2021 Session III: Mask of Dreams

"Mask of Dreams" was written in 1999, and is among my most repeated adventures. It's always fun to see how each new group approaches this adventure! This year's group of experienced detectives resisted the urge to put the mask on -- so the backup plan kicked in and the mask chose the one person who confessed that she wanted to don the mask.

This launched the troubles from the Greek dream world. The detectives gathered their resources and set off to see the Oracle at Delphi. They chose the oldest oracle in legend, with a temple made of laurel and a small encampment rather than the more famous time period visited by kings and queens.

The Oracle tapped into the dream visions, revealing the merging of the Gates of Ivory and the Gates of Horn. This would bring all dreams and nightmares into the world as prophesies, unleashing horrors on the world at large. While some dreams might be fun if true, the team generally agreed that we'd like our nightmares to remain fictional.

With the help of Dog Tinker's Dream Boxes, the team was able to track down the one who tampered with the mask. They started with a visit to the Underworld, with the usual challenges -- crossing the River Acheron, coping with Cerberus at the crossroads (they don't care for "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star), and managing the field of poppies.

The visit to the Cave of Hypnos was quite productive. Thanatos was entertained by the team's creativity in taking on Morpheus' dream challenge. Competitive shadow puppetry will be coming to the Olympics one day. We're quite sure it will catch on at any moment!

A visit to the ancient god of dreams, Oneiros, brought the team to the Palace of Dreams. The team's discoveries there led to more peril, yet a possible solution as well. A glimpse into the dream work of three assistants to the gods revealed who the tampering god was -- and the team made a careful selection from Dog's final Dream Box to assist them.

What did we learn from our adventure on the edge of the Dreaming? Beware of sleepwalkers bearing unknown golden masks. It's better to have a dream of Koschei the Deathless on your side, than a nightmare of him working against you. Charon originally ferried passengers across the River Acheron. And Ballerina Kitty is still the worst nightmare of all.

Thank you to Pete Kautz, my good friend and former colleague in adventuring from my days in Ithaca, NY, for his role as Dog Tinker. Zoom brought us something special this week--a chance to have a master D&Der join us for some good fun!

Thank you also to Oliver Van Soest -- he fits the part of Morpheus so well, and crafted those shadowpuppet nightmares with his usual blend of comic horror and imagination! Good thing the detectives held their own, undoing those nightmares! 

I also want to compliment the group on their teamwork, and on the beautiful masks they made this week! Here is a link to the mask work on the Dragon's Eye Facebook page. Here is a glimpse of some of the shadow puppetry work.

2021 Session II: Yemaya's Gardens -- Recap

Our second week of the 2021 summer featured a new story about "Yemaya's Gardens." We visited the Gardens of the Queen (Los Jardines de la Reina) off the coast of Cuba, to meet Yemaya, Orisha of the Sea and Mother of Fishes. She asked the detectives to find her missing sea dobbin, a tiny seahorse who disappeared.

The detectives retraced the seahorse's journey, as revealed through the dream that Madame Drak and the Dreaming Dragons sent to the team. They started with Ochun, Orisha of the Rivers and Lakes and sister of Yemaya.

Two wily characters stole a couple of Dragon's Eye IDs, and tried to trick Ochun into thinking that our detectives were imposters. Fortunately, the team was able to convince her that they were the real heroes, with the magic from their Dragon Wings.

A swim through the ocean led to a little trouble with sharks. The detectives slowed them down so they could talk with them, and a Truth Jewel revealed that their names were Ruth and George. Ruth is a chaos demon and George is an order demon -- and it's a long story about how they came to work together against the Dragon's Eye Detectives. Let's just say they are Big Trouble. The team summoned a giant Sea Troll who gave them a free ride to another distant location.

One of the flying ships from last week's adventure helped the detectives fly across the sea to their next destination, which turned out to be Bloody Bay Wall. This is another amazing diving site, but the detectives didn't spend much time admiring the coral reef along the ledge. They promptly turned into massive adult sea dragons and dove down deep into the water.

I'm happy to say that the Detectives found the little sea dragon named Eya, and all was well in the end. Summarizing a mystery without giving away secrets for the next time it is run is a tricky business -- let's just say that the team had a lot of jewels available to put toward the fireworks and celebrations!

We had fun looking at books and a video about the Gardens of the Queen this week. This is a marine refuge created by Castro in 1976 to protect the coral reefs that he so loved. Over 800 laws keep this place in near pristine condition -- so it is a favorite place for divers.

The artwork for the week really shines with the children's love of sea creatures! Here is a link to the album on the Dragon's Eye Adventures Facebook page. Here is another link to the album that features the tiny sea creature the detectives sewed. They crafted giant eels, seahorses, sting rays, a saltwater crocodile, a shrimp, and a Caribbean reef shark.

Session I : Ship of Fools -- Recap

Session I: Ship of Fools began slowly, with hot weather and new distancing guidelines running a little interference, but we soon recovered our "sea legs" so to speak, and the adventure took off. We promised chickens -- and there were chickens. Living chickens, skeleton chickens, bespelled chickens -- and even a talking egg.

What did we learn about chickens this week? They have a tendency to spill secrets, at the worst possible moments. Zoya the chicken got our team into trouble several times with her habit of oversharing, but her heart was in the right place.

Which was not the case with Koschei the Deathless. His heart was in the wrong place, as usual. He hid his heart on an island in the sea, buried beneath the Tree of Life, in a chest, in a duck, in an egg, in a needle. We weren't sure how exactly his heart fit into a needle, but there it was ... beating at a distance, keeping Koschei alive forever.

This wasn't the first time that we faced Koschei the Deathless. One detective had faced him before, several years earlier, in a case called "The Golden Cage." That group had turned Koschei into a baby, in order to restart the maturing process. They gave the baby into the care of Cernunnos, and thought they were done, but that decision led to another mystery called "Hound and Horn."

That adventure left Koschei as a baby, but facing a spell that turned him into a lime tree. One might assume that would be enough, but as our detectives discovered this time around, Koschei is a wily little fellow, even as a toddler. He managed to convince someone to release him from the tree, and off he went, stealing the Tsar's flying ship and turning it into a black pirate ship.

Fortunately, our team of detectives were on the case! They tracked the Tsar's ship back through the story of "The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship," visiting the Tsar's parents and lost brothers, and then the Baba Yaga. Along the way, they learned that talking eggs say foolish things, but their advice may hide some secret wisdom, leading to unlikely treasures, like clumps of peat, empty boxes, or a stray bone from a spooky bone cow.

I'm happy to report that the Tsar's pirate ship has been returned and restored to its glorious firebird form. The Baba Yaga's wand of rebirth has sent Koschei on to his next life as a blackfooted ferret, and his bone dogs are now happy puppies living with a very cranky man who needs a little joy in his life.

Here is a link to the Dragon's Eye album on Facebook, where you may see the delightful flying ships the children made this week!