...My only two regrets are that I didn't cash-out my original stake at the top and now, that I put a few btc on bitcoin-24 which I managed to parlay a little higher but now is apparently gone (I'm assuming forever)
Why do you assume that?
Because it looks like the government is involved. Unfortunately, there is very little information coming out but my assumption is that at the least, the government has seized the server and the transaction records have not been backed up elsewhere. I hope this is not the case but again, no information. That in itself is a big red flag to me.
You'll probably get your BTC back when I get my e-gold back.