dark night, it's a dark night

Dark night...not the darkest night, not the longest, not even the beginning of the dark half of the year...but Samhain, Halloween, is when we know there is no going on in light. Dead leaves and smoke on the air, dark smells, dark sensations....wisps of mist or ghostly fingers plucking at our clothes...

Samhain. All Hallows. And the Wild Hunt.



I was first taken to the Rocket City Fur Meet, the home of the year-round fur convention--and dealers' room for the trade--for their graverobbing event. I felt somewhat guilty for not showing up in fur, and some were, as always, reluctant to deal with me because I wore a human...ish....face...

...but still.



The rules were simple: One skull, one avatar. ONLY one, mind, because the prizes were very good, most of them. Each one you 'dug up' would hand you a rat of a certain shade--black, brown and red, perhaps others--and would then announce that you had found that skull. Whereupon you rezzed the rat on the ground, cut it open, and pulled out what was inside.

Very difficult. Very much fun. And we nearly arrived too late to get anything!



From there we went to Port Seraphine, and wandered the beautiful reconstruction of the sim, looking for pumpkins. We don't know how many there were, that hunt didn't have them numbered. But while we were there, we ran into Miss Subversive Vavoom, so I was able to introduce Miss Neome and Mr. Allen to Miss Vavoom.



The Wild Hunt. The baying of the hounds. The hooves causing thunder. The gleam of their eyes, the howls on the night winds, the fear they're coming closer, and closer still.

The Wild Hunt. The dead, the fae, on the rampage, a mob in the dark night, seeking. Seeking. Doors thrown closed and calls ignored, for whomever goes out on and sees the Wild Hunt, risks being riven soul from flesh, and following along...



The savior of the doll age descended from the sky on glittering cord, all snaky purple tongue, spined dark spider legs and all. I complimented her on the haunted dollhouse.

I didn't tell her I'd bought the Sew-n-Sew doll hair, but I did that too, earlier, when I was there. :)



The Wild Hunt. Horses and hounds, heels dug into dark sides, cries on the night onward, onward! Find what we seek, take it, search out the next wanted thing! Onward, onward! Search high and low, up and down, leave no place undisturbed in zeal and zest!

The Wild Hunt! What we seek, we will find...



For some reason, cutting through Port Seraphine, I found a burning ribbon through the sim, was a flow of lava from a fire-spouting volcano near the center. This teased at my mind. I wondered what I was remembering, in my chalk plaster head, my wired fingers tapping at my arms.

Then word came down the Steelhead channel. The lava in the bay was rising. Oh, yes. That was it.



There's lava in the bay of Steelhead.

No, I have no idea why.

Apparently the dolphins have adapted, which means...something deeply unnatural is going on. Has the town been cursed?



We found one of Tensai's magnificent works in progress, edging out over the heat of the transformed bay. I think that's as close as I want to get, wires and plaster or not!

We had a chance to go meet the (possible) future employer, and the one responsible for whatever extent I may be able to transform into Jagerkin; but whilst an injured zombie wolf was trying to pull his brain together, and say yea or nay, the entire group was attacked by feral Lycans!

When last heard, Miss Qlippothic and Baron Wulfenbach were all right, but no word on the rest of the party. This bodes ill. I lost touch with her soon afterwards, so I'm hoping she is still safe from harm.



We picked up stunt brooms at Abranimations--they're a little difficult to use--and then went to LicoLico and wandered their choice of Halloween freebies.

The Japanese don't...quite...get Halloween yet. But they're having fun trying.

Over the course of the evening, I IMed everyone people told me to IM, and got much in the way of treat and candy bags. Over the course of the past two weeks, I have added a good 10,000 items to my inventory in gathered pumpkins, skulls, spiders, and outfits!

But it was a rich pageant to explore on the grid, haunted houses, haunted sims, ghostly manifestations far and wide. And we hunted. We hunted nearly every night we could.

And--save for the W&M dragon hunt in Maitake (hide walnut-sized pumpkins under tree roots in your sim? Are you MENTAL?!?!)--we had grand fun. GRAND fun.



Hmm, lava at LicoLico. I sense a theme. Is there that much geological instability on the grid at present?

Or maybe it's just wherever our feet touch, the ground splits....

The Wild Hunt! We go onward!