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 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.
