Secrets of the Alchemist Dar

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Secrets of the Alchemist Dar is a book written by Michael Stadther and released in September 2006. The book is a story about faries and other imaginary creatures. The book includes hidden puzzles for an armchair treasure hunt, the prizes for the treasure hunt consist of 100 rings.

The author's website includes Official Rules for the Treasure Hunt.

Contents

[edit] Treasure Hunt Status

So far, none of the 100 rings are known to be found. The current ring status is available at the Media Room.


[edit] Treasure Hunt Clues

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Warning: Solution details follow.

[edit] Poem on the Letter Blocks

The letter blocks as images within the text of the book include lines of a poem. The poem describes the general rules for the treasure hunt. Source: Hunt Forum. The two letters on each block also anagram to "Secrets of the Alchemist Dar" or "Secrets of Michael Stadther".

Each letter block contains:
Page Block Letters Phrase Image of a character
Pg 19 E T Nothing said on where to go Grasshopper
Pg 24 R C Less on telling what to do Bee
Pg 38 E H Nothing hidden on private lands Butterfly
Pg 46 T S Nothing again in anyone's hands Firefly
Pg 50 M E Someone to see a place to be? Hummingbird
Pg 56 F R Another possibility Ladybug
Pg 71 L T Always be safe and take no chances Spider
Pg 91 C D Obey the laws make no disturbances Snail
Pg 98 A E Nothing seen is what you'll find Ant
Pg 100 S I A secret treasure in your mind Dragonfly
Pg 104 S H Look inside yourself to see Beetle
Pg 107 A O A code for infinity be Caterpillar

[edit] Morse Code Clues

Hidden Morse code within the images appears to include more hints for the treasure hunt. Source: Hunt Forum

Handy Morse code Reference
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 --··


  • Pg 3 (Title Page) Dandelions and Clovers - "Well begun is half done"
  • Pg 19 Acorn and Leaves - "Nothing ventured nothing gained"
  • Pg 26 Dandelions vertical and Dandelions horizontal - "Seek and ye shall find"
  • Pg 29 Flower and Leaves - "One mans junk is another mans treasure"
  • Pg 47 Dandelions vertical and Dandelions horizontal - "Avoid ring herders"
  • Pg 48 Dark green leaves outside ring of the wreaths and inside - "You can't get there from here"
  • Pg 80 Flowers and Leaves - "A good beginning makes a good ending"

[edit] Quinary in the Book of Spells

The page numbers for the Book of Spells are in a pictograph version of Quinary or base 5 numbering.

  • 0 = An empty moon - O
  • 1 = A dark moon - *
  • 2 = A right facing dark crescent moon - (
  • 3 = A left facing dark crescent moon - )
  • 4 = A right facing empty crescent moon - C

A picture reference for this is here Moon Code

The quinary code appears throughout the Book of Spells. For example, the following Hest symbols are on page three:

  • **O *OO (O* (( triangle and
  • )** CC *() *)O triangle red-hare-ring.

The Hest symbols translate to the following quinary numbers:

  • 110 100 201 22 triangle and
  • 311 44 123 130 triangle red-hare-ring.

Translating from quinary to decimal numbers yields:

  • 30 25 51 12 triangle and
  • 81 24 38 40 triangle red-hare-ring.

The decimal numbers are decimal degree coordinates which are Geographic_coordinate_system coordinates for:

  • 30 degrees 25 minutes 51.12 seconds north latitude, and
  • 81 degrees 24 minutes 38.40 seconds west longitude.

Which is a coordinate for Little Talbot State Park in Florida. Note that the triangles indicate direction (North/South or East/West) of the lat/long pair. Note that coordinates in the United States are west longitude, which is indicated as a negative number (i.e. 81 west = -81). The remaining coordinates locate similar points of interest.

[edit] Huge Code Blocks

Pages 16, 17, 18, 19 of the Book of Spells include huge blocks of code which have been dubbed HCB (Huge Code Blocks) on the Official Hunt Forum. These blocks include similiar symbols to the Quinary page numbers, but are much more complex. Players on the Official Hunt Site speculate that the HCB are keys to understanding the treasure hunt.

Further, small snippets of the HCB type code appear on page 6 of the Book of Spells. These snippets can be combined to form 13 characters that may be a key to de-coding the HCB. Source: Official Hunt Site

Digitizer101 has re-created the HCB for easier printing and cracking. The digitized versions of the HCB are available at:


[edit] Constellations in BOS

There appear to be constellations in the Book of Spells. The Book of Spells includes black spots on each page. The spots appear to be known constellations.


[edit] Trivia

  • "The Alchemist Dar" is an anagram for the author's name (Michael Stadther).
  • The author of the "Book of Spells" (BOS) within the book is Kiem Redthast, another Mike Stadther anagram.
  • "Malic Hest", the evil race of whom Dar is a member, is an anagram of "Alchemist".
  • The images include elements that are very reminescent of the art of Alphonse Mucha.

[edit] Characters

  • Ana - a half-elf, married to Zac
  • Dar - a Malic Hest, the villain
  • Pook - a Doth
  • Booger - a Doth
  • Zac - a woodcutter, married to Ana
  • Yorah - a tree
  • Snail
  • Butterfly
  • Spider
  • Caterpillar
  • Beetle
  • Ant
  • Bee
  • Grasshopper
  • Firefly
  • Hummingbird
  • Dragonfly
  • Ladybug

[edit] External links

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