Celtic Adventure
Outdoor adventure to restore ancient ley lines before the sun sets on the Autumnal equinox. Secret history, Gaelic spells, and new friendships lead to victory.
The Challenge:
There is a small town in the Southeast of Iowa called Fairfield. It has a significant spiritual history and is the perfect place to suspend disbelief when blending together a story of equal parts fantasy and fact. The goal was to craft a story of high-fantasy, consistent with historical facts, which would successfully compel the locals to heed an urgent (and exciting) call to adventure. The story, being infused with magic, would need to provide at least three real-world displays of believable magic for the adventurers.
Our Solution:
The team worked directly with a local historian to create a fact map dating back to the founding of the town– real dates, real people, real events. We then wove a fictional tale of Gaelic magic, an ancient European prophecy, and a secret organization plotting to awaken a dormant power unique to the land.
Lila worked for months to create a magic potion which would change its color based on your emotions, tiki-torches that would self-ignite only in the presence of magic, and liquid which would keep you afloat if you ran atop it– but only after enchanting your feet.
Then came the creation of the source material - the story, the quest, and the magic all came from an ancient tome.
We worked with a Gaelic language expert to successfully translate our original English spells, and had this authentic Gaelic text written in quill by a traditional calligrapher with inks made from local materials (nuts, charcoal, berries) as they would have 200 years before. A local artist then completed each spell entry with a matching picture.
Our adventurers now had an 'historical artifact' which would guide them on their quest and unlock the magic they would need to succeed.
In Numbers:
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63 attendees
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4 contributor partners (Tom Corbett Gaelic Language services, John Stimson Calligraphy, Devala Reese Historical Services, Tamlin Day Art)
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3 displays of science disguised as magic
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4 unique group challenges
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1 Call to Adventure video