Nine Fallen Suns - A Special Report

Very special thanks go to Ken Walden and Lou Ensel for their help with the Nine Fallen Suns adventure this week! These two fathers of detectives braved the wilds of the Dragon's Eye world by coming to play the guardians of hell. I wish I had thought to use the camera that was in my bag, but I enjoyed the moment so much (the expressions on the children's faces, the performances by our two guests) that I forgot the camera was there.

I don't wish to give away secrets for the next adventure, but suffice it to say that our visiting lords of hell were fabulous! Appropriately menacing as guards and impressive and forceful as the King of Hell and the Lord Inspector. Their sons suspected something was up, but agreed that their dads were great in their roles. Proof that D&D has some use in the real world!

Thank you, Ken and Lou! Here's a look at how one son viewed the two of you:

Horse-face and Ox-head, the Guardians of Hell
Drew Walden

Nine Fallen Suns - Report

Eight detectives gathered at the Dragon's Eye headquarters for the second mystery of the 2014 summer. "The Nine Fallen Suns" is a story about compassion for nine missing ravens shot from the sky by Yi the Archer in Chinese mythology. Tenth Sun's strength is waning as he carries the burden of ten suns, and he needs his brothers to rekindle his sunspark stone.

I think of this case as a story about compassion--and this group of detectives really took that message to heart. The Turtle Lion named Kung Tan arrived to hugs. The detectives rusted and then burst the metal bars of an iron cage, and then felt so bad, they healed it, breaking the spell they didn't know was there and releasing Iron Ox. There aren't many iron cages left in "Nine Fallen Suns" -- the twenty-one cages that held the nine sun ravens and the twelve moon daughters all became baby oxen.

Even the campus bugs received the love as we stopped for every beautiful moth, beetle, cicada and what-in-the-world-is-that creature. The detectives greeted the campus squirrels with our traditional gesture--and one little squirrel sat down to eat a perfect little white mushroom as Sara and I said hello.

We had fun out of game with the Chaos and Order Spies searching for the Dragon's Eye detectives. The group decided to hide their identity, and became an art camp led by Mrs. Wiggins. Her art instruction must have really helped, because this week's art really flourished. The detectives learned to work with chaos and order in their paintings and the glorious results may be found on the Dragon's Eye Facebook page.

I will remember this special week as the week of hugs and bugs. The mythological world may have been headed into darkness, but our group of detectives brought a special light with them into the underworld! The sun ravens and the moon daughters are home, safe and sound, free to take their turns in the world. Tenth Sun has been healed and the sun spark stones shine with a brighter light.

Moon Lanterns

One of the loveliest and simplest of art projects is the Moon Lantern we're going to be creating for the mystery "Nine Fallen Suns." After a week of sunchasing, the Detectives will need a bit of the moon's cool and collected beauty. Twelve rabbits might seem an unlikely crew to produce such soothing, gentle moon energy, so I like to think of this project as something the moon daughters create during bunny snuggles time (which is most of the day--I should know, I have three rabbits slumbering in my home.)

I tested many different flower and lantern designs to come up with something easy and elegant. Here is the final design:

It's a traditional fanfold flower made from crepe paper, which gives it more strength and suppleness. The petals are easily arranged and fluffed. The light is a little battery-powered tea light. Safe for paper, since it's an LED bulb. I think the handle may need to be two pipe cleaners, so they hold their shape.

At night, the Moon Lanterns come into their own with a lovely warm glow.

I can't wait to see a whole group of these -- we may have to find a dark hallway somewhere on campus, so we can take some lovely photos. There are more photos of the lantern in the Nine Fallen Suns album on the Dragon's Eye Facebook page.

The Red Crow

The Red Crow
R L McNulty
Micron pen & colored pencil

The first puppet I ever made was a sock puppet that I happily dubbed a red crow. I loved that little bird. My mom gently suggested that maybe it was a cardinal or some other red bird, but I insisted that it was a crow.

Years later, while researching Chinese myths for a play I was writing, I came across the stories of the three-legged red crow that inhabits the sun. Further research into ornithology showed that there are indeed red relatives of the crow in Southeast Asia.

Naturally, I had to write a Dragon's Eye mystery about the red crows/ravens (the Chinese do not distinguish between the two in their myths). "Nine Fallen Suns" is the result -- a response to one of those myths that just ended badly for the crows.

Here is a drawing that bears a striking resemblance to my first puppet. I'll be out this weekend looking for the right red sock. If anyone has a good one, let me know!

[Update: For pictures of the final puppet, visit this album at on the Dragon's Eye Facebook page.

Secret of the Gargoyles - Report

Eleven detectives ages 6 to 9 gathered for the first adventure of the summer. The dragons sent them to the island of Chimera, where the villagers needed their help. A certain sharp-eyed detective spotted the first gargoyle in the village just after they arrived (for a glimpse of that gargoyle, visit this page) and the gathering of secrets began. 

There was a story to hear from Old Mum, a tale of a young girl named Aine the Brave, who saved the village from trouble five hundred years ago. There was the wizard behind all the troubles, and the secret source of his magic powers. There was a secret keeper named Mr. Pinkerton -- a tiny pink rabbit whose help proved invaluable to our clever sleuths.

My favorite part of the mystery was a visit by a new shadowmage named Razark (played by our CIT, Raphael Foye). Razark specializes in alchemical potions of disguise and hallucinations, and the young detectives found this very helpful when they wanted a nice--oops, I mean horrible--gargoyle disguise so they could enter the wizard's castle.

I'm happy to report that the detectives managed to trap the wizard in his own crystal ball. All gargoyle troubles have safely been stashed away in cans, and each detective has taken one home as a keepsake. Assuming they don't open the cans, I can assure parents that there will be no more gargoyle troubles.