...don't understand how it all works. I should have found out more before getting involved:

Not to laugh at the expense of others, but that shiz funny. You just made my day, so worst case scenario, it was not a total loss.

How much coin are we talkin' about here??

I recommend offering a small BTC bounty for successful retrieval.

There are a lot of posts here covering your issue.
start with this one:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=8417.0

...Should you get into mining?

A: Yes, if you are reading this forum and have any level of interest in BTC, you should devote at least some time and effort into mining virtual currencies.. If new hardware investment is out of the question, check into Litecoin as mentioned above. Even with no experience, there is sufficient online support, faqs and walkthroughs here and elsewhere to get you up and running in days.

There will only be one or two major virtual currency gold rushes - it might be with BTC, or something else, but either way, don't be that guy who looks back in 10 or 15 years when you are still poor and celibate while the rest of us are Scrooge McDucking it.

Hi - I've been trading on mtgox for a few years, but just got into mining in the last 6 mos.  What hardware you rokin'?

I have a Virtex 7 FPGA-based Franken-rig with which I've had limited success.  I am looking into buying BFL ASIC once more user data is available.

No it will not.  Something else might, but it won't be LTC. I guarantee it.

Many liken LTC as silver to BTC's gold.