We’re launching another treasure hunt—but this one’s a little different. Instead of a trail of riddles online, the entire adventure is tucked inside a book. A Fortune Lies Within: Vermont is your starting point. Just buy the book, decipher the clues hidden within its pages, and they’ll lead you to a real treasure hidden somewhere in the Vermont wilderness. This hunt was inspired by our own experience chasing John Collins-Black’s Appalachian Footpath Treasure, and now we’re passing the thrill of the search on to you.

Seven Paces is a real-world treasure hunt company founded on the belief that adventure, mystery, and a touch of absurdity can still be found hiding in the woods. This time we wrote a book, but it isn’t just any novel. It’s also a map… sort of.

Within it’s pages are clues. Real ones. Follow them far enough and they’ll lead you to a  treasure hidden somewhere in the state of Vermont. Not metaphorical treasure. Actual, physical, hold-it-in-your-bare-hands treasure.

The story that follows is fiction, but the hunt is very real. Every riddle, symbol, and strange turn of phrase might mean more than it first appears. Treat this book like Redbeard and Phoenix do—with equal parts skepticism, wonder, and a good thermos of coffee.

This tale is also loosely inspired by our own real-life misadventures chasing the Appalachian Footpath treasure hidden by Jon Collins-Black in his book There’s Treasure Inside. We didn’t find that one, but somewhere along the way we discovered something else: the thrill of the chase, the joy of the puzzle, and the realization that every good mystery is worth getting a little lost in.

Happy hunting.

—Seven Paces