“This had better work”, grumbled King Geepius, as he stared out over the gray sea. The small group of trusted knights which he had brought with him to this lonely promontory also strained to watch the horizon. Nothing yet. Had it really only been a week since he had challenged his court to design the perfect cache? One that could not be found?
“I’m tired of losing my caches. The last two misadventures have severely depleted my geoswag,” he had cried. “I command you, Knights of the Realm, to find a way to protect my caches from the miscreants that covet them.” “My Lord,” spoke Sir Wobble, “I may have a solution. Does Your Royal Highness know of the Legend of the Okeanos? No? The Okeanos is a mythical bird that circumnavigates the globe but once a year. It looks like an enormous flying camel with a 50 foot wingspan. Legend holds that the egg of the Okeanos has magical powers. If you place an object atop the egg and rotate it, the object will disappear. Turn the egg back to the original orientation, and the object reappears.” “Hmmm,” considered King Geepius, “an invisible cache container would be impossible to find. But how do we locate this … Okeanos? And how do we get it to lay an egg?”
King Geepius continued to study the horizon as he beat his arms to ward off the chill. So this was the day that the Okeanos historically arrived in his kingdom from the Western Sea. He glanced at the cache container at his feet then at the huge pile of explosives a short way off. This had better work.
“There it is!” yelled one of the pages. A small dot on the horizon grew slowly as the Okeanos approached. Soon, all could see the crimson hump, the aquamarine beak, and the translucent wings of this magnificent bird. The small group was dumbstruck. “Fire!” screamed the King as the bird approached the sandstone cliffs. The pile of explosives erupted sending flames 100 feet in air. The startled Okeanos reared up and … defecated. The resulting turd crashed to the earth with a resounding thud, just missing Sir Wobble’s valet. The bird regained its noble composure and flew calmly to the east.
“Sire. I don’t know what to say,” burbled Sir Wobble, “The legend states that a loud noise will cause the Okeanos to lay an egg.” “It is YOU that laid the egg, Wobble, but that is clearly not what we have here,” said the King, indicating the steaming pile before them. It was green in color and hard as bronze. “Well, somebody give me a lift.” The King grabbed his cache box and, with assistance, climbed to the top of the turd, put the box down, and climbed down. “What are you waiting for? Help me turn this thing and we shall see if the legend applies to Okeanos excrement.” Sir Wobble suddenly recovered from his embarrassment and said, “Note the original position! Let us consider the eight points of the compass counting clockwise from where the sun rises. Remember the number for the original orientation of the turd.” The knights strained and groaned as they slowly rotated the enormous turd counterclockwise. After a reasonable twist, they stopped, backed up and gasped. The container was gone! The King himself climbed to the top again. He felt around a while then grinned as he found the invisible cache container.
The King ordered that the turd be locked in the new orientation. The invisible cache was hidden deep in the dark Woods of Ewesee Essdee. The coordinates of the cache are N 32 53.35A W117 14.BA7 where A is the original orientation and B is the locked orientation.
Millennia later, a prestigious institute was build around the Okeanos dropping. To disguise its origin, it was deemed to be “art”. An attached photo shows “Okeanos” in front of the institute in its locked orientation. But many couldn’t stand the thing. And so it was moved to N32 53.XYY, W117 14.ZYZ. A plaque can be found at the original site of the “Okeanos”, the coordinates of which are published above. There are eight digits on the plaque. X is the fourth, Z is the eighth, and Y equals the seventh minus the first minus the third.
When the “Okeanos” was repositioned in its new location and orientation, a small container, hidden in the woods nearby, reappeared.
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Be sure to read the other exciting Adventures of King Geepius:
The Lost Cache of King Geepius (archived)
King Geepius and the Giant Toothache
King Geepius and the Flame of Friendship
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UPDATE 9/26/04 The cache was muggled over the summer but it has been nicely restore, camo'd, reloaded, and relocated. The final coordinates and hint were adjusted accordingly. The King thanks his loyal subjects Devhead and Dillon Gang for restoration.