"The Pond" And "The Forgotten"

 

By Gemma Cleanslate

While doing the Nature Collective Hunt I visited some venues I had never seen before, nature related . One startled me and brought memories of the Greenies home of old. The beauty invited me to return and explore. It is The Pond. Everything there is immense, from the lily pads to the outsized koi below the waters and insects in the sky. rαvєn вαnríσn кrαу (RavenStarr Resident) is owner, designer, builder of The Pond.

It is a marvelous place to hang out with relaxing sites among the lilies. Check out the delicious picnic area or play in the sandbox. There are secret places here so walk around and touch. I went around the outer edges of the Pond and discovered little animals and birds.

Well I say little but they were not. Some were the same size as me. I had a hard time locating the prize there but finally found it. It is a dancing frog so that made me happy. While I was there 7 visitors arrived in different groups to explore. Take some time to go visit and relax on land or under the waters. A bubble on the lily pad will take you down. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fairhill/108/156/26

“A magical swamp born from sorrow, lighting the way for explorer's to follow.

A castle in ruin, gardens left to despair. Eyes of lost statues left only to stare.

Whispers of sadness from voices long gone, dancing fairy dust left to sing its last song.”

This is a description of The Forgotten, another place I discovered on my Nature Collective hunt.

I found a dazzling sky and a fantastical swamp to maneuver moving on walkways and tree roots. Float around on a leaf for a while to discover the environment. The foliage and insects are so whimsical.

A fanciful lamp post seems to look at a visitor with laughter in the light. Lionsheart (Elfing Shenanigans) the owner has touched the deep secrets of the past in creating the place.

Mystical creatures inhabit the ruins above the swamp. Dragons fly overhead and an enormous whale , seemingly out of place, floats through the sky and I took a ride on his back. Look for little nooks of relaxing places, some frightening but also inviting. Bring your honey and dance in the gazebo at the edge of the waters.

Everywhere I walked I was aware of the beautiful sky above. The whole region is a delight to the eyes. I will return to poke through those ruins for more adventures.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Peaceful%20Shore/89/185/26

The Nature Collective has so many members with lovely places to explore and I will be doing that! Join the group and see all the offerings.

Gemma Cleanslate

 

The Deathlands

By Bixyl Shuftan

Recently, a friend and I dropped by a rather desolate place in Second Life: The Deathlands. The place describes itself as "an isolated post-apocalyptic island community where a handful of hardy survivors desperately cling to what passes for life after the nuclear winter." Upon entering, a crow greeted us, "Greetings ... welcome to Deathlands! It is many years since the Nukes cleansed the Earth. Among the frail and diseased survivors there are few rules, so feel free to wander Deathlands and sample its many pleasures and perils." Almost as if on cue, the radio stream played the tune "Darkest Dream." Later songs included, "Love is Dead," and "Poison Remains."

The place is owned by Rebel Wolf (HermitBlue), considered the "mutant warlord" here, and Luddita Wolf (luddita) his consort. Seeing us, "We are the survivors," they showed us around. "You are under the care of Baron Wolf," he told us, "It's safe in Deathlands. Well, sorta safe. Probably should not drink the water." Showing us some NPC figures, one was a rather bloody doctor with a paitent who didn't look too good. "Hes the only medical we have," Rebel told us, "so he gets away with a lot."

There were a few places mentioned in the notecard that I'd gotten on entry, such as the Dead Tree where a number of corpses hung, "The Motel From Hell" in which the beds were bloody mattresses and the "bathroom" was a bucket with flies buzzing over it, the hull of an old Russian submarine that had somehow washed ashore and repurposed, and others. There was one not mentioned that Rebel wanted to show us: The Bunker.From the outside, the place was concrete and steel. Inside, there were bunks, machinery, and what looked like some kind of control center with access to satelites, "Some of us survived the nuclear winter in here!" For some reason, there were warheads of small missiles in there.

But not everything here was a grim survival story. There are two social spots. One is "The Music Festival Grounds." Rebel spoke of it, "The survivors built a dancefloor." The dancefloor itself was made of of sections of wood planking piled together with a rustic-looking stage in the back. The place was surrounded on three sides by chair-link fencing, presumably to keep the more drunken partiers from stumbling into the lagoon. But not everything about it looked safe as there was a yellowish-green looking cloud of mist in the middle. When I asked Rebel, he responded, "Oh, I think it's radioactive gas (cough)." As we were talking, a few more people came by, including one with a guitar. Before long, he was playing some music, and an impromtu party started.

After a while, the party moved to what passed for a high class club around here, "The Loser's Club." Advertised as a "notorious dive bar where survivors barter their favours in return for liquor and cigarettes," the peace was kept by a burly-looking NPC acting as a bouncer standing watch just outside the front door. "Dont mind Ivan outside," Rebel told us, "he just looks mean!" Another NPC, a waitress, handed out drinks on request. Those not dancing could sit on an old couch or one of the barstools. One seemed a little woozy from the gas earlier, "I may pass out soon."

There were other places in the distance that I never set foot on, such as a stretch of highway that came to a dead end over the water, a waterfall, and numerous other buildings in various states of repair and disrepair.

The Deadlands is in http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Blue%20Eyes/118/159/22

Addition: on August 18, the Deathlands was moved to a new sim, at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Paradise%20Kingdom/88/35/22

Bixyl Shuftan