unraveling since I found you

I am three days from having this headache for two months solid. It's draining a lot of energy for...everything. But still, I had things to do today, and I did...some of them...and I'm still trying, perhaps in vain, to find one good, solid, scary haunt.

Tonight, before I leave for dinner, I'm taking in a haunt in Sleezywood...which already makes me think it's yet another disappointment. But let's go.

Game rip from go? No, we're moving on. I threw away the picture even.

Dear gods, what's left? What about the Haunt at the Admiral's Arms?



Took me a bit to find out how to get out of the rainy back alley to the haunt, but now we're here, and...wau, it's dark.



Okay, flashlight on, let's go, and...Okay. wait. One door leads to a games room stocked with adult furniture and erotic art. Another leads to a bedroom and a bar. Yet ANOTHER takes me to a shopping area downtown...Clicking on the door in the garage gets me to a Bloodlines storage area....What?

Finally I turned around to the ONLY door unchecked, the one that had the Circle of Avatar Moving off a land spot...save I didn't land there. Right, then, let's try that...and into a circular maze of demi-connected passages, leading finally to stairs down, spiraling towards...



...an occult library? Chest has some freebies. But...this seems to be about it.



Meanwhile, I can't believe I forgot to cover the "Bad Moon Rising" Bannered Horns from /Vae Victis\ when I covered the other ones. Where is my mind...Well. I know exactly where it is, in excruciating detail, and I'd rather I didn't.

But they're one of the hunt gifts at Hallow Manor, which I believe closes on the 31st? So there's a little time left, I hope!



So I went to 1313's redux of their "Curios and Spooky Things" haunt.

And why yes, I did tint the entire horns teal to match my hair. Doesn't really show up on the horns themselves, but look at how neat that shade picked up the runes on the banners!



I will likely drop the tent on these when I wear them again, because they truly are a perfect blood-moon red..but for now it's fun.



Haunting the radio station at the back of 1313's haunt is kind of fun.



Floating in the horns? Also fun. Oh, and just for the sake of mentioning it--for once, I wanted the heaviness. This headache is dire, and now on its 59th consecutive day, so horns that were just a solid, heavy presence actually worked for me.



I won't lie, I own a lot of horns. So many that they've been subdivided in the Fantasy horns folder, between 'antlers', 'demonic', and 'goat/ram' varieties, then further into 'bright', 'goth', 'seasonal', 'aged', 'natural' and 'construct' subsets. Some few also go directly into larger seasonal folders, under 'Autumn/Hallows' or 'Winter' usually. The beauty of doing this is not only that I adore covering really wonderful things, but that I can, without a doubt, say I have at least one set of /Vae Victis\ horns in the larger seasonal folders, and several have made their way into the Fantasy folder subfolder sets as well.

And even having said that, I think the Bannered horns are going to be heavily in rotation. Even when I smallenize them later, they fit my "occasional deer with sheep honns' aesthetic. :D

You can find them, remember, at the Hallows Manor hunt by searching for the hunt prizes in the back woods, orrr...this year I said the hell with it and bought six of the Silver hunt HUDs, and just going directly to the prize room. Several tasty things there, and I see no loss of honor in taking the easy route currently.

and I'm a world of emotion, for me, there's really just one thing to do

Started my morning off far earlier than I wished to, so I just wanted one good haunted house under my belt. That's not too much to ask, is it?



Apparently yes, yes it is. [[And note from the Editrix, I did not catch until today, the 31st, that the upload of this run of pics failed. They work now...obviously...]] Hello, Lisa. I have no patience today, so we're scratching the Port Adventure haunt off our list. Starting off with game rips does NOT give me confidence.

How about the Aura Haunted Area? It's adult, but that's not necessary a bad thing...



BAD THING. VERY BAD THING.

All...right...how about...the...World of Dark Imagination?



Well, easy's about my speed today.



That's...odd. It's just...hanging in midair. Nothing else. Silent. Just...there.



Yeah, won't lie. That's kind of disturbing. It...wiggles, when it reaches out of the hedge.



And then, into the haunted house proper, and...what? Bright yellow light, earth floor, trees growing through stone walls...It was a house on the outside, though??



Oh hey. I could live here. Save for the two obvious game rips, both from the haunted-house simulator game for the Nintendo Wii, The Grudge.



Okay, we get it, Satanism is scary to you.

By and large, though--this is a very strange haunted house, and--that's not a bad thing. There's a room of eyes. There's a room of clowns. There's a room of spiders--and I didn't show that one, because there was literally no angle I could find to snap a picture that didn't have a spider in it, and not small ones, either. There's a fairly accurate, game ripped children notwithstanding, of Children of the Corn.

I think it's honestly worth a visit. I didn't even finish, I had to go meet with a client, but I'm still saying that, because what they're doing is pretty unique. So I think this is my first five out of five this year. Check it out.

how'd you get so desperate? how'd you stay alive?

[15:14] Marloo Redd (marlooredd): you can't have your meat candy til you've had your gummy broccoli

But MOOooommm...



So LEVEL is open, and remember when I mentioned the "Baphomet" Lapel Chain and Signet Ring from /Vae Victis\? That I wasn't sure if the event was open or not?

Well, it still is, and here's the booth, and it's still marked L$425.



Also, I ran into Arkivet at Shop 'n Hop! Her gift is the Crystalline Horns in Candycorn. Free for anyone who wanders by!

Meanwhile...hmmm.



The "Famous" Spook House, it says.



So I'm at Jenia's Very Spooky Haunted Halloween Land...I am already unimpressed.



And there's Jenia...and she's on moderate land.

Wearing that.



Well, let's get this over with.



This little guy was pretty neat, but he reminds me uncomfortably of the Coraline ghost children.



I jumped into the next car, not realizing someone else had done the same thing, and before I could jump out again, we were off. Well, let's make the best of it...and apparently 'the best' includes game rips. These are two iterations of Alice from Alice: Madness Returns.



And this lass is from Resident Evil, I believe, where a lot of the mesh zombies on the grid come from.

I may have to take back something said earlier about the maker of this particular dark ride: namely, I thought the game rips were annoying, but pervasive enough on the grid some people may just not know what they mean. But going through this ride, seeing the same exact infringing properties--could it be that the maker included those game rips in the sales package??

If so, there's extremely disheartening.

Two out of five skulls, and that only because Jenia says if she's on the parcel, then every rider gets five Linden, and on Halloween, she's raising it to ten Lindens. So...a small amount of free Lindens if she's there, at least.

If nothing else, Jenia did look lovely in that outfit...it just wasn't designed for moderate sims.

and now I'm turning to dust in a world that's twisted

So, couple reminder things to start--first, the Gruesome Relic from /Vae Victis\ I mentioned clear back in the first week of October is still available as a gift at the MadPea hunt. Which also still requires a HUD, either the Basic (A hundred Lindens, gives you the ability to Find All the Things), or the Deluxe (Five hundred Lindens, gives you the ability to Find All the Things, a spooky backpack, a spooky ghost blaster, and a spooky teensy car to vroom around in whilst shrieking at passersby).

..>Well. You don't have to, I just assume most will.

Meanwhile, we're covering the "Faust" Opalescent Demon Horns from /Vae Victis\, because I do need to get to those before I can track down more pretties to review!



Straight out of the box in the lovely carmine glow of Grim's booth, there they are. Pretty even in drenched reds, yes?

And tonight's haunt, to pair with the broken heart and the broken head, is....Krongower's "Halloween Haunted House 2022", where their bio says,

"A pretty terrific haunted house for the 2022 Halloween season. If you're looking for a no nonsense Halloween themed environment, you found it! All mesh, all awesome. Come see the ghosts, goblins, specters, vampires, and witches, Trick or Treat! :)"

Riiiiight. From here, I can see Alma Wade skipping around without even turning my head.

But let's see if it's any good in spite of the game rip.



The third gacha Mystery Mansion from Death Row Designs seems to be this year's big haunt build. To be sure, it has some very nice touches. I'm trying the top row to the farthest right for horn shading, black with a bit of bloodspatter. (I've also tilted the horns back and embedded them slightly deeper in the hair.)



I think their chef is drunk. And the horns are now the second shade from the upper row left, the pure opalescent with blue flashes.



The Apocalypse Clock from Never Totally Dead! Someday, I will own this gorgeous thing. The horns were teal with the emerald flash for this shot.



You know, if the bathroom's unusable anyway, might as well use it as possessed book storage. (The horns? They're now in the stellar red-on-red tone.)



It has been something of a tiring day...might as well catch a few winks. (There's a purple and dark green option for the horns! Neat!)



Ah, the nursery, and more possessed tomes. Well, it's never too early to start early childhood instruction. I approve.

All in all, the game rips--there were more--make me shake my head, but they've taken a seen-to-death haunt build and still managed some nifty touches here and there. I can't ding more than one skull. Four out of five, so if you have extra time (which we are quickly running out of!), you could do worse than meander through this haunt.



The horns come in ten shades total, some with bloodspattter, and some without. Oh, and these are the Hellforged version:



(These I arched back a bit, then selected each horn in edit and moved it slightly out; they only come in one shade, but it's a gorgeous one.)

You can find these horns (and their companion gift, the "Hellforged" Opalescent Demon Horns, shown above) at the Halloween Shop 'n Hop, which runs until November 1st. So still a few days left to grab the gift--and maybe the rest of the gifts too!

as the pain sweeps through, makes no sense for you

Excoriation.

That's what this feels like. We're here again.

To the point it's now fallen into ritual--the placement of the china just so, to receive the offering; the position of the knife, balanced on a single edge; the turn of the filletting blade to carve off another section of still-beating heart.

Why are we here again?

I'd been wandering The Guild's Hallows Aftermath event, pondering a good place to take pictures of the "Preacher" Occultist glasses from /Vae Victis\, when all this hit. Nearly in the same moment, someone restarted the Abnormality sim, so I had to relocate.



(It's of morbid personal irony that I find myself at Grandpa's Haunted House in Dorpeth, which seems to be an Adult haunt. But I digress.)



Nursery, not surprised. Game rips, also not surprised. This is Alma Wade, by the way, or at least her child form, from the F.E.A.R. franchise of games. And yes, it's long proven that this is a copyright violating item.

It just happens to be an item that's everywhere.



Oh, this is fun. I think the chandelier was supposed to brain me when I fell through the floor. Sadly, it wasn't fast enough.



Or maybe I'm already dead.



Maybe it is me...The fire doesn't seem to be at all warm...

Anyway, you can find the Preacher glasses for L$400 at the /Vae Victis\ booth at the event. You'll likely need to follow the beacon; they're in the second row of coffins to the northeast.



Oh, and these are the hunt gift for the Guild's haunted hunt--I freely admit I don't look as good in the originals as does Grim, but--I think I kinda rock these ones.

Enjoy!

(Oh, and three out of five skulls for the haunt. Wasn't that impressive, but wasn't terrible, so...they get a solid "meh".)

I'm unraveled by the truth I finally see

Okay, here we go...



I've visited The Haunted in years prior, but I think this is my first visit this year.



Oh, okay, I don't need to bother with this one. When you start out with four game rips in the opening space? Yeah, zero out of five, moving on.

How about Savira City Halloween?



Ultimate dissonance--finding these two at a side table, saying this:

[21:44] ixxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: oh goodness
[21:44] ixxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: are you feeling okay?
[21:44] kxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx:: im ok just aall the blood here
[21:45] kxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx:: i dont want it to make me sick
[21:45] ixxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: well sis we dont have to stay for long
[21:45] ixxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: we can always go back home and chill in our pjs
[21:45] kxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: hmm yea that sounds good right now lol

All the blood is disturbing her? When her rear is shaking like it's made out of not-entirely-set aspic? Elsewise she has two deeply buried motors just jiggling away...Like, that butt is mechanized, not just relying on physics, is what I'm saying.?

But sure. Whatever. I grabbed an apple cider from the cart next to them, and set off towards a random building.



Which...turned out to have phantom stairs. Why?



The skeletaur was neat. (As an aside, Beefburgers, owner of Aquatica FP Mesh, helped me find the skeletaur, because he made it--if you click this and follow the beacon, it's in the Limited Edition vendor on the upper right side of the back wall for L$99!)

There seemed to be no way to get into the rest of the haunt, so...I hopped over a hedge. And found a b'ar.



Big phantom b'ar, too. Didn't seem inclined to eat me.



And I wound up here. Seemingly no way out, nothing but a huge donation sign...so I just left.

I won't say there's not some decent ideas here, but...my gods, people, you had two whole sims, at least test things out first to make sure one of them doesn't have glitchy weirdness! Two out of five skulls, and that second skull only because I was able to track down the skeletaur. Sheesh.

you smile and laugh at me, but you don't see a thing

One more for the night. The description says:

"Welcome to the Haunted Woods for adults. Midnight and mouse look is advised. Enjoy all we have to offer that includes Zombies, Horror, Haunted House, Haunting, RLV Trap, Forest, Animesh, Clown, Scary, Demon, Gang Bang, Werewolf, Ghosts, and sex."

I am prepared to be thoroughly unimpressed.

And I am:

[22:43] Second Life: Only members of a certain group can visit this area.

I'm not joining your group just to see your haunt, my dude. Moving on.

Wait, there's a notecard. It has a landmark. Okay, let's try there.



Touch for weapons? Nope, I was right the first time. NOW moving on.



You know what? I've covered this before, but I have to go through some half-decent haunt this week, so...here we are again, at the Haunted Catacombs at Universal Temple.



Not much has changed, but I'm amused that the kraken decided to ride for a bit with me.



I have zero idea if Grimworx is even on the grid these days, but this is one of their original haunts. Pretty much just a transparent flat image, with flexi from the bottom up, not top down as most pieces use. They have this amusing little wobble to them, and they're still cool to see.



Arachnophobe alert, for any haunts that feature active spider content. I had a couple shots closer, but I think this is all I need to show. There's not a lot of spider bits, but there's enough.



And then...everything went up in flames.



After that, several haunts, and then a slightly darker patch of tunnel with snakes. The use of full bright on some of the props is starting to slightly jar, I will admit. And the snakes were so dark in the water, with my environment settings, I felt I should bump up the brightness. It's darker in the catacombs.



The only real glitch happened at the very end of the ride--when this chainsaw clown suddenly popped out of the wall and sawed through me. And kept sawing through me. Over and over again while I wondered if this was just a really long end sequence or if something had gone wrong.

Finally, I got out on my own and swam to the stairs, shaking my head, and went up only gouting a slight bit of blood from the chainsaw cuts.

All in all, this is nearly G-rated at this point, and exactly the level of relaxing, comfortable haunt I needed. Tempted to give five out of five skulls for that alone, but--that end sequence does them in. There are people who would hit that and--perhaps even justifably--freak out.

So it's four out of five skulls, but that's still pretty good. If you've never gone, you should go at least once to appreciate what early SL had to do for haunts.