A Witching Hour

Our second stop this week was to a forest on Stregasea, in OSGrid. This build was a gift to Clairwil Oh from the late Pasha Theas, who made it as a place of serenity,  a splitscreen forest between sumer lush and winter snowscape, where you can immerse yourself in nature and leave behind the oppressive worries and fears of RL for a while, and recharge your batteries. 

It's far from the first Pasha Theas build that the Safari has visited. Pasha's close friend, builder, DJ, artist and tech-friendly  Andron Rae was our erudite and amusing guide on two previous builds, Brigadoon and The Caves, and he joined us for this trip too.

Clairwil Oh

Clairwil Oh: oh, here's comes "everyone" yay!

Star Ravenhurst: Hello!
Tosha Tyran: oh shucks! Naked again
Clairwil Oh: Naked is always the best outfit for the day
Ary Ravenshires: woot! nakies party!
andron rae: its a moderate rated sim so nakies is permissible, I have shorts on under my kilt, because you know, distractions

Ary and Andron, in a pg kilt.

James Atlloud: What, wait, am I nakified?
Clairwil Oh: it's all fine, no worries
Thirza Ember: mesh clothes are like Amazon Prime - next day delivery

Clairwil Oh: if this region crashes, come back in to "madhatter" and then you will see the Forest reboot very quickly
andron rae: if anyone gets lost just use the teleports, some of the forest can be a bit grabby , as forests will do
Clairwil Oh: Thirza is now going to do what I saw done in "The Lost Bus" film last night: a head count of the "children"
Star Ravenhurst: There are a lot of us today.

Clairwil hosts on OSgrid a handful of friend's regions that have an overarching stylistic harmony, in a generally gothic and vampiric style, a touch of the darker side of Wonderland, a smattering of punk in its DNA, and with a good large pinch of wit that comes out best in the details, and is most easily discovered on a leisurely visit. The Safari was here back in 2025 to see the work of  Clair and Emme Zelnik , and in 2016 for an installation by Scottius Polke. One of the charms of Opensim is the longevity of builds.

Clair in the castle at Hattersea, made by Emme

Clairwil Oh: ok, I am just....assuming that ....heh heh....clothes are on the way for almost all now, so let's get this tour on the road. folks, are you ready??? Greetings, HG Safari guests. Welcome to The Forest. This region was created by Pasha Theas as a gift to me. She designed it as a peaceful refuge. It is a natural forest that intended for wanderers. You will hear the sounds of streams and birds. Pasha placed surprises here: small groupings of mushrooms, a single flower rising from the grass. There is a field of bluebonnets. The streams are shallow and you can walk through them, or if may want to make your way across several bridges.
Clairwil Oh: This region has a custom environmental setting if you would like to use the Shared Environment settings.
andron rae: none of the bridges are high enough for serious injury, well, make after repeated attempts if you hit a rock
Clairwil Oh: if you fall, you WILL be KILLED (jk)
Tosha Tyran: after jumping of the Eiffel tower today... nothing can hurt me anymore :D
Clairwil Oh: The Forest is a happy and healing place for those who would like a respite from chaos and a place to think. There are pavilions, lookout points, and benches are located at the edges of the region that look out onto the ocean or toward other regions.

Best known for 'House of Debauch', all-round creative type Clairwil Oh has authored several works with appropriately dark, or Halloweenly themes -notably on Amazon - you'll find more of her stuff on  Soundcloud and Vimeo.

Clairwil Oh: we are heading to some lovely flower meadows and a pavilion. follow if ya can. Our first stop is close to a pavilion “lookout” where you can see the nearby region of Strega Imperatrix. We are in a summer area of the Forest. A few steps from the pavilion is a large field of blue flowers surrounding a silver birch tree. As you pass the flowers on your right, you will approach a rock elevation to your left. This would lead you to a delicate canvas bridge that crosses into the region of Strega Imperatrix.
Thirza Ember: I always look at these sims and think Pasha must have had an amazing inventory, so many gorgeous plants
James Atlloud: Oh goodness - I can only imagine the inventory!
andron rae: about 40 Gb when we saved her IAR, and half of it was plants, Pasha made side deals with most of the best landscape people in SL so she could bring them into OpenSim

Cherry admires the greenery

Cherry Manga: dream inventory plants plants and more plants
James Atlloud: Oh really - great to work with SL creators.
Clairwil Oh: I will begin to walk a bit towards the next area....but take your time to see things; we are at the edge of this region
andron rae: sings, 'livin on the edge'

Our tour was limited to this forest area, but Clair rightly took a moment to describe sme of the other delights of this part of Opensim.

Clairwil Oh: Strega Imperatrix is a darker region with a lake that and a cave. A walking path circles the lake through tall trees. Another pavilion and bridge connects Imperatrix to Debauchland Home. That is a night region with torchlit structures, a mausoleum, and down below a watery path below through mountains, with glowing streams that open to the sea. That is an area I invited you to explore at any time on a future visit to this regions
Star Ravenhurst: The forest is so lush. This is so realistic.
Tosha Tyran: this really is a magical forest
Clairwil Oh: thank you, Tosha, I love this forest and I am grateful to Pasha for the gift. We will now make our way to the next area….please make your way downhill, or meet me at the waterfall... as we walk, you will begin to hear the sound of sparkling river water. We will walk into the shallow water to locate the waterfall. This stream is filled with rocks, fallen logs, and aquatic plants. Close by is another pavilion that is a romantic spot with an evening sky, as it is decorated with lanterns and candelabra.

Star Ravenhurst: My shoes will be ruined! :)
andron rae: its so LOUD and WET heheh
Wizardoz Chrome: The choice of water is beautiful; it has nice reflexes.
James Atlloud: Wait, where'd she go?
Clairwil Oh: lol I have lost myself and you all too... looking for that hypergrid map
Ary Ravenshires: its my dream to have enough space that I can get lost too
Thirza Ember: I guess part of the purpose of this sim is to lose yourself
Clairwil Oh: indeed!

Clairwil Oh: Cross over and begin to climb to the top of the region, where the world will turn white with snow. As you climb, keep your eye out for the large winter pavilion.
andron rae: now it will get a bit colder, watch for wolves and random snowballs lol

Ary Ravenshires: yaayy.. wolves!
Alexey Kazarovic: Where is ELSA?
Ary Ravenshires: she let it go
Thirza Ember: wow what a change in mood

Wizardoz Chrome looking pretty in chillin pink

Clairwil Oh: The pavilion is (almost) our final stop on the tour. There is dance machine at the top of the pavilion for those who wish to celebrate their summit. I have placed a wearable gift for you: a Halloween gift. It is the “Demon Head Small” object in the back of the Pavilion. Just take a copy. If you “add” it to your outfit you will get a fun surprise. This gift is best worn while…dancing!

James Atlloud: a small gift you say? weee
Cherry Manga: have to go, thank you very much for this peaceful visit in the forest ♥
Clairwil Oh: and I am going to walk to the Last Stop, which is just outside, and has snow coming down, a great spot for a group photo

Ary Ravenshires: love the tongue out thing... diddlediddlediddle
James Atlloud: mlem mlem mlem
Tosha Tyran: and also put the face to the back
andron rae: the tongue is the best part
Thirza Ember: i definitely feel warmer
James Atlloud: Thank you Clair
Clairwil Oh: I am laughing so hard over here in RL
Tina Bey: Yes, James, you have finally infected us.
James Atlloud: a group of demons we be
andron rae: this is the most wonderful and surreal dance party ever, I feel like I'm in one of Cherry's exhibits
Ary Ravenshires: he's always inspiring mischief. LOL

Thirza Ember: this kind of mischief is good for the spirit... thanks so much Clair and thanks to Andron for his support and help for this tour
andron rae: Clair mapped out the path wonderfully, and ensured we didn't all get lost among the trees
Clairwil Oh: Thank you, Thirza. I am so happy to be able to show off the Forest. Pasha was so kind to make this peaceful region for me. We need to get a good start on the Witching Month!
Tina Bey: Yes, this is a good start to Halloween month!!

HG Address: hop://hg.osgrid.org:80/Stregasea1/48/151/36