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.