A new Destiny 2: Warmind puzzle led players to a real-life treasure cache located in upstate New York. The contents were gold coins and a spear based on the game’s Valkyrie weapon.
The puzzle began with a symbol in Al Rasputin’s bunker in the most recent expansion. It turns out the symbol was an elaborate cipher that required a lot of crowdsourcing effort. Various members of the /raidsecrets subreddit pieced together different parts of the puzzle, using the symbols to come up with codes like “REVERSE” and ENLIGHTENMENT.” Finally, the Redditor Randomiser solved the cipher and posted the message that it all led to:
“thank you for taking the time to piece together this message, friend. the time of our final conflict is drawing closer and you and ana have an important role to play in the events to come. so watch over her, guardian. i would have no life without ana or the exoprogram. i regret that we have become strangers, but we each have a path that we must walk. and, ironically, there never seems to be enough time. tell her, rasputin’s first attempt was in the right location, but the wrong moment. look here: 43.549573, -73.544868 – e”
The “e” stands for Elsie Bray, the sister of Ana Bray who appears the be the Stranger from the first game. And the coordinates lead to the Sleeping Beauty Mountain in upstate New York, which is also where Vicarious Visions, the lead developer of Destiny 2: Warmind, is located.
Redditor “I_love science,” who is from Saratoga County, New York, quickly headed to the location.
Inside was a spear based on the Valkyrie, a weapon that can be wielded temporarily during certain Warmind activities and missions, along with a box of gold coins (along with a note instructing the user to just take one), a set of notes, and a journal.
The note is from Warmind lead designer Rob Gallerani and encourages finders to share photos of the discovery. It also suggests that there are only three spears like the Valkyrie existence — this one, one at Vicarious Visions, and one at Bungie.
Take a look at all of the images here.