and once again that rising sun is droppin' on down

The witching hour is nigh! Or so the Destinations menu would have us believe:

Come watch the witches as they gather in a clearing, their spells to chant and potions to brew. But beware as the witching hour descends, the light plays tricks in the eerie shadows cast. Is it friend or foe amid the shapes coming into view you may ask? Residents can explore the haunted trails and purchase the items they see to create their own Samhain, Gothic, or Halloween experience!

Hmm. Well, it's worth a shot, even if it's just a gussied-up store.



Damn it, I've been here before. That's three ads I've found for the same damned place. Gah.

How about Eternal Night? Have I been there?

Their blurb says

Aeterna Horde Headquarters
Bloodlines friendly, open to everyone *NO NUDITY* Flickr and Rp Friendly /*Windlight Sky: "Night" Water: "Blackwater" Sky @ 500m to 1000m: "AnaLutetia - AvatarOpt"RegionOverride*/

Right. Spampire turf. Okay, I'm braced.



That is...a lot of hanging bodies.



And that is a lot of fire.



The river of blood, as promised, complete with cascading bloodfall.



Blurring of a certain word mind. So the rest of this room seemed to be a sort of royal reception affair? One chair labeled "KING" with two chairs, one to each side, labeled "QUEEN", so at least that's my assumption.



They really do have a hanging obsession here.

There's a few areas I missed--there's a bramble maze, where the first rip (Left4Dead's Boomer) was found, and a graveyard (where the mesh rip of Dracula in man-bat form was found), but all in all, it's not too bad. Some good photo ops, if nothing else.

I'm goin' to Muriel, see, can I bring some coffee home? (part 2)

So, near the entrance--before one walks through the entry gate, in point of fact--is a port up to the Haunted Skybox.



It's very dark up here. I'm finding a new Windlight setting.



That's a bit better. What that parchment actually says only applies to people playing Bloodlines. I don't, so I'm passing it by. The wolf's pretty good, though.



Ancient, demonic statue on a deep sanguine carpet while lightning flashes outside. Atmospheric.



The lady of the cas...skybox?...drifting through a bedroom, complete with sex bed, while portraits of bloodletting line the walls. Sure.



Going down one level brings us to a pool of blood--very derivative--set into a bloodspattered checkerboard floor, with a slowly rotating corpse floating on the surface. Ick.



And on the other side of the room, various implements of torture and deathing.

Okay, so...it is actually following the rules of moderate sims--sex in the sky, PG (more or less) on the ground. And for blood fetishists, this would be a party--blood splashed on nearly every surface, pools of blood, fanged photography--the gang's all here in that sense. But to be honest, I liked the ground level better. S'just me, I know, but...there seemed to be a sense of whimsy downstairs, and some sense of subtlety here and there, whereas upstairs? It's all WE'RE VAMPIRES GRR WE'RE EVIL LOOK AT OUR VICTIMS NOW HAVE SEX. I mean...yeah, okay, we get it, now can you back it up a bit?

It's not the worst haunt I've been to this year. But it's far from the best. There are some good touches, but most of them are downstairs. Take it in if you're bored, I'd say.

I'm goin' to Muriel, see, can I bring some coffee home? (part 1)

Okay. Took a bit of research, and trying out different things, but--for now--I ran a test entry with the new picture display system in place, and it seems to work. Now I just have to redo it for every other image on my blog, and sorry, folks, I'm only going to do this--again, for now--for the recent entries only (September 1st on). It's just too daunting to consider doing this for every single image that's ever been posted on the blog.

But...until I can secure a more permanent solution...this puts the blog back to as functional as it was before. Ish.

Now then. The next haunt. Something isn't adding up here. The description of the place:

*~~* Family Land where All are Welcome. Peaceful Friendly Place for Couples to Share Romance, Love, Dancing, Date, Photogenic Environment for Relaxation and Romance. Adult Animations, Halloween Cemetary and Haunted Skybox. Seasonal Themed

Okay, so...nothing makes this a a haunt but "Halloween Cemetary and Haunted Skybox", nearly the very last set of keywords?

Oh, and keep in mind, while they say they feature Adult animations, they're on Moderate-rated mainland. Just FYI.



Though the gate we go.



Okay, I actually really liked the dance circle until I noticed the pole at dead center. Is that really...?



It is! It's one of the old Sine Wave poles! Man, I spent a lot of time on those at various clubs.



Just some skeletons chillin' by the tree.



Radioactive spider. Huh.



And a winged skeleton catching some moon rays.

So yeah. This isn't terrible. But she mentioned a skybox?

someone's friend is talking like they know, oh, you’re on it

Have I been to Halloweentown yet? Their ad reads:

Bloodlines, haunted, camping, bowling, gym, Greedy, truth or dare, spin the bottle, dancing, pool, billiards, sauna, teen, school, grotto, rock, dungeon, church, graveyard, escorts, 420, dungeon, wedding chapel, biker, magic, runaway, Twisting Fate

There are several words in that description that makes me dubious. I'm bracing for bad things. (Though considering I work on the Twist of Fate sim, those end keywords were odd to find as well.)



There are deer, lemon trees and wisteria. The anticipated dread is beginning. There are bats, one owl, and a few enterprising rodents, so...it's not a complete wash yet.



Is this the haunt? It doesn't look like a haunt. It looks more like...a dance club.



I was not wrong--pole dancing downstairs, some gaming tables, couples' dancing upstairs, that's as far as I got because I'm still looking for the haunt.



Well, that's certainly terrifying. Full bright landscaping is always jarring.



Is...this the haunt? There are a (vanishingly few) other places on the sim with Hallows decor, but this was the only place with lighting striking. Constantly. (And there were no signs pointing the way, I just had to wander the flat, nearly featureless landscape to find it.)



...which I can't access, as there's a series of invisiprims in the way. Right. On yer bike, now, away with ye! I can't stand pointless haunts, especially those I can't access. Do not pass Go, do not get L$200.

perfect murder, take your aim

There's apparently a "Bloodlines friendly" haunt on Shivering Pines. Their blurb states:

Explorers welcome Thirst Bloodlines Vampire Clan Rage Lycan Haunts Hybrid Demon Angel Human Family Club Games , 7Seas Fishing Space, Hallow's Eve .

"Family". "Games". Huh. So...good haunt? Bad haunt? No haunt? Not yet sure.



I rezzed into a quite decent witch's cottage, rife with potion bottles, some old palmistry posters, and a self-sweeping broom. Neat.



Right outside the door, I mean RIGHT outside, as in it's the very first thing seen once through the door--a P.T. rip. Really? But the cottage was so well done!



Turning left brought me to pumpkins, gently glowing in the chant-filled night. I miss new trails. Are they even still around?



Turning right brings me to witches, conspiring to create potions.



Going (mostly) straight from the coven gathering, there are several slat bridges and walkways. I saw something in the distance, and when I got there, it turned out to be a fishing shack.



And, past a rusted fishing boat, another fishing shack (with the Broken-Neck woman from Fatal Frame drifting around inside, not shown). Great, more rips.

Overall, it's not terrible, I've seen worse this year. They capture a certain haunted bayou feel, and that's no bad thing. I'm just irked by the rips, and keep in mind, if you travel yourself to see, you may be hassled by spampires.

looked at you with pity first, then disbelief

I am getting so frustrated right now...I'm searching "haunted house", "haunted houses", "horror", "haunts" and "hauntings", and...past a certain point on all the lists under SL search everything devolves into groups for haunts that don't exist anymore. Why are they still in search? They're just taking up space!

Anyway, though I have dread, today we're going to Winchester's "Family Illuminati". They say of themselves:

Bloodlines, Vampire, Vampiro, Lycan, Human, Humano, RPG, Sangue, Blood, Blood Bank, Bloodbank, Lumen Bank, Lumen Bank, Vampire. Haunt, Bar, Drink, Shot, Ether, Ichor, ichor, ether, Amaretto, KittyCatS, FennuX, G&S, Freebie.
127 Haunts

So...Bloodlines mall? Great. Well...as I'm running out of options...



Yes! Clarity! I took the port.



Okay, what? The port took me to an all-black room, with dozens upon dozens of boxes with the little "Family Illuminati" logo on them. I...don't understand.



Turning around didn't help either. Same thing, only more boards on the wall. What is this?

[13:48] The Haunt .:[BLOODLINES]:. + Family Illuminati +: Click here to teleport directly to the selected haunt: Bravehearts Paradise (151,9,25)

So picking one purely at random netted me this line in chat. So...I went to see.

And it's a...store? That has sections for 'ether' and 'blood' withdrawals, and gah, deep in spampire territory, dear gods, no. Let's try again, maybe? But my sense of dread is increasing.



Another blurb of text:

[13:53] The Haunt .:[BLOODLINES]:. + Family Illuminati +: Click here to teleport directly to the selected haunt: JokeRs (131,29,25)

So...skulls. Skulls and bright blue DAYLIGHT sky.

Is 'haunts' what Bloodlines calls their stores now? Or their homes? I don't know, I don't care, I only know that there's nothing here to review, look at, or buy, and I'm beyond done.