Mystery Beast Stalking Second Life Residents!

It began as a relatively ordinary day in Second Life. I thought I'd check out Winterfest and headed to watch the SnowMan Building Contest (actually wound up participating and it was fun). I enjoyed that so much I decided to go try the Hedge Maze (see the list of events/landmarks and schedule at the Winterfest Site). It's a pretty group of sims so I started to walk because I do appreciate a nice landscape.

Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something move. Luckily I had my camera out because s/he headed into the wilderness at a high speed - this is the only shot I got. You can just make out the feet under the trees.

You're probably thinking what I was at first - it was an avatar or one of those animated animals. Except as I followed it I found these:

I don't know any avatars or animated animals that can produce footprints in the snow. I should have put something there to indicate the size but I was pretty rattled. Honestly, if I lay down next to them they would be longer than the distance from my knee to my foot. They were huge!

I hid out in the hedge maze for a while (lots of freebies in there as well as the prizes) until my heart rate returned to normal and I decided that both of my readers would expect me to investigate a little deeper into this mystery. The safety of all the residents could be at risk!

I thought about it logically and reasoned that I should seek out a combination of winter and wilderness to find a natural habitat for whatever it was - this would be my best shot at tracking it down. That was my plan but it took me a while to actually move into the wilderness - I didn't say I was brave as well as foolhardy. :)

My first attempt to track down the mystery beast took me to Languedoc Coeur which was very nice but the guilt got to me. I don't think sitting all comfy in the back of a horse drawn sleigh is going to go far in solving the mystery.

I had better luck when I went to the Depaul University, College of Computing and Digital Media. In addition to the cool village they've built there's a forested area which is accessible but still feels remote. Again I glimpsed something moving but when I turned my head it had gone.

I won't bore you with the tedium of all of my failures in this quest. I will say that I followed more prints in the snow until I wound up in Valmorel. The tracks lead off in the direction of those distant mountains. (sigh)

I'll report back.........................when I can.