The Femdom Hunt VII

Another reminder that, starting tomorrow, it's The Femdom Hunt VII.

As with every other hunt before it, you'll find a great mixture of shops and actual Femdom-based locations that can be found all over the grid. Each one will have gifts to find.

Both Z&A and Raven Park are taking part (considering we run the hunt, that's not really much of a shocker is it?). I've made three gifts that I'm really rather proud of (there'll be two from Z&A and one from Raven Park), one of which I'm very excited about as it's something I've being meaning to make for quite some time and the hunt finally gave me a reason to get scripting.

So... don't forget, starting tomorrow (October 13th) you get two weeks to collect lots of fun gifts.

PS: And don't forget there's a hunt opening weekend dance happening on Saturday.

Coming soon: The Femdom Hunt VII

Just a little reminder to all Z&A customers that, starting the 13th of next month, the Femdom Hunt is back with The Femdom Hunt VII:

As with every other hunt before it, you'll find a great mixture of shops and actual Femdom-based locations that can be found all over the grid. Each one will have gifts to find.

Both Z&A and Raven Park are taking part (considering we run the hunt, that's not really much of a shocker is it?). I've made three gifts that I'm really rather proud of (there'll be two from Z&A and one from Raven Park), one of which I'm very excited about as it's something I've being meaning to make for quite some time and the hunt finally gave me a reason to get scripting.

So... make a note in your diary: starting from October 13th you get two weeks to collect lots of fun gifts.

2014: Our year in review (Part 2)

This is the second part of our review of Z&A's 2014. You can find part 1 here.

July started out with the release of four new products, two of which had been our gifts for the recent D/s hunt. Other releases in the month included a chestnut version of the turntable, a reboot of the corner chained and the circle display; chestnut versions of the wooden horse and cell beds as well as a wearable version of the tall display cage; a reboot of the chain chair and display cross and finally reboots of the horizontal cross and the arm hang frame.

Behind the scenes more preparation work was being done on The Femdom Hunt V. By this point we were working on the theme for the new sign and also drawing up the lists of people to invite while checking who was still around from the previous hunt and where they were now.

The background development project that started in June also carried on this month with the code moving from being in the "under development" state into the "tweaking and testing" state.

Themes for Raven Park dances this month were Tarantino and British cult science fiction TV.

August kicked off with the announcement of the dates for The Femdom Hunt V, along with the opening of applications. It goes without saying that a lot of the background work this month involved dealing with hunt applications.

Releases this month included chestnut versions of the sphere cages and the cross hang post; a wearable version of the ground box and the wall hanging; the crate bed and the cage table and a chestnut version of the bondage frame.

The Z&A Submission HUD was also updated to v1.4.

The ongoing background development project was coming along nicely with the first proper products being built using the new scripts that had been written.

Raven Park dances this month were themed as fictional secret agent and Dune.

September was a very busy month with the ongoing work of handling Femdom Hunt V applications and also the ongoing background project which would finally be launched the following month, a very small teaser for it appearing at the end of this month.

Product releases this month included the wooden and metal yokes; the floor standing and wall mounted chestnut display cabinets; the wall box cage and the storage shelf. These last few releases concluded the effort to replace many of our original products with builds based around the work that started at the end of 2012 and which was launched in early 2013.

Raven Park dances this month included Steampunk (with the dance set being built by and provided by Drow Sicence and Sunshine Technology) and anarchy in the UK.

October was a very busy month for Z&A. It started with the closing of applications for The Femdom Hunt V followed by the first, second and final walk throughs and then, on the 17th, the hunt started.

Before the hunt kicked off, however, there was another significant event for us. We finally revealed the background project that'd started back in June: the brand new range of Z&A cells. As with the start of the new display device range in early 2013 the idea here was to slowly phase out our original cells and replace them with a range using a new script engine and, where it made sense, rebuilt using mesh to reduce land impact. Also, from the very start, we'd be offering the cells as both transfer and copy versions. This project is still ongoing and should conclude some time early next year. Not that we'll stop making cells then -- there's little chance of that.

After the initial launch the new cell range expanded during the rest of the month with the release of the slatted wooden cell, the bars field cell, the observation vault and the bars brig cell.

It wasn't all cells this month though. Antony also found time to make a HUD restraint that his Mistress has been after for quite some time: the Z&A Walkabout.

There was only the one Raven Park dance this month: the frocks dance. The following dance was moved to the Z&A main store and served as the opening weekend dance for The Femdom Hunt.

November started with the end of The Femdom Hunt V. That week we extended the cell range with the cell that had been our gift during the hunt, adding also the light glass cell and the brick and iron cell. Other products released this month included the cast iron cell and the reboot of the floor sleep; the gold inlay cell and the gothic stone cell and the red and blue carved wood cells.

The Z&A Submission HUD also got a further update with a couple of minor fixes and the addition of a couple of new features.

A second Raven Park dance was used over at Z&A, this time to serve as the closing weekend dance for The Femdom Hunt V. Raven Park dances proper returned with a Game of Thrones theme followed by the Antipodean Ball.

December started with the release of a new wearable punishment picker, a reboot of the popular Z&A Tree and the addition of the boxed field cell to the growing new cell range. Other releases in the month were the latex box cell; the field brig, wooden plank cell and the balcony cell and the Z&A Goggles and the wooden cage. We finished the year off with the released of a wearable version of the body cage and another addition to the range of cells.

We also celebrated the time of year by dusting off the Z&A Christmas Tree and remaking it with the new display device system and making it available as a gift to all. We then followed this up by doing the same with the Z&A Snowman and the Z&A Subbie Gift Box.

Because we prefer not to hold a dance over the actual Christmas break (too many people are too busy with RL) we only had the one dance, but we made it a Christmas dance. Well, a very gothic Christmas dance.

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And that brings us to our the end of our review of Z&A's 2014. It's been a very busy year with lots of changes in the shop and lots of builds and scripting going on. As of the time of writing 204 products were released with a release happening every week of the year except the week of Z&A's birthday (because that week's "releases" were made available as gifts for everyone who came to the party). Of course, lots of products were also retired from sale (101 if our calculations are correct) so there's still plenty of room (and thanks to the move to mesh lots of free land impact) left for whatever we come up with next year.

To everyone who has shopped with us, hunted with us, visited Raven park, made Raven Park their home and have come and had fun with as at the Raven Park dances (and especially Eve Terr who has provided lots of great music for all the dances): thank you so much for helping make 2014 a really fun and rewarding year for us. We hope it was fun for you.

2014: Our year in review (Part 1)

2014 has, without a shadow of a doubt, been the busiest year yet here at Z&A. As with 2012 and 2013 we thought it'd be fun to review the year's key events.

January kicked off with a new release on the first first day of the year, possibly setting the tone for a year with a huge number of releases. A week later we reintroduced the Z&A Punishment Pickers having rewritten them to provide a lot more functionality. Our first Raven Park dance of the year was goth/Victorian themed and held to celebrate the opening of the Raven Park Abbey.

Other releases this month were the bend over barrel, the dog cage and reboots of the whipping posts and staked out. We also made a little gift for all VT members to help celebrate VT's 6th birthday.

The second Raven Park dance of the month was originally to be Beatles-themed but turned into a no-theme dance when Vila couldn't attend (the Beatles theme was for her).

February was a fairly busy month that saw the release of the new range of Z&A restraints. Other releases included the Quadcopter and the reboot of the single ceiling chain point. Because it was Z&A's 4th birthday we also made the Misfortune Cookies and the Chandelier Gag available as gifts to everyone who came to the birthday party and we then released them along with the Stocking Gag the following week.

Raven Park dances this month included a Beatles theme (postponed from the previous dance) and, of course, the Z&A birthday dance (which was actually held at Z&A).

March continued with a mixture releases of brand new builds as well as reboots of older products. The first release was a reboot of the popular Z&A Lamp Post, now all in mesh and with a much lower land impact. Next we extended the restraint range with the Z&A Nipple Pins. The following week saw the release of the Z&A Arm Cuffs as well as reboots of the wall chains and single wall chain. Finally we released an update to the Z&A Sub HUD as well as reboots of the Z&A Dootmat and Quadripod.

Raven Park dance themes this month included Cyberpunk and anniversaries.

March was also the month where we were saddened to hear of the passing of Madame Lizbeth, someone who has a significant place in the history of Z&A.

April brought the Z&A Soap Gag, Z&A Thought, reboots of the Leaning Cross, Staked Wide and Pet Cage, reboots of the carry restraints (including the ever-popular shopping bags), the start of a small range of wearable devices (great for restraining people in no-rez areas) and reboots of the shackle rod and sitting cross, a reintroduction of the leather and bunny hoods and the addition of a wool hood and catsuit and finally a reboot of the Z&A Anti-Cam and the release of a non-RLV mesh stable suitable for pony boys and girls.

Dance themes on Raven Park for the month were deranged circus and twisted Easter.

May kicked off with the release of two new cells, the first in a while (something that would change later on in the year). The following week saw the start of a project to replace our original Rosewood products with a new range of Chestnut-textured reboots. The following week saw the first release of a Z&A vehicle in quite a while along with two more additions to the chestnut range. The final releases for the month included reboots of the relief cushion and the bend back stand.

Raven Park dances this month were themed pony play and all things related to the British comic 2000AD.

June kicked off with the first hunt we'd taken part in since The Femdom Hunt IV. Given the theme we couldn't not be part of the D/s hunt.

Releases for the month started out with a chestnut version of the hanging plank and a reboot of the weight hang in light, dark and chestnut versions. The following week saw 10 new products released, including the Z&A Floor Scrub, a reboot of the arch hang frame, the stress display and the arms up display. The following week was equally as prolific with another 10 releases that included reboots of the cage frame, the tell display cage, the forced all fours and the kneel cross. The month ended with the release of 8 more products that included the wall display cage, the storage box and versions of the single and double wall chains to match the chestnut range of devices.

One short-lived release this month, made especially for members of the RLV Communities group, was the Z&A Cake.

Raven Park dance themes this month were Mel Brooks, Messed Up Disney and Armagriddon.

Behind the scenes this was the month that the very early planning work for The Femdom Hunt V started. Also behind the scenes Antony had his head deep into lots of scripting, working away on this year's second big product range release. More on that in the second half of our review of 2014.

The Femdom Hunt V is coming

For the 4th year and for the 5th time¹ we're proud to be organising The Femdom Hunt. This won't be news to anyone who is a member of the group or who follows the blog. For everyone else....

Starting Friday you'll find lots of Femdom-related gifts sprinkled around the grid. To take part just come along to the Z&A main store, follow the hint to find the hunt object (a shoe), touch it to get a folder with your gifts (yes, there will be 2 from Z&A -- both filled with lots of RLV goodness too), use the landmark you'll also find inside to get to the next location and do the same again. Then keep going and doing the same again until you have lots of gifts in your inventory.

Raven Park is also in the hunt too so when you reach there you'll find yet another Z&A gift.

Related to this: this weekend's Raven Park dance will be moving to the Z&A main store and will serve as the opening weekend dance for the hunt. You can read more about this over on the hunt blog.

In other words: busy week at Z&A. And, yes, there's still a product release to come this week (watch this space tomorrow).

Hope to see you on the hunt!

---

¹ There were two hunts in the first year, in case you're wondering.

The D/s Hunt

It's been a while since we last took part in a hunt (the last time being The Femdom Hunt IV, of course); partly because we've been rather busy with lots of other things, but mostly because few hunts seem to be adult oriented these days. So when we were told about the D/s hunt we had to take part in that!

The hunt starts today and runs until the end of the month. It's a L$5 hunt. You can find the location list and hints on the hunt's blog.

Our gift actually contains two items, both of them RLV-based. One's a gift for dominants, the other is a gift for subs. So, for the whole of June, for just L$5 and a little bit of searching in the store, you get two full Z&A products!

Happy hunting!

2013: Our year in review (Part 2)

This is the second part of our review of Z&A's 2013. You can find part 1 here.

July started out with the announcement that we'd started a project to make copy-permission versions of our newer products available in the main store. This was a project that would happen in the background for the next couple of months (and all new devices and furniture would be released with a copy-permission version available at the same time).

This was also the month that SSA (previous known as SSB) came to Z&A and Raven Park. It came and went a couple of times, as things were tested, but caused us no obvious problems and was well received by those of us who live and work on the region.

The product releases for this month were a set of reboots of our original sphere cage.

Behind the scenes more work was taking place on planning The Femdom Hunt IV, and we were working away on the three gifts we'd be making available (two from Z&A and one from Raven Park).

Raven Park dances this month included Second Life SNAFU (in celebration of SSA coming and also in celebration of those times when SL goes horribly wrong) and Star Trek.

We also sponsored a dance over at The Velvet Thorn. The theme was Mad Scientists so we built a gift for the theme.

August kicked off with the official announcement of The Femdom Hunt IV. Much of the background work at Z&A this month related to organising the hunt, building for the hunt and handling applications to be in the hunt.

That didn't stop us making product releases though. Releases this month included a rebooted kneeling post, a rebooted holding cell, rebooted flying kneel displays and subbie thrones. To help make it easier to find products we also launched an online catalogue using Pinterest.

Over on Raven Park we finally got round to putting a seating area in the hallway of the Mansion, something we'd being meaning to do for quite a while.

Raven Park dances this month were The Fifth Element and Stereotypes.

September started with a release of a new Raven Street dress. Other product releases this month included the Horizontal Pony, petite versions of the Floor Sphere Cage, the RLV-enabled van and a reboot of the ceiling fan.

The organising of the Femdom Hunt IV carried on with applications still open for the whole of September.

Raven Park dances this month included Goth (to celebrate Vila and Antony's rez days) and Tron. By this point the dances had become a firmly established "thing" and, in most cases, a custom built or specially-purchased build was the backdrop. The purchased backdrop for the Goth dance would reappear as a permanent fixture on Raven Park towards the end of the year.

October was, unsurprisingly, a very busy month. We started the month by taking part in the Kinky Halloween hunt. Also on the theme of Halloween, a little later in the month, we put our usual Halloween gifts out in the shop for everyone to grab.

The big event this month was, of course, The Femdom Hunt IV. Applications closed on the 1st of the month and the hunt itself kicked off on the 18th. The first day was crazy busy with the group being very active and a record number of hunters visiting Z&A.

Even though we were busy with the hunt we still managed to make a couple of product releases: first there was the Z&A Ground Box and then, a little later, at Antony's Mistress' request (something to do with the two of them changing their house), the Z&A Coat Stand.

This month only one dance actually took place on Raven Park, the theme was Star Wars. The second dance of the month moved over to Z&A and served as the opening dance for The Femdom Hunt IV.

October was also a little unusual for Raven Park in that, for the first time in quite a long time, some plots became available at Raven Park Rentals. They were soon let.

November saw The Femdom Hunt IV end, and the release of our gifts as actual products. First we released the display case and RLV Rickshaw and then, a little later in the month, the Z&A Submission HUD (this also marked the moment that Antony's Mistress locked a copy on him for good).

Somewhat related to the release of the Submission HUD (because Antony's Mistress was now wearing the dominant HUD that goes with it) was the release of a free product into the main store: the Z&A HUD Locker.

Other than that it looked pretty quiet at Z&A. But it only looked that way. Much like this time last year Antony started work on a longish-term project that should turn into a new range of products in the new year. Again, all being well, released in time for Z&A's birthday in February.

The first dance of the month was again at Z&A, serving as the closing dance for The Femdom Hunt IV. After that the dances returned to Raven Park itself, the first themed as The Green Fairy, the second themed in celebration of 50 years of Doctor Who.

December started with us putting out our usual seasonal gifts for people to grab. This month also saw the release of the Z&A Chain Cushion and the Z&A Laying Head Box. We also added to the free product area of the main store by releasing The Slave in a Box.

Meanwhile, in the background, Antony carried on working on the new product range that should appear earlier next year.

We had just the one dance at Raven Park this month, the dances now taking a break until early in the new year. The theme of the last dance for the year was famous person of your choice.

Finally, towards the end of the month, Vila and Antony demolished the oldest building on Raven Park and replaced it with a new build. Work on this will be ongoing into the new year with all sorts of tinkering and new items being added.

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And that brings us to the end of our review of Z&A's 2013. It's been another really enjoyable year for Z&A with lots of fun developments. We've grown and evolved and, we hope, made some fun stuff that people have enjoyed. As we said last year, while we don't really have a master plan there are again plans for what should happen early on in the new year. Work is well under way so watch this blog over the next couple or so months to see what we've been up to.

To everyone who has shopped with us, hunted with us, visited Raven park, made Raven Park their home and have come and had fun with as at the Raven Park dances: thank you so much for helping make 2013 a really fun year for us. We hope it was fun for you.

The Femdom Hunt IV and Raven Park dance

This weekend will be a very busy weekend here at Z&A. First off, as some of you might already know, the Femdom Hunt IV kicks off. See the hunt blog for full details.

Simply put, there are over 60 locations around the grid, shops and Femdom hangouts, that have gifts for you to find. And, of course, we're one of them. Well, actually, we're two of them because both Z&A and Raven Park are in the hunt (which you'd kind of expect given we run the hunt ;)).

On top of that this weekend would normally be a Raven Park dance weekend. And it still is, with a couple of changes. This weekend we're moving the dance forward to Friday evening (rather than the usual Saturday) and starting it 15 minutes later than usual. Also, rather than holding it in a custom-built theme-oriented skybox over Raven Park we're going to hold it on the top floor of the Z&A main store.

Those differences aside, it's still our usual dance. We still have Eve Terr as the DJ. There's still a theme. This time we thought we'd make the theme nice and easy and fit the hunt. The theme is...

Femdom!

Yup, that's it. Come dressed (or undressed, we don't mind a lack of dress on Raven Park or in the main store) in a way that expresses Femdom for you. Or just come as you want and join in anyway. What matters most is you come and have a dance and a natter and help celebrate the start of The Femdom Hunt IV.

Here's the details:

Date: Friday October 18th

Time: 4:15pm to 6:15pm SLT

Where: Z&A Productions
Music by: Eve Terr

Kinky Halloween Hunt

It's been quite a while since we took part in a hunt. Aside from The Femdom Hunt, of course, it's been well over a year. Partly this has been down to us being busy will all sorts of things but, mostly, it's been down to us never seeming to find adult-themed hunts that match the sorts of things we make.

But when we saw this:

We knew we had to take part.

So, starting tomorrow and for the whole of October, we're part of the Kinky Halloween Hunt 2.

And don't forget we'll have a second hunt happening a little later this month...

Bouddicea Grand Reopening

Like many people who are involved with Second Life's Femdom community, we were rather sad to hear, a while back, that Bouddicea was to close. Bouddicea was one of the first Femdoms Antony and his Mistress ever visited and, more recently, they've been one of many Femdoms that have shown great support and encouragement for The Femdom Hunt.

So you can probably imagine how happy we were to hear the news of its demise was a little premature and, instead, it was to reopen in a new location. You can probably also imagine how delighted we were to be asked to take part in the reopening event.

We're very proud to be able to announce that we're one of the sponsors who have provided a gift for the mini-hunt that will be taking place this Sunday (coincidently this is also Z&A's third birthday -- but don't worry, there's no clash, our party is the following day).

If you fancy getting your hands on an exclusive Z&A build, as well as gifts from other Femdom-related builders, you might want to pop along this Sunday and take part in the hunt. There's other events too.

See this entry on the Strict Venus blog for more details.

Halloween Gifts

Now that Halloween is almost here, it's time to put out the Z&A Halloween gifts again. If you're in need of a prop or two, or even an outfit, for a Halloween bash, and especially something with a little sprinkle of RLV, you need to head down to our main store and slap these boards:

Also don't forget that this weekend is the final weekend of The Femdom Hunt III. If you're intending to do the hunt, and pick up 60+ gifts from around the grid (two of which are Z&A builds -- the one in our main store and the one at Raven Park), and you've not started yet, this is going to be your last chance. If you've not grabbed Z&A's gift yet you really should think about heading down and doing so, it is related to recent product releases and you don't want to miss out.

Avatar Radar v1.6

It's been a while since we've mentioned the Avatar Radar here on the blog. Despite the lack of mention Antony has been tinkering with it on and off since the initial release (it's turned into a bit of a pet project for him -- something to tinker with when he's not busy on major projects) and, today, v1.6 has been released.

The main improvements, since the last announcement, include things like improved workings of the menus, the ability to configure the vertical scale used to position the avatars above the map, an access mode that lets you share the menu with others and some general improvements to the robustness of the detection of avatars and the way the avatar "bugs" clean themselves up.

As always, this is a free product. Just pop down to our main store to get a copy.

While you're there, don't forget that The Femdom Hunt III is now on and this means there is a gift hidden in the store somewhere (it also means there is a gift hidden on Raven Park and at around 60 other locations around the grid). Also, while you're at the main store, why not pop up to our new vehicle test track and try out our new range of RLV-enabled vehicles? They're all free to rez and play on so you can see if you like them before you even think about shopping for one.

Down and Dirty

It's hunt time again. Starting tomorrow we're taking part in the Down and Dirty hunt:

We've actually made a new kind of build for this hunt, something you won't have found in our store so far (although, obviously, still very much a Z&A RLV device) and, while it might not be obviously "Down and Dirty", it will get you down and dirty.

The hunt kicks off tomorrow and you can find more details about it on the hunt's blog.

PS: Talking of hunts, don't forget that at the start of this month we announced the launch of The Femdom Hunt III. Be sure to spread the word and make sure that your favourite Femdom/BDSM/fetish stores and Femdom regions are in the hunt.

Fetish Love Hunt now under way

Today sees the start of the Fetish Love Hunt and Z&A Productions are taking part.

See over on their blog for details of the hunt and the hint list.

We've taken the "fetish" part of the hunt theme and run with it, picking a very particular fetish. Enjoy.

Three Moons Hunt 2

Starting today we are taking part in the Three Moons Hunt 2.

This is a Gorean-themed hunt and it runs from April 16th until April 30th. You can find out more about the hunt on their blog. On there you'll find the hint list, as well as a preview of some of the gifts that are available.

Also, don't forget that we're still part of the Noir Nights Hunt. This too runs until the end of the month.

April Hunts

Remember that we've got two hunts coming through the main store this month. At the moment we're nicely busy with PRIME's Naught Bunny Hunt and, starting on the 9th, we're part of the Happy Hunters Noir Nights Hunt.

Our build for the Bunny Hunt is very... seasonal. Ish. Sort of. Let's just say it's a Z&A cell with a yummy twist:

As for the Noir hunt; we've done our best to make a nice retro build:

To find out more about these hunts, just pop down to our main store and check out the hunt boards.

Naughty Bunny Hunt

It's been a while since we were last in a hunt (mainly because we've struggled to find hunts that are a good fit for what we do or allow adult content) so we're delighted to announce that, starting tomorrow, we're a vendor in the Naughty Bunny Hunt.

This is, as you can probably guess from the name, an adult-oriented hunt with a spring/Easter theme. If you want to get a peek at what gifts will be available on the hunt (including ours) head over to the Whiz blog.

The hunt runs for two weeks so don't leave it too late to head out on it.

Thank you all

Now that the weekend hunt is over, we just wanted to say thank you to everyone who took the time to come visit Z&A and Raven Park and take part in the hunt. We hope you found all the gifts. We hope you find something amongst them that's perfect for you. We hope you had fun wandering around the sim.

We had a wonderful response. We were surprised and delighted by how many people did come and hunt. And we had some lovely feedback too. It made it all worth the effort.

Now we start on the third year. It should be fun. And there's already plans...

The Z&A Productions Birthday Mini-Hunt

It's on! The Z&A Productions 2nd birthday mini-hunt is now under way. You're invited to come down to our main store, slap the hunt board, and then take a nice wander around Z&A and Raven Park and pick up some gifts we've made you.

To get going just look in the folder you'll have been given by the hunt board and have a read of the notecard called Z&A Productions Second Birthday Mini-Hunt Hints. In there you'll find the hints for finding each gift. The hints should be fairly easy to follow -- we've not designed this hunt to be hard to do, we've not been devious in hiding the objects, we just want this to be a nice stroll around Z&A and Raven park.

Please treat this hunt as if the usual set of hunt rules apply. Short version: be nice, have fun, and please don't go giving away the locations of the gifts.

If you have any particular problems please don't hesitate to IM Antony Fairport or Zardia Avindar. And please do feel free to make use of the Friends of Z&A group if you get stuck.

PS: While you're in the main store, don't forget to take a look at our guest vendor board.

For your diary: The Z&A Birthday Hunt

Come the 24th of next month it'll be 2 years since we opened our first shop. To celebrate this event, and to say thank you to all our customers and everyone who has encouraged us over the past couple of years, we've decided to do this:

Make a note in your diary. There will be Z&A goodies to be found. We're even working on some brand new builds for the hunt.

Keep an eye on this blog, or join our in-world group, to follow the development of the hunt.