Summer 2018 Session III: Shadows of Dawn -- Recap

Ravana

The third session of the summer featured a mystery called "Shadows of Dawn." The story drew upon the traditions of Balinese and Javanese shadow puppetry, called the wayang kulit, and the Hindu epic, The Ramayana.

Sita was a shadow puppet who takes advantage of the magical twilight just before the dawn, when a door opened between the shadow realms and our world. She snuck out of the dalang's box of shadow puppets, hoping to find a little time to herself. She didn't realize that she had been followed, and soon found herself abducted--again--by Ravana the sorcerer and his Rakshasas.

Hanuman the Monkey King witnessed this and traveled to the Dragon's Eye Detectives Agency to ask the detectives to find Sita. She wanted to become a hero, so that she wouldn't have to wait for Rama to rescue her (again).

Our Detectives were quite sure they were up for the job. Sita was a very enthusiastic detective, diving right into her first fire spell. The results were spectacular. BOOOOM! Door gone. The noise drew a wee bit of attention from Ravana and his Rakshasas--so Sita had the brilliant idea of turning herself into a little dog, so she could zip through their legs.

The detectives tried desperately to stop Sita, but the little dog took off through the city. Before the detectives knew it, she was rolling another spell. Fire serpents rose throughout the city, spitting fireballs all around them. The city went up in flames, and Ravana and his henchmen were soon busy putting out the flames.

Seeing the devastation she was causing, Sita tried to fix the overkill with a little water spell. She summoned clouds to rain down on the city. She did not know how to turn off the spell, so this soon turned into a flood, and the detectives and Sita were washed out of the city to the seashore.

Taming and training Sita was no easy job, and many a chase ensued as misunderstandings occurred. The detectives explained the need for wisdom to Sita, and eventually, they made it back to the agency, via an origin stone from Terra Incognita.

The detectives set off again, this time to return Sita to the shadow puppet box. Along the way, they encountered the mysterious King of the Yakshas and his jewel-spitting mongoose. This brought them treasures, amulets that could summon help from Hindu and Balinese immortals, such as Indra, Saraswati, and the Barong.

Another encounter with Grami-Devi, a village spirit, brought insight into the reason that Sita's wisdom was missing. This opened a new quest for the team: To restore Sita's wisdom. I won't go into the details of the journey, to save a few secrets for future groups. Let's just say that the final battle included Ravana and hi demons, plus one of the most alarming immortals in Balinese and Indian mythology.

Our detectives called upon their special amulets for assistance, and finally succeeded in defeating Ravana and his Rakshasas. They restored Sita's wisdom, brought Rama and Sita back together, and the immortals threw a party worthy of such a victory.

This was a wonderful week! Our detectives really excelled in their courage, compassion, wisdom, respect and honor. They taught Sita what they themselves had learned--to think with care before taking action. Visit the Dragon's Eye Facebook page for photos of the adventure, as well as photos of the group's amazing shadow puppets.

Summer 2018 Session II: DaVinci's Dragons -- Recap

A fey dragon among the dragon tongue beans

Session II of the summer 2018 season began with an investigation of a crime scene. A globe made from ostrich eggs had vanished. The clues led the detectives first to Austria and then to NYC for a visit to the public library, where a second globe, this one made of copper, had also disappeared.

It's tough to write a description of the mystery without giving away too many details to future participants in this mystery. Let's just say that the tables were turned. The villains turned out to be heroes and the heroes villains; and the detectives found themselves aligned with some unexpected yet delightful cohorts.

The detectives were hired a second time, to chase the new villain through time, to rescue the two globes that were stolen. They took the Oroborus back to Florence in 1509, to visit the studio of Leonardo daVinci. They soon found themselves trapped in a cage and attempting to convince Leonardo to return their magnifying glass. He kept it--he was studying optics and a lens as fine as this one was very difficult to secure. (He did return it to them, but not until 1518.)

The detectives soon left for Rome in 1516. They visited a slightly older Leonardo, but he didn't see them. Their target was a certain dragon slayer called by the Pope to investigate a rumor about two dragons that Leonardo had. The trail soon led to 1518 in Amboise, France, where Leonardo was staying at Chateau du Clos Luce.

Detectives piecing together a clue

In France, the detectives used invisibility spells to evade floating eyeballs, and dodged flying spells with great skill. The chef with the gold star in her shadow had a few surprises in store. The best were the fey dragons hiding in her vegetable gardens.

Special thanks to Jeremy Tardif and his team of gardeners. We visited the Bowdoin College gardens and hid the dragons among the beautiful plants growing neatly in rows. Later, we learned that we had hidden them among the dragon tongue beans!

Our art projects this week included adorable fey dragons and fairy engineers with flying machines. Photos of the artwork and the artists at work are on the Dragon's Eye Adventures Facebook page. Click here for the link.

The detectives did finally retrieve the two missing globes. They uncovered the secret of Mona Lisa's smile, and solved the mystery in a very satisfying way. They traded the dragon slayer for fake globes, sending him off happy (for the moment).

Fairy parties are known for their fun -- firework by the firebirds, flights of dragons through the stars. All's well that ends well.

Thank you to our bold and fun group this week! I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful works of art you created. A lot of hard work went into the fairies and engineers, and it shows in the final results!

Click here for pictures of the games and challenges we had this week.

Summer 2018, Session I: The Dreameater -- Recap

The first week of the summer began with a new nightmare each morning. The Dream Box was opened, and something horrible was revealed, and the Detectives had to gather all the courage they could to dive into that box to investigate the source of the bad dreams.

The nightmares weren't so bad at first. How could a sweet little kitty in a tutu possibly be a nightmare? She was.

Our brave Detectives faced each nightmare with courage and a little help from Tig and company. Tig is the baby dragon who casts a magic bubble around a Detective, providing a convenient shield. The group needed Tig less and less as the week progressed.

They took down the powers of the basan, the colorful roosters who breathe fire.

They left a stone to honor an ancient tree spirit and a magical night heron who blew blue spirit bubbles that floated through the air.

They greeted ghosts with a wish for a safe journey to the Underworld.

They faced a giant spider -- and even shook it's hand ... it's paw ... it's leg. "Hello, gentle spider."

As the Detectives solved this mystery, they each had a friend they brought from home. We had a penguin, an owl, two tiny hedgehogs, a miniature leopard, a pink unicorn, a bobcat, a bear, and a rather large bunch of broccoli.

The stuffies met the Baku, the Dreameater. He gave them each the power to eat nightmares. They had a feast of nightmares before the story was done. They ate a huge, one-eyed ogre. They devoured a whole army of skeleton knights. They swallowed a rising sea of ink.

I can't tell much about the cause of the nightmares without giving away secrets for the next group to take up this mystery, so I'll have to say that all's well that ends well. This story ended well. We had a party, with potato chips and pizza, and fireworks. The nightmares ended. Sweet dreams returned.

Each Detective went home with a picture of the Baku to place under their pillow, and their stuffies are still Deputy Dreameaters, ready to dine on nightmares whenever they may occur. Visit the Dragon's Eye Adventure page on Facebook for photos of the adventure.