you've got to promise not to stop when I say when

Runes is developing some serious server issues. Case in point: I left the game last night safely on the road, irritated because the world had completely dissolved around me when the game crashed. I logged in today and that's the first thing I saw.

With no warning, with no reason, I was dead, on a different patch of snow, and nowhere near the road I'd been running down. For no reason I could ascertain.

29,996 XP points to replay--solid XP debt--before I could start earning points towards my next level. That was more points than I had to earn, total, to get from level 20 to level 21.

To say this was a blow doesn't quite go far enough.

Still and all, it remains a lovely world, with new things still cropping up now and again:



In the midst of ice and snow, a temple to a time when the climate was not nearly as harsh. Amazing little details tucked away; there only to be appreciated, really, no other reason for them. That, I'm still breathlessly charmed by.

Another hunt at Dare Designs. You're hunting for fourteen of these magazines:



When you buy each one, you'll receive an outfit, or a set of shoes, or both, and a copy of the book in question (a one-prim non-opening prop, to be sure, but still pretty as decoration). And in checking out all fourteen hunt items? The only one I ended up deciding to ditch was a pair of very large combat boots, more suited to male feet than mine.

And that still doesn't mean they weren't well made, or that other women wouldn't want to stomp around in them. Huge buckled wonders they were; just not my specific style. :)

And one of the outfits was one I was toying with buying outright:



Granted, being silks--and being silks that rely on hooks torn through living, bleeding flesh to fasten to the body--these aren't everyday wear. Still, the silver was the color I was contemplating buying anyway. It's like Mr. Munro read my mind.

Also, there are some lovely new sights to see on the associated sims. Like the upper chamber marked Penance in Gaslight:



WAU. Just...amazing, lovely, serene...beautiful.

And they have a new landscaping section. With haunted trees, perfect for upcoming parcel haunts...or year-round enchantment.



See? The Haunted Bell trees, btw, come in two (possibly three) variations, and chime in a ghostly, resonant fashion off and on.

It's worth checking out, though admittedly, fourteen prizes, scattered across three sims...it's a fairly challenging hunt. But the prizes are worth the time invested.

And I'm not sure whether this story is leading towards a world of brain-powered vehicles, or leading to a mechanical Mothra devastating Japan--but either way, I agree with Engadget: that is creepy.