Jeepers Creepers For Horror Fun!

There are some brilliant Halloween sims in SL and one of the best thought out and detailed locations I have found is Jeepers Creepers at Calas Galadhon. Even the pumpkins heads have an extra streak of evil as you pass them by; they turn to glare menacingly at you as if they have a life of their own!

I went to explore Jeepers Creepers with friend Drax Ember and we set out through the cemetery with its ancient looking tombs. We didn’t get far before we were confronted by ghosts and ghouls appearing out of the mist. Zombies too joined in the chase as we tried to avoid their rotting hands reaching out for us! There is a creepy haunted house as you wander further up the hill and you have to be careful what you touch in there, as Drax found out! he ended up laying prone on the floor with a heavy chair smashed over his head! Be warned don’t look at the baby in the pram in the living room, it’s not a pretty sight! Worst of all for me were the giant spiders scuttling all over the floor! Back in the grounds again, we came a cropper with a bunch of vultures waiting to eat the flesh off of our bones!

There is much more to Jeepers Creepers than you first suspect, there are the caverns below the surface of the sim, which are full of hidden horrors! I thought I had seen giant spiders in the haunted house, but those were nothing compared to the ones waiting for me underground! eeek!! Drax even got caught in a web and struggled for ages trying to get free! I think the whole thing has had a devastating affect on him though, giving him a taste for human remains! As you can see by the main picture, he happily sat down to a banquet of brains and other nasty bits! Not me, I’m a vegetarian, I legged it out of there!

Janey Bracken

Captiva Island

While looking in the search showcase the other day I found an intriguing description for a place called Captiva Island . It said “A moss giant guards the entrance to this underground cave where a troll waits to snatch up unsuspecting visitors. Find the secret door and be transported inside the mystic tree, a world full of mutant plants and mysterious creatures.” I have never been able to turn down an opportunity to see mutant plants and mysterious creatures so I tp’d over. Entering the cave I found a rocky interior with a water covered floor and the promised troll. I did spend a bit of time in a cage next to the troll, but was able to get out and continue searching for the mysterious door. A very kind avatar pointed it out to me and I went through. I found myself in a beautiful forest, full of huge, glowing plants and trees as well as some jewel like insects. I walked around, first stopping at a campfire where I sat and warmed my hands, then continuing along the paths which wound throughout the forest.

At one point I fell into some quicksand and thought I was done for, but fortunately I was able to extricate myself with some difficulty and continue my explorations. I came upon a second fire and had a little rest there, lying down on a log and munching on a glowfruit. From that position I spied what looked like a sheltered resting place on a leaf-hammock, so I climbed up to it and lay down for a little while (I was still tired from my experience in the quicksand), but after a couple of minutes I had the distinct feeling that I was being watched. Sneaking a look around I saw, to my horror, that a large lizard-like beast was staring at me intently. I thought it best to leave as quickly and quietly as possible, which I did.
Hurrying away from the creature I came upon another door and slipped through it, only to end up in a cavern full of boulders and spiders! Not liking spiders at all I retreated through the door and back into the forest where I took a path in the opposite direction from the lizard creature. I discovered yet another door. Opening it and crossing the threshold I plunged onto the deck of a ship being tossed about on a stormy sea. It was difficult finding my footing at first but I was able to master walking around on the deck after a bit of trial and error, and soon found myself standing guard and looking out across the ocean. Feeling even more daring I swung around on one of the ropes and then tried balancing on another. That was quite a feat and I felt after that that it was time for me to return to my peaceful home, where I could sit in front of my fireplace in safety and comfort.

Hibiscus Hastings

Love Your Virtual Pets!!

My Siamese kitten Max is a right little character, my friend Drax bought him for me for my birthday and Max, in many ways, is just like a real cat. Pets are one of SL’s amazing things, fellow writer Ed has a cat as well that he carries around, and it purrs loudly! My kitten is programmed for a few different things, he roams about and suddenly lays down and goes to sleep and snores. After a brief nap he gets up and stretches and continues to run around. Probably the cutest thing is the fact that I can walk around the sim and he will follow me along the road. He has his own food bowl, plus a packet of cat food, a little bath that I can wash him in, and a ball to play with. I can carry him across sim borders, although he is a bit big to carry, but then again, I can adjust his size if I want to. I remember logging off and leaving him in my SL Chelsea apartment only to find that when I had logged back on he had gone down into the street to watch the builders who were creating a park area. They were amused at how he would wander about and then just fall asleep at the roadside.

I took a look around a couple of pet stores yesterday to see what they had, and the range is vast, you can even buy your very own crocodile. I started at the Lolo Pets Store and there was this huge croc roaming about on the decking, pretty harmless I thought, till he opened his mouth to show me a massive set of sharp teeth! I must have been lucky he wasn’t hungry, so I went off before he changed his mind! Lolo’s store does a nice selection of animals and aquarium fish too, she even has some nasty looking spiders for sale, I thought I would leave them on the shelf as Hibiscus wouldn’t appreciate any creepy crawlies running around in our new shop.

I teleported over to Zoobyland, a well laid out sim, with many exotic animals as well as domestic pets for sale. The features on these animals is very well done, you can get that lovely dopey looking Labrador, which comes in black, cream and brown or you can buy yourself a magnificent looking lion or black puma. Once you look around, you start to want them all, you can buy baby wild cats that you can cuddle and even monkeys to sit on your shoulder. These animals are very pricey, nearing the 1000 Linden mark or more, but they are cleverly scripted and have a virtual life of their own.

When I had been over to see Celine, the little green witch’s home the other day, she had a blue and gold Macaw flying around, I watched as it landed near us for a minute or two, then it took off again, flying in various patterns all round the sim. The Macaw wasn’t just repeating the same route over and over, he seemed to go off for different periods of time before returning, very impressive!

My little Max comes from a place called A.I.F. and they do corgi dogs as well as kittens. You can even buy a little house for your cat or dog to live in and clothes for it to wear. As time goes on the people who make these cats and dogs update the scripting and you can go back for a free update too, so it’s worth paying that bit more for a really smart pet.

Be careful though, next time you see a cat or dog walking about in the street, it may not be a virtual pet, but a real person who is wearing an avatar animal skin, so don’t go over and pat him on the head in case he does bite you…….

Janey Bracken