Session III: The Nine Fallen Suns

Moon Daughter
R L McNulty 2014

The third session of the summer involves an adventure inspired by an old Chinese myth about "The Nine Fallen Suns."  Our mystery picks up where the original myth left matters.

Tenth Sun has carried the burden of ten for millenia, and his sunstone needs to be rekindled by his brothers' sunstones. Can the Detectives find them in time to prevent the sun from setting for a final time?

The nine fallen sun ravens is a fascinating myth that is based on the Chinese calendar system. The ancient Chinese reckoned time with both a base five and a base six system. They had a ten-day week based on the sun, and a twelve-day week based on the moon.

This summer, the Detectives will encounter the twelve Moon Daughters on their journey--elusive rabbit girls whose myths have been lost to time. Ten sun raven boys and twelve moon rabbit girls -- a cosmic family in need of a reunion.

It saddens me that while we have the story of the sun ravens, the story of the moon daughters has been lost--I intend to fix that, based on what I know about the myths and calendar system surrounding the story of the sunravens. We'll bring the daughters and the suns home this summer.

Session II: Da Vinci's Dragons

The second session is an adventure for ages 9 to 13 called "Da Vinci's Dragons." This is a more complex version of a recent birthday party adventure, redesigned for the Mavens of Mystery. A mysterious globe is stolen and the Detectives are called in to follow the trail of clues in a classic "whodunnit." Naturally, there are dragons at the base of this story ... and a famous artist.

This week has something for everyone--fairy dragons, old globes with mysterious origins, and a unique combination of Renaissance art, science and magic. Our projects this week will include perspective drawings that explore a little Renaissance magic and fey dragon sculptures.

Session I: Secret of the Gargoyles (Ages 6 to 9)

Gargoyle Globe
from "Secret of the Gargoyles"
by R L McNulty

The summer 2014 season will begin with a four-day adventure for children ages 6 to 9 (entering first through fourth grades). "The Secret of the Gargoyles" involves a wizard and stone gargoyles that don't stay stone for very long ... and that does not bode well for the villagers who live below the castle. Can the detectives learn the secret of the gargoyles before the wizard unleashes his evil plan?  Our art projects for this week include gargoyle masks and snow globes.

Summer 2014 Programs Announced

Dragon's Eye Ventures will be offering five weeks of programs during the summer 2014 season. These will be held on the Bowdoin campus in July and August, running Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 4 PM. Afterhours care is available for the week or a single day.

The first week of July will feature an adventure for our youngest detectives, ages 6 to 9. The Secret of the Gargoyles promises lots of fun with wizards and gargoyles and a mythical creature called the chimera.

The next four sessions are for detectives ages 9 to 13. Session II is "The Black Skystone of Doom"--a hilarious romp through the little-known Atrocious Period, when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. This is perhaps the funniest Dragon's Eye adventure, with the dreaded spitasaurus and Humongasaura Regina, the Dinosaur Queen.

Session III features "Ravens of the Sun," a story that takes up where a Chinese myth about sun ravens ends. Nine sun ravens have been shot from the sky, leaving Tenth Son to carry the burden alone. When he grows ill, his mother seeks out the Detectives, for help finding the nine fallen suns.

Session IV offers "The Mask of Dreams," a mystery leading to the Cave of Dreams in the Greek underworld. The Detectives must seek the help of Morpheus, the god of dreams, if they are to save the world this time.

Session V closes the summer season with "The Book of Shadows." This adventure leads into the Irish underworld realms, chasing a shadowmage who threatens to unlock a door into the shadowrealms. What goes into the shadowrealms is not the Detective's concern--it's what come out that causes concern.

The Midnight Cat: Report

One of the beautiful shadow puppets
from "The Midnight Cat" This one is
by S. Melquist and M. Hoy.

A jewel thief known as the Midnight Cat led our six detective mages on a mouse and cat chase through the streets of London, the aisles of Les Puces de Saint-Ouen flea market in Paris and even back in time to the darkened halls of Le Chat Noir on closing day in 1897. It was a week full of secrets and ciphers--and this determined team tackled every code by hand! A very impressive display of code-breaking!

Favorite challenges of the week included the zany bird lady who imprisoned the zebra-finched Detectives (yes--zebra-finched is now an adjective describing the state of being turned into a zebra finch) in cages. She tried to sell them at Les Puces, but the birds were too clever. They played dead every time an admirer came to see them. Clever little bird claws reached for the keys, and soon the Detectives were ... de-zebra-finched!

The story took some unexpected turns, as our thief led the Detectives back in time to the closing day of Le Chat Noir. The artist Henri Rivière was able to shed some light on the reason our thief had stolen the Golden Cat amulet and the candelabra from the flea market.

Let's just say it wasn't good news. The Detectives entered the Shadow Realms to talk with the inhabitants of the prints made by Henri Rivière. Their beautiful shadow puppets may be seen in an album on the Dragon's Eye Facebook page along with the prints that inspired them. Their books of secrets and photos of the week's adventure are also on the page.



Sunrise in the Shadow Realms
Photo by Ike Voorhees, 2013

The Detectives found their journey leading to an ancient goddess of the sun, demoted to the status of a moon goddess and doomed to live out her life in the underworld. Fortunately for her, the Detectives had other ideas--and the sun rose again in her heart. All mysteries need not end in battle and even a red star can grow a tinge of gold.



Joker's Wild II: New Cards by Ike and the Detectives

Ghost Hunter by Ike Voorhees
Micron pen on Bristol board cards

Joker's Wild is the last mystery of the Summer 2013 season. We have been slowly creating a deck of cards from which the story will be drawn. There are character cards and challenge cards. Our Facebook page has an album called Joker's Wild which has all of the cards created to date. The artwork is by Rebecca McNulty, Ike Voorhees and each of the young Detective Mages who have been to a Dragon's Eye adventure this summer.

The deck will continue to grow each week, even as the Joker's Wild week unfolds. This is an experiment with "off-the-page" story creation.

Temple of the Sun: Report

Detective disguised as an Egyptian guard
by Drew Walden

Eight detectives teamed up in this week's adventure in ancient Thebes. The scarab amulet of Seti I was stolen from his tomb in ancient times, and the Detectives traveled back in time to 1112 BCE to investigate. Our team was off the page more often than on, with a train with a human face, a mummy-disguised detective leaping from a sarcophagus, a stolen starbowl, a shadowmage rescue, and a fire-water sheep spouting water bridges over lakes of fire.

In spite of the train, this was an Egyptian adventure. The city of Thebes will not be the same after all the sneaking and hiding, the guards pouring into the streets searching for the strange visitors from the Pharaoh.

All roads led eventually into the Duat. The underworld may not have been ready for this highly creative crew--certainly the 42 gods and goddesses gathered in the Hall of Judgment were in for a colorful visit.

It was a week full of some very skilled sneaking and great fun! Our most nerve-wracking moment may have been the meeting with Amenhotep, the High Priest of the Temple of Amon-Re. The Detectives discovered just how important a little backstory is--and researching the current Pharaoh you're supposed to be serving is highly advised.

It all turned out well in the end. The errant sun god was sent packing, along with Apep the serpent of chaos. The amulet of Khepri was returned to Seti I and he took his place in the Sun Barge of the Blessed Ones.

What did we learn from the week? One can get very, very far with only minimal magic.

The loveliest moment came at the very end. Each story begins and ends with a dream--and this week, the final dream was one of a winged scarab taking the Detectives for a ride. Just as I finished, one of the detectives looked down and found a tiny black beetle on the ground in front of us. Naturally, it became part of the dream.

For the detectives who were skeptical that the scarab is related to our beetles here in Maine, here is an article from National Geographic. Visit the Dragon's Eye Ventures Facebook page for some wonderful photos of our games, the Detectives' wonderful artwork and scarab amulets.

Welcome back to Ike Voorhees

Detail, Ike Voorheers, 2013
Pen on paper

Ike Voorhees will be joining the Dragon's Eye Ventures staff for the remaining four sessions of the 2013 summer program! Ike is an extraordinary artist -- one of those artists whose drawings have story attached to them, so he's a wonderful addition to the Dragon's Eye team. Ike was with us last summer, and the adventures benefitted from his creative input!

Detail, Ike Voorheers, 2013
Pen on paper

If you'd like to know more about Ike, visit this post from last summer. He graduated this May from Bard College with a BA in art. Ike's focus at Bard was printmaking--and his artwork here demonstrates the kind of detailed focus that is characteristic of his work. He's one young artist with an exciting future.

Detail, Ike Voorheers, 2013
Pen on paper

The images posted here are all details of a drawing that grew out of Ike's hand during several adventures last summer. The figure is based on a famous carving on the tomb of a Mayan king named Pakal, showing the Vision Serpent Kukulkan. The Detectives visited this serpent as part of "Terra Incognita."

Welcome back, Ike! It's an extraordinary gift to the program each time you join us!

The Golden Cage II: Off the Page with a Clever Firebird Rescue

Secret Keeper by Tommy D.
Pipecleaner and felt

The first adventure of the season featured our youngest detectives taking on the challenges of Koschei the Deathless and his Skeleton Knights. Our team used some clever magic to escape the clutches of Grubach the Skeleton Knight--they shrank him to the size of ant. They showed both courage and kindness when they stopped to help an old skeleton woman--and gained her help in the form of dolls. To see the dolls visit the Dragon's Eye Ventures Facebook page.

My favorite off-the-page moments: Drew's fire water sheep that drove away the skeleton knights but forgot to rescue the detectives from their bone cages, the ID's that transformed into IPhones for quick calls to Perun the god of lightning, and Thomas' idea to offer Baba Yaga alternative foods to her daily diet of children. She's eating pizza, brownies and black bean soup these days, thanks to our culinary wizards.

The adventurer's favorite games of the week: The dandelions Baba Yaga sent them to collect (They weren't just flowers ... ) and the flying foam Frisbee games (bone cage spells from the Skeleton Knights). The Vermilion Bird of Life (also known as the Firebird) was saved from the Golden Cage, and Koschei the Deathless has been sent packing. Even the witch Baba Yaga is happy--the Detectives left her with money for pizza, a gift certificate (for more pizza), and the cell phone number for pizza delivery to the Thrice-Ten Lands.

Newsletter and Location

The Firebird in the Garden
by Dory Magan, 2000

Dragon's Eye Ventures begins next Monday, July 1, with the first of five adventures this summer. We are changing locations on the Bowdoin campus: We'll be in Room 209 of Sills Hall, on the corner of North Campus Drive and Bath Rd. Newsletters have gone out to registered families--please read these with care! They contain daily schedules, a special invitation to our Friday presentations, and all kinds of information about the program's policies and procedures.

"The Midnight Cat" -- A little French jewel heist with Egyptian roots

The Midnight Cat
R L McNulty 2013
Micron pen & colored pencil

"The Midnight Cat" has one of my all-time favorite bad guys--a jewel thief and shadowmage with a fondness for codes. The story taps into some obscure shadow puppet history from the famous Parisian café known as Le Chat Noir. Henri Riviere is the artist best-known for his elaborate explorations in shadow puppetry--and naturally, we will be following in his footsteps with a little shadow magic of our own.

There are echoes of Egypt in this mystery, lurking under the surface of 19th century France, as the cat has a story that stretches back in time. A little French, a little Egyptian, a little classic jewel thievery and mischief--it all combines to create one of my favorite adventures. A story that won't stop rewriting itself.

Session IV: The Midnight Cat
July 22-26
Ages 9 - 13
$250

Click here for the basic story.
Visit our Facebook page to see our album of shady characters.

Three-Penny Mysteries

Here's something to do with those pennies collecting dust in jars and piggy banks. Bring a few to Dragon's Eye Ventures this summer and invest in a Three-Penny Mystery from Madame Drak.

This is no ordinary fortune-teller's booth--it's a miniature puppet booth currently in the works, part of the backstory that frames the Dragon's Eye adventures.

This is the design for the booth. Photos will be coming as the booth is constructed.