Fantasy Faire, continuing on!

I'm told by a friend (the excellent Vulpine Eldrich) that there is good stuff to be found in a Steampunk-themed sim... which, if I continue on my current path, will be the last one I get to.  So I suppose I'd better continue moving on, then.

Next up is The Faery Court, sponsored by Cerridwen's Cauldron.  Their sims in past Faires have been pretty spectacular, and this one is well up to standard.  I swear I could actually hear my graphics card scream in pain.  (Pain is good, graphics card!)  But anyway.

Here we are - well, I am - arriving.  You will note the different coloured lamps to right and left.  This is because the sim is sort of divided down the middle, into the Seelie and the Unseelie Faery Courts.  I don't think it counts for much besides colour scheme, but it's a nice touch.

 

 

Looking the other way from the arrival point there.

Here's the Cerridwen's Cauldron store, where - among other things - you can buy copies of the buildings and general sim decoration.  I'm not sure I have the money, or the spare LI, to indulge in that.  But I would if I could.  Oh yes.

There's me looking at one of the smaller store buildings, and climbing to the top of another one.  The textures are much crisper than that when they finally rez, by the way.  As you may guess, I was having problems by this stage.

 

For the second evening running, I could see the next sim from some distance away, but when I actually got close to the sim crossing, it winked out... and, when I tried to teleport there, I  winked out.  So, once I'd relogged, I found myself teleporting from dear old Pooley to the next sim, Heavenslough.

 

This one's sponsored by Creators of Fantasy, who are new to me, at least when it comes to putting Fantasy Faire sims together.  I have to say, they've done a bang-up job on this one.

Yes, I was moved to take quite a number of pictures.  There's a definite structure to the build, with the main store and the arrival point up at the top, with those nearby large tree-stores, and then you go down lots of stone stairs to a sort of swampy level with wooden paths leading to the adjacent sims.  And there is lots of interesting detailing along the way, like those little archways shaped our of living wood, or the occasional giant gem glinting in the undergrowth....

 

... and the windlight settings are moody and atmospheric, and the textures are deeply and richly detailed, and the twisty-turny layout means there's something new to explore, half-glimpsed through the foliage, with every few steps you take....

 

Um.  Basically, I was impressed.  I was wandering along, snapshotting away, and murmuring to myself, "well, this could very easily be this year's standout build".

 

Then, for once, I made it through the sim crossing intact, and found myself standing next to a pretty respectable effort at the city of Gondor.

 

I mean, I might still end up rating Heavenslough as the stand-out build of the Faire.  But it's got competition.  Oh yes.  More of this in our next.