Nurarihyon was trying to steal ownership of the agency by forcing Madog to perform an old ceremony called the livery of seisin. This ceremony predates written deeds of property. It involves handing over the Dragon's Eye Twig and Turf, two items that represent the land, along with a cup of water from any river, creek or well on the property.
Madog refused and a chase ensued. The Tomte evaded the yokai and his shadowy serpents. When the detectives arrived, Nurarihyon tried to learn where the Tomte was hiding by sending a shadow serpent to listen to Madame Drak's dream. Fortunately, the ice blue dragon unfolded his wings at jsut the right moment to block Watatsumi from seeing where the Tomte went.
Madog dove into the tea cup that Rebecca kept filling with the best Dragon's Eye tea, for the Gentleman Caller. Several detectives remembered a similar trip they took in the tea cup of the Raven King, using troll magic and a mini whirlpool.
The detectives set off to rescue their Tomte, but Nurarihyon had other plans. He sent Rebecca on long, arduous tasks, so he could go after the detectives without a full dragonmage hindering him. It was pretty hilarious -- our lovely guest would go full-on demon, sending his shadow serpents after the detectives, and then stopping when Rebecca re-entered the room.
The detectives told Nurarihyon that Madog was in his tomte house. He, of course, wasn't there, but his family was, so Nurarihyon captured them in a demon sock. The detectives rescued them, only to be shrunk and swallowed by the demon socks themselves.
Rebecca came back, and Nurarihyon stashed the sock on the top of the bookshelf near the tomte house. The Gentleman Caller sent Rebecca on a quest to bring back chocolate chip cookies made by Izanami in the Japanese Underworld.
Meanwhile, the detectives escaped from the sock with the help of one of their own artifacts. They discovered two spirit cats with double tails waiting for them. They cleverly fed the cats and turned their allegiance from Nurarihyon to the detectives.
The tiny detectives made it to the Tomte's home and met the whole family: Megwyn the Mama Tomte, Meriodoc and Merdoc the twins, plus Miriam, Morwen, and Mimi the baby. They discovered a secret message written by Madog and quickly turned in into English of a sort. (Tomtes don't spell very well.) The message revealed his plan, and the secret to diving into the tea cup.
They promptly forgot this information, so they had a teensy bit of trouble diving into the whirlpool when they finally made it to the tea cup. The whirlpool transported them to the Raven King's palace in Dun Raven, Wales. There, they found Madog and were able to hatch a plan with the Raven King's help.
They summoned all of their own family Tomtes for some powerful homing magic, and went back to face Nurarihyon and his henchsnake, Watatsumi. Once again, our heroes triumphed and Nurarihyon's attempts to steal the Twig and Turf were foiled.
Watatsumi turned out to be ... not Watatsumi, but a one inch creature called a Blue Dragon Sea Slug. Here's a link to a YouTube video with an image of the sea slug. It's a real creature--and be careful not to touch one, since they siphon the power of a Man-o-War's poison.The detectives celebrated their victory with a party at the Tomte village that grew on the shelf. Fireworks were provided by the Grey One. The Gentleman Caller isn't gone yet--and Rebecca has not returned from the Underworld, but there is hope -- with the Tomte strengthened by the power of a whole village of Tomtes, and the help of the Raven King, Nurarihyon's days at the Dragon's Eye Detectives Agency are numbered.
Visit the Dragon's Eye Adventures Facebook page, to see photos of the delightful Tomtes and tiny houses that the detectives made this week! Here is the link.
