Fortunately, his minions were goofing around with the sea urchin locket that held Sludge's secret message, telling them where to go. (Those minions! Always dropping clues for our detectives to decipher!) Our team made quick work of the cipher, and headed to "Heart Island" -- Kuroshima in the Yaeyama archipelago of Okinawa, Japan.
They found the beach where the rock has been carved into the shape of a cow, and using their Dragon's Eyes (third eyes that see invisible and magical things), they discovered two portals. The portals were guarded by two Shisa, lion-dogs named Fuka ("Luck") and Kiba ("Fang").
The lion-dogs sent our travelers to a local Shinto shrine, where they met with Amamikyo, the goddess who created the Okinawan islands. She was very sympathetic to their cause -- world ending dragon eggs are a pesky nuisance to creatixes.
She gave them a choice among three Luck Cats. The white one boosts very roll with random magic in their favor, the black one fends off demons and evil creatures, and the gold one brings random jewels that can be used for more spells. Our team chose the white Luck Cat.
Kijimuna revealed that Sludge and his minions were really sea slugs returning the the Scared Realm of the Umiuchi. He overheard them talking about ending the detectives as they arrived in a little whirlpool by the beach. They were talking about Sludge's friend, a sea fox.
Kijimuna enjoyed the eyeballs of the fish our heroes gave him (for losing the game), and turned the fishbones into a golden amulet that would grant them the shape of Umiushi. Our sleuths returned to Kiba and Fuka, and soon were off for the portal, but the Dragonstone was glowing with a dream from Oma the First of the Nine Dreamers. She told them to ask the Umiushi to make them their own Starbowls.
The Detectives finally dove through the right portal.
They followed a deep turquoise stream within the sea that led them to an underwater palace made of sea shells. They met Hoshiori, the High Priestess (Nori) of the Umiuchi, who is a Sea Sheep. She and her court revealed that Sludge is an umiuchi named Doro. He is her brother, who is known for being sweet and kind. He and his little friends usually make deep and dangerous dives into the deep, bringing up the Magic Mud that is used to craft Dragon's Eye Starbowls.
The detectives soon learn the reason behind this change of character in Sludge. They travel to a Kelp Forest deeper in the sea, and find a cottage made of shells hiding there, where Sludge is held in thrall by a spell cast on him and his minions. The spell was made by Umiyoka, the sea fox.
She was not happy when our team managed to steal the world-ending egg back. They were about to undo the spell on Sludge when she found them. She naturally tried to lure them to her side of the situation, but they were firmly in favor of world-saving over world-ending. They used their dragon forms to grow large, and entangled her in the sea kelp. Then they freed Sludge and his friends and swam swiftly back to the sea palace.
There, the Umiushi sang their songs and danced their dances to craft Starbowls. Sludge and his minion firends dove for Magic Mud. "Leaf" molded that mud into bowls. Hoshiori and the other Sea Sheep drew upon the light of the sun and stars to make the stars, and thirteen little Starbowls were born. Koji the Nudibranch called upon the Moonrabbits for dice, while Kirakira the Sea Rabbit polished a little bag of jewels from the Fire Lizards.
The Dreamers revealed that the world-ending egg has been transformed by the bespelled Sludge. It is not normally a world-ending egg. It is, however, an ending. An ending meant for the Dragon's Eye Detectives Agency, because Rebecca the Dragonmage is retiring. She's hoping to take a little vacation -- hopefully in Kuoshima, where she can meet with her sensei Amamikyo again.
This why the Nine Dreamers are meeting with the detectives this summer. They need to prepare them for the next stage of their journey as Dragonmages. They will be meeting each of the Nine Dreamers, to gather the artifacts they need to become their own Dragonmage leaders.
This sad news was met with lots of air hugs and spirit hugs -- and the newly invented water hugs. It mirrors the outer world, where Rebecca has announced her retirement from Dragon's Eye Adventures.
Our team took the news in stride, and joined the Umiushi in one final dance party where they released their inner forms -- one of which was a very impressive kraken. That night, the three Dreamers came and the detectives turned into full adult dragons, soaring through the starry sky on wings as wide as the sky.
Many thanks to Adam Shaughnessy, who assisted me with this week's adventure! Adam is a fellow adventure play expert, a skilled educator and grants-writer from Connecticut. He has written two fantasy books in the Unbelievable FIB series for middle grades, and has a graphic novel and other writings in the works! Here is a link to his website.
Visit the Dragon's Eye Facebook page to see the two albums. One has more beautiful paintings like the ones on this page, showing the way our detectives drew scenes from the story. The other has the Umiushi they each made.
Thank you to the detectives for a wonderful week! My stories are never complete until each of you arrives to add your own special magic to the mix! What an extraordinary journey we have had!
