Steam Hunt XI: Grand Finale

And so we come to the end!  Eventually.  Fair few stops still to go, though, so let's see what we get at them.

First in this tranche is number 71, The Vintage Touch, which gives us this Steampunk Locker Set.  I think "steampunk" just means "rusty" in this instance, but what the heck, it's a nice mesh piece, there are times when you need some rusty lockers.

Oh, now.  This isn't rusty.  This is the Submarine Crustacean from number 72, L+N Signature Designs, and it is a lovely expression of L+N's distinctively extravagant Art Nouveau stylings.  L+N have figured in these hunts many times before, and they have usually given us some wonderfully beautiful and/or fantastical vehicle which I have praised to the skies, and this time is definitely no exception.

 Here's a talking book from number 73, Bibliotheque de Coeur.  The grouchy-looking bloke on the cover is Baudelaire, and if he can spare time from fretting over his receding hairline, he will recite the poem "L'homme et la mer" at you, at one line per click.  In chat, and in French.  It helps if you know French, which of course I do.  It's GCSE Alien that's the one I failed.

74 is Rad Designz, and it presented me with problems, because I am a Luddite and insufficiently au fait with modern SL technology.  The gift is a HUD which acts as an applier for SLink... hands, or something... and if you are familiar with that brand of mesh appendages, you may be able to tell what it does.  Me, I use the hands the Lindens gave me, and I have not a clue.  I think it might be nail polish.  Answers on a postcard please.

Here's a little Underwater Flying Sub from number 75, Designs by Sebastian.  Looks a little tame after the L+N thing, but heck, so do I.  It's a neat little vehicle, if you read the instructions notecard carefully and don't sit in the wrong seat like I did there.

Number 76 was Arcadia Asylum, and they did a little mini-hunt thing, where you had to travel between several stops - it was eventful, and they dished out some things in notecards along the way, but the main gifts were all at the end, with this Marine Research Lab full of steampunky gizmos and fish.  I spotted that octopus rug in another shop, somewhere along the way, and coveted it... and now, I have one of my very own.  Thank you for that, Arcadia Asylum!

And for all the other stuff, of course.  This is what the Marine Research Lab looks like from the outside.

Holly at number 77 gave us this mermaid outfit.  It's sort of half-way between being an actual mermaid outfit and being a mermaid-style gown.  You can go the whole hog with fins and a floaty AO (finny bits are included but an AO is not), or you can just keep your human feet on and slink around at nightclubs or something.  Works either way.

Number 78 is Sweet Sorrows, and they give us this "Stranded Dreams" posing... thing.  You sit on it, and there are poses you can use, which may make up some sort of narrative, even, only I wasn't paying attention properly.  It's a nice decorative piece anyway, even if you're not paying attention.

Here, around my neck, is a Treasure Blue Leather Necklace from number 79, WILLOW.  And very nice it is too.

According to number 80, Thistle Moon Designs, this is what the well-dressed Priestess of Poseidon is wearing this season.  And I wouldn't dream of contradicting them.  The male Priest of Poseidon is still in the box, next to me.  All very well, but while they have been dressing up in pleasing shades of blue, their temple has been going to rack and ruin, hasn't it?  (See previous blog entry.)

Eeep!  This is an Underwater Helmet from number 81, Spyralle, and it is very well made (as you might expect from Spyralle) and perhaps a little startling for casual wear.

Number 82 is COVETED, and the gents get that look that's still in the box, and the ladies get those boots, a pair of system-layer leather trousers, and that all-enveloping "Seducer" leather trenchcoat.  It's very nice, actually - good mesh design and excellent textures.  I just think it doesn't quite fit in with my methods of seduction, though, which are less about the all-concealing heavy leather and more about... no, this is still Not That Sort Of Blog.

It's a box.  There are textures in it.  They are Linen Deep Sea textures and they come from number 83, LilArt Creation.

I spent something like nine hours in total at number 84, Chaos Panic & Disorder.  They had a mini-hunt with three gears, and I just could not find the third one.  I was going cross-eyed, and literally crying with frustration.  They made my Fave Five list for the Hunt, on the grounds that if they did that good a job of hiding things, they deserved recognition.  Anyway.  When I finally found the third gear, it had that "Explorer of the Deeps" helmet in it.  It completely conceals my face, so maybe you all think it was well worth the effort.

The other two gears had neckwear in them - which, between the helmet and the high collar on that trenchcoat, meant a change of outfit if I was going to get a picture.  The gents got an "Octopoda Cravat", the ladies the "Octopoda Choker" which I'm wearing in that shot.

Number 85 was Jinxed Toys & Magic, and they gave us that magic Aquamancer Staff.  It shoots stuff, if you go into mouselook, and looks sort of decorative and mystical if you don't.

And so I reached the end, and the Hyborian Steam Platform at number 86, where there is usually a little final giftie to be picked up.  In this case, this Kraken Chair from Sparrow by Design.  I think that even I may have had enough tentacles to satisfy me, on this Hunt!

As a footnote, I picked up a few things along the way - not many, as my inventory is getting further and further out of hand, again.  However, I got that tattoo thing from Eclectic Stars, a sort of automated sentry with a machinegun from Land of Nodd, a dress from Miss Darcy, and a thing from Spyralle which allows me to wrap myself in a flickering web of lightning bolts.  As you do.  Remind me not to go swimming in that one, though.

So, we have come to the end.  Thanks as ever are extended to Perryn Peterson and his team for organizing everything, to the merchants for making all this wonderful stuff and giving it away and posing us such interesting puzzles before we can get it, and to the fellow Hunters in the group, without which it would all be so much less fun.  See you on the next one, folks.

Steam Hunt XI: The Epic Part 3

OK, "epic" is probably putting it too strongly.  But here's the next set of stuff, anyway.

Starting off, epically enough, with a texture pack from number 53, EBDesign.

Repeated shouts of warning from a catlady on a nearby island greeted the appearance of this one.  "Beware the dread gazebo!" and the like.  Anyway, it's a nice enough Little Gazebo from number 54, Impertinences, and it didn't kill and eat any paladins while I was watching it.  (If you need that reference explained... why are you reading this blog, again?)

Steam Hat for Ladies from number 55, Rozamyndi's.  There is one for the gentlemen too, never fear.

Clock Hands Pin from number 55, Amaranthus.  Nice little piece of jewelry, you can see it hovering over the "P" in "Punk" on my chest, there.  Actually, about a foot in front of my chest, Amaranthus having positioned it, by default, so that it cannot be lost even in a much larger bosom than I boast.  There's another version in the pack, which attaches to the other side of your chest.

57 is Panda Panda, and they provide this mesh "gramaphone".  They may have trouble spelling gramophone, but they certainly don't have any trouble making one; this is a nicely detailed piece that winds itself up and plays a sprightly melody when you click on it.  For something this good, I will certainly forgive a spelling error.

Number 58 dropped out.  Number 59 is furniture maker An Lema, and they didn't, as evidenced by this Steampunk Cabinet and Display Stand.  The door of the cabinet opens and shuts (it opens with the "ssh-donk" sound of the sliding doors on the Starship Enterprise, but who's quibbling?), and the glass tops of that Display Stand reveal dancing gears (Steampunk!).

Number 60 is Drow Science, and they give us a mini-submarine.  A very mini submarine, it sits on your shoulder (as seen here) and, well, looks pretty cute actually.  Drow Science do some good stuff.  I'm still using those Gyrocogter rezzers I got from them last Hunt.

Number 61 is House of Accentaury, and they provide us with a Commuter Puffer.  Or, in fact, three Commuter Puffers, in three sizes (large, medium and small).  You may be able to make out the small one in this picture - it's on the greyish bit of ground, a little to the right of the centre of the image.  You definitely can't miss the large one.  They don't actually do anything except look striking - which, come to think of it, may be just as well.

It's a texture pack.  Specifically, the "League of Extraordinary" texture pack from number 62, All Things Beautiful.  The textures are actually very nice.  I know this, because Tali accidentally clicked it and it gave her a bunch of textures, so we had to check that I could still get them too.  It gets round the usual "items coming in too fast, preview disabled for 10 seconds" by using a special script that gives you each texture... one... at... a... time... with... a... sufficient... pause... between... each... one.  Frankly, I'm not sure that was a problem worth coding around, but never mind.

Had some fun with this one, the Aubrey mesh outfit from number 63, Snowpaws.  (Gents get a hooded jacket thing, which I didn't check out.)  Tali and I decided it looked pretty good, but it needed some accessories to be properly Steampunk.  So -

I added a Steam Gauntlet from Dirty Lynx, and Geared-Up Boots and that understated hat from some previous Hunts, and there we are.  Rather striking, if I do say so myself.

OK, so I took the silly hat off and substituted this much more sensible PS Steam Hat from number 64, the Ferret and Hedgie Shoppee.

Number 65 was Miss Darcy, and Miss Darcy and Tiknics give us this nice Steam Raft vehicle.  That "HMS Neversink" on the sail positively begs for contradiction, but despite some rather energetic sea trials, I was not, in fact, able to sink it.  Despite the wheels, it's not an all-terrain vehicle, you can't get it to go up onto the land (and believe me, I tried).

66, Tanelorn Manor Designs, gave us this Poseidon's Temple Ruin, which looked sort of familiar because it's on display at their shop, and in fact you have to explore it to find the gear.  Tali liked it.  Tali likes romantic ruins, that's why she goes out with me.  (Tali has made some very nice romantic ruins of her own, of course.)

Sailor Boy (still in his box) and Sailor's Girl (worn by me) from number 67, Tayren's Fantasy Fashion.  This is a very nice outfit - combining system layers, mesh and flexis to excellent effect.  And it fitted very well, for something straight out of the box.  The only thing I've done with that, in that shot, is adjust the height of the hat.  Well done Tayren's, is what I say to this one.

Number 68 is [noctis], and you would expect something well-made and classy from them, and they do not disappoint.  Certainly not, with this rather splendid Nautilus Sofa on which several people can pose nautically.

Nice bunch of stuff from number 69, Dragon Magick Wares, with this "Steampunk Aquatica" set.  The actual "Aquatica" thing is a small but stylish underwater pod home on stilts, and you can just see it through that Kelp Forest (which gurgles and makes its own fish).  And they provide some starfish, which you might be able to make out, and a very large octopus, which you will probably have spotted by now.  Romantic ruins from one shop, a big octopus from another... the Hunt is catering for Tali and me, there is no question about it.

Finally, a five-item mini-hunt from Steampunk RP people NeoVictoria at number 70, and I've rezzed the main items and photographed the lot of them here.  There's the obligatory NeoVictoria calendar, which you can see on the balcony of that skybox (a perfectly nice starter home for a NeoVictorian, I think); there's the multiple mermaid pose rock, which I am posing on, and the anglerfish-style headlight, which I am wearing.  And there's the Piscean Peril, which is pretty nifty.  Tali is standing on that big flat round rock, and the rock has noticed her, and it has rezzed that ferocious-looking fish to scare her away.  Tali is made of sterner stuff than most, though, and has inspected the ferocious-looking fish and proclaimed it a very good-quality 1 LI mesh with excellent texture mapping.  There's some other stuff in the mini-hunt, but it's mostly information about NeoVictoria and shows up on HUDs and stuff.  Still, this stop, and the NeoVictoria setting generally, is well worth a look if you ask me.

Stean Hunt XI: Citius Altius Fortius

... or, at least, part 2.  Here we go with the next slab of goodies!

Starting with these "Sonya" boots from number 23, Lindy Modern & Retro Shoes.  The gentlemen get a pair of "Nemo" boots.  The sub-theme of this Steam Hunt is an underwater one, in case you hadn't gathered that from all the diving suits and shipwrecks and things.

"Realms of the Deep" Library Cabinet from 24, Park Place Home Decor.  Comes with assorted reading/looking-for-books animations, and of course a big window full of animated fish in the middle.

Entity at number 25 give us this Royal Couch, which seats four in a variety of poses.  Four people?  Is that Royal?  It's certainly not a monarchy... but it's not enough for a democracy.  Maybe it should be an Oligarchical Couch?  I'm hairsplitting for the sake of it now, aren't I?

Destiny's Designs has been in these Hunts since the year dot; they're at number 26 with this Steampunk Winter outfit (ladies' version worn, gents' version in the pack shot.)

Cog & Fleur at number 27 give us a set of Rusty Portholes in various versions.  Guess which one is my favourite.  Go on, just guess.

Deep Sea Pillow Pile from number 28, Eclectic Muse.  We have seen those woodcuts of an octopus before, and I would not be at all surprised if we saw them again.  Nice decorative piece, anyway.

This Menu Driven Octopus Fountain from number 29, Lunar Seasonal Designs, is also a nice decorative piece.  Each chunk of the thing can be changed to a range of colours and textures, which is where the Menu Driven bit comes in.  The octopus on top started off blue when it came out of the box, but I changed it to brown, just because I could.  Good, innit?

Stop 30, Black Magnolia Imports, and their "Rolling in the Deep" texture pack.  Which is in a box.  I know boxes are not interesting, but texture packs are, so nyah.

Toxic Fish Fountain from number 31, Kismet.  It is really rather well made, with some very careful particle effects.  It took a lot of skill and effort to get it to look like that, you know.  Of course, it looks revolting, but at least it's quality revolting, none of your tat.

Stop 32 was Myrddin's Emporium, where Myrddin Janus leaves us... sort of a grab bag of stuff: three mini-subs, a pair of interesting chairs, and a collection of building components and miscellaneous, um, miscellanea.  I'm not complaining.  It was like rummaging through my stocking on Christmas morning, opening that particular box.  Fun.

This is MINE!, although you can have one as well, if you go to Kittycat's Creations, shop number 33.  That rather impressive mesh dragon is holding on to one of Kittycat's decanters, which offers you a range of slightly dubious Steampunk drinks, or at least - if you're the owner - it does once you've deleted the resizer script which also comes in the thing and overrides the drinks menu.  Something or somebody could have handled that clash of scripts better, and I'm not sure it's not the viewer.  Or it might just have been the Burroughs sim going wonky.  It's been known to do that, especially when a hunting maniac rezzes a whole range of complicated scripted objects on it in rapid succession.

Here's a nice Captain's Clock from Little Scamp Designs at number 34.  A perfectly nice little carriage clock, what more is there to say?

Texture packs from number 35, McMinnar's Oddments.

Mesh chairs from number 36,  MTD Designs.  I've rezzed three of these, but there are more, in a whole range of colours.  Each one is 2 Land Impact.  Remember that next time someone starts ranting about how Mesh Is Inefficient And Makes People's Computers Run Hot And Probably Does Things To The Cows' Milk And All.  Two prims' worth of Land Impact for that level of detail.  You cannot do that with standard prims, or with sculpts, and mesh is more efficient and puts less strain on your graphics processor, and the cows can just lump it.

Number 37, Razmataz, presented problems, in that they gave a pair of m/f Steampunk Poses.  Fortunately, they are static poses.  This is how a lady Steampunk stands, it seems.

Number 38, baci village (or bacidalucia, I'm never quite sure) gives us this decorative  "beyondwords-steamtypewriterpunk".  Looks like my dad's old Olivetti Portable, actually, except my dad's was orange and didn't have spiky pen-nib wings coming out of the back.

SR Leatherwerx at stop 39 gives us this sculpted Victorian Telescope.  It's a classy decorative piece, from an expert maker of classy decorative pieces.

"Mrs Kraken" mesh outfit from number 40, Sparrow by Design.  There is a corresponding male version but I haven't seen it.  Both sexes get that helmet, which has a sort of crank-driven motor at the back, which you can't see here because I'm showing the front.  Anyway, you couldn't see the pistons and things moving in a static photograph.  It's pretty neat, actually.

Texture pack from number 41, Texture Junction.  Kit for texturing up mermaid outfits.

"Grind my Gears" table from number 42, Eclectic Stars.  This has Gears, so it is Steampunk.  Eclectic Stars was the first place I actually bought something, this Hunt - a silly "Body Code" tattoo which appealed to me, simple soul that I am.

You can see part of the tattoo (it shows the closing HTML tag for "head" and opening one for "body" at the base of my neck, ho ho, look I am a simple soul and easily amused, OK?)  Anyway, you are meant to be looking at the "Radio Days Tophat" from number 43, Grim Bros.  One of Grim's finest.  There are three versions in the pack, of which this is the most complex - you can choose to wear one without the goggles or the built-in radio, but why would you do that?

Three Steampunk flower arrangements from number 44, Zoe's Garden.  From left, we have Sarracenia, Carnation, and Mixed Arrangement.  All I know about plants is that they give me hayfever, so I'm a bit stuck for more to say, here.  I'm guessing the cog-shaped flowers aren't strictly botanically accurate, but what do I know?

Here's Nemo's Desk from number 45, Pierre Ceriano.  Typical of the excellent stuff M. Ceriano makes.  One has to admire Captain Nemo's sang-froid as he carries on working at that desk, in what can only be described as trying circumstances.

 Here's a FantaSea Coin Necklace (actually, just one of a couple of options) from number 46, Hudson's Clothing.  You can get a better view of that silly tattoo, too.

 Haunted Victorian display cabinet, camera, and nature prints from number 47, Emma's @ Blue Moose. The prints change from pictures of fish and such to those ghoulish faces you see in that picture.  When you "sit" on the camera, it gushes particle blood and you strike poses in front of it while being gradually dragged beneath the ground.  I haven't investigated the haunted nature of the cabinet yet.  Anyway, it's traditional SL silliness, and the camera, when not spraying out gore, is actually quite a nice build.

 BB-1 Companion Droid from number 48, Land of Nodd.  I have no idea what might have inspired this little fellow.  No, sir, not the slightest clue.

The traditional problem rears its head once more at 49, SANNA Science & Art, the animated texture specialists.  That Whooshing Water and the flames on the USS Constitution actually move, you see.  Tali wondered if the "Constitution Burning" picture was some kind of US political comment, but I have a headache from British politics just now and didn't go further into the question.  (This is just a sample, by the way, of the things from this stop.)

Another aspect of the traditional problem - you can see this "Scott Joplin Pine Apple Rag" piece from number 50,  Curious Seamstress, but there is no way of showing, in the picture, that if you click on it, it actually plays said piece of music.  It is playing it right now, in that picture, but you have no way of knowing that.  Um.  Unless I, like, tell you, or something.

Another necklace - and, I hope you can make it out, a ring.  "The Deeps" necklace and ring (with variants provided for both ladies and gentlement) from number 51, Rainy Fey Creations.  I issue the obligatory disclaimer about RFC's owner being a personal friend, but all this means is that I am friends with someone who makes really nice stuff.  Which is no bad thing.  Go check it out, is my advice.

And number 52, Cake Fox, gives us this decorative Garden Ship Wheel and Chain.  I assume it's a Ship Wheel and Chain you can put in your Garden, as here.  In other words, a decorative item.  You probably can put it in your garden, even if you are pushed for space, because that is another piece of highly efficient mesh design, I think it clocks in at 3 Land Impact for the whole lot.

That's it for this post.  There is more to come, including a couple of mini-hunts.  With luck I should get it all wrapped up before the Hunt ends, though.