series of caches centers on the final major plot arc in J.K. Rowling's best-selling novels, as Harry and his friends try to locate magical items known as "horcruxes" in order to defeat the evil Lord Voldemort. In this cache-based retelling of the story, however, the seven horcruxes are hidden around central Maryland, and it is up to you to find them!
Knowledge of the Harry Potter story may help you pick up on a few subtle hints here and there (and make the theme more fun!), but is not necessary to solve the puzzle.
Unlike Harry, your assistance is required to just find the horcrux, not to destroy it. Do not subject the cache containers to basilisk venom, fiendfyre, or any other manner of harm.
The seven horcruxes in this series can be found in any order. Look for a secret clue in each cache you may be able to use to defeat the Dark Lord himself in a final cache. Good luck and have fun!
Diary | Ring | Locket | Cup | Diadem | Boy | Snake | Final
Introduction
This cache is a multi-stage journey through past and present Harpers Ferry (topped off with a healthy helping of the series' Harry Potter theme). While the individual puzzles therein are nowhere near as challenging as the first two horcruxes in this series (I'd put these at about 2 stars each, give or take a half-star), the overall mission is not for the faint of heart. You will need to overcome no less than ten stages--three virtual followed by a seven-stage field adventure--to achieve a smiley and get one step closer to defeating the evil Lord Voldemort.
Our story begins with John Brown. Some say he was a great man. Others strongly disagree. Few dispute that his methods defied convention; at least, the everyday conventions of ordinary, muggle (non-magic) men and women. Being a part of the wizarding world, the mystery isn't hard for you to explain.
John Brown was a wizard.
While muggles dispute Brown's controversial practices, witches and wizards have their own little debate: Under which Hogwarts House would he have studied? Would a man so willing to fight for his noble cause have joined the brave and chivalrous Gryffindor, or would his cunning ways and disregard for the rules have landed him in Slytherin?
The subject is traditionally just a pastime for historians and a casual dinnertime topic, but during your search for the horcruxes, you have come to find that the matter struck quite a nerve with Voldemort. The Dark Lord, a Slytherin himself, was disgusted with the notion that such a powerful, ambitious figure would have studied anywhere else but his own house. And so when it came time to hide his third horcrux, a priceless family heirloom of House founder Salazar Slytherin, he locked his treasure within the life and legacy of this storied abolitionist that had no small part in starting the American Civil War. It was Voldemort's own little way of staking claim, and now it is your best lead towards finding Slytherin's locket.
If your information is correct, the horcrux must be somewhere in or near the site of John Brown's historic raid at Harpers Ferry.
www.nps.gov/hafe/historyculture/map-and-guide-to-the-lower-town.htm
Your Adventure Begins...
Soon enough you will need to venture out to Harpers Ferry, but for now, you should be able to get what you need using some combination of Pensieves, Divination and Legilimency. [The first few stages are told through story and solved from afar. You will be told when you need to actually need to go into the field.]
To follow up on your latest lead, find the man on Shenandoah most likely to forge items from metal. Try to gather information about crafting a lock impervious to the Alohomora spell, but be subtle--he may very well be a muggle and have no idea what you are talking about. Then again, he may just be blowing smoke. Come to mention it, some say he blows so much smoke that a special fixture had to be installed in the roof. While investigating the scene, locate this fixture (determine its GPS coordinates).
Geo-check your solution to continue...N 39 ##.##8 W 77 ##.##8
A Little Legalese
This cache was developed with guidance from Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. No cache containers have been placed on park grounds. As always, abide by all NPS rules and regulations.
Prior to embarking on your field adventure, you will be asked to download a PDF file from a source outside the geocaching web site. You will be alerted again at that time, but for your information, as the cache owner, I represent that this file is safe to download although the file needed to complete this geocache has not been checked by Groundspeak or by the Geocache Reviewer for possible malicious content. As a result, you are downloading this file at your own risk.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[Hint #1 -- Warning: this hint is a spoiler for the first step of the puzzle.] Pyvpx gur "Ybjre Gbja" znc, gura svaq gur Oynpxfzvgu Fubc. Svaq gung fnzr ohvyqvat hfvat na bayvar fngryyvgr znc naq trg gur TCF pbbeqvangrf sbe gur puvzarl. Hfr gubfr pbbeqf va gur trb-purpxre--gb tvir n yvggyr phfuvba, hfr "8" nf gur ynfg qvtvg sbe obgu pbbeqf.