Viking Death Squad 2.3
In the last update, there were a lot of glitches; Baldur had a liason with the friendly neighborhood ex-pollinator, resulting in twins; the family was locked out of the house for a week to meet a challenge goal; and Dagmar found her soulmate only to lose him to the vagaries of Bon Voyage NPC coding.
Current residents:
Bekah -- founder and matriarch.
Anders -- Bekah's oldest son.
Baldur -- middle son, and heir.
Dagmar -- Bekah's youngest, and clone of Baldur.
Elsa -- Baldur's first child
Finn and Fifa -- Baldur's youngest children, twins.
We left off at the twins' birthday. Here's Baldur holding newly toddlerized Fifa. She is super cute, even bald.
But when it's Finn's turn to grow up, there is a little ghost-related loss of bladder control.
Which evidently smells AWESOME.
In the ensuing chaos, Bekah (simpurity) drops Finn behind her chair and falls to on the cake without aging him up.
Once the situation is under control, Dagmar steps in to fling the baby into sparkles and confetti.
The toddlers share the opinion that this business of being locked out of the house pretty much sucks.
Dagmar is feeling the strain, too. Foremost on her mind is finding her wishing well lover again: Alec Benson, the redheaded Remington-face who stole her heart. She talks about it to anyone who will listen.
Dagmar: "So I was thinking, I'll just go hunt for him. I'll go on vacation, and I won't come home until I've found him."
Elsa: "That's great but can I have a little privacy in the shower here? Grandma was hogging the latrine earlier and..."
Anders deals with his stress in the usual way: by asking someone on a date. This time it's laridian's Envy Tecza.
He really enjoys her zestful approach to life, and he appreciates her considerable musical skill. (The next two pics are the same date; she changed into formal to perform at the piano -- I don't remember seeing that before, but maybe it's because her creative is maxed.)
Picture included for adorableness!
When Envy mentions she's never had lobster, Anders treats her to one at the Baskerville Hotel's fine restaurant. Her enjoyment is infectious.
Anders is quite smitten with Envy! But for once, he doesn't feel the need to cap the evening with a sweaty session in a hotel bed. The date is perfect as is. And Envy is too special to treat like the easy lays he usually goes out with.
He does, however, avail himself of a hot bubble bath after Envy goes home... paradise after a week of outdoor showers!
Envy had a good time, too. :D
Back home, Bekah arrives home from work just in time to greet an expected visitor.
Her life has been a long one, and one full of adventure -- from her early Viking days on the high seas, to her shipwreck in this strange land -- finding her soulmate, raising her family, and discovering the perfect union of cheese and bread -- to her later days as a space pirate, pillaging and plundering among the stars.
Bekah is ready for Valhalla, ready to see her Valkyrie Shannin again.
Even though he knows it was her time, Baldur is crushed by the loss.
Everyone loved Bekah. Even the twins, who hadn't known her very long, were best friends with her. Everyone grieves. The house and property were willed to Baldur, of course, but there's no question of his siblings moving out. As long as they want to stay, it's their home too.
The week's challenge (I Forgot my Keys) is almost over, and then everyone will be able to go back inside... and I won't have to take dark screenshots anymore (no matter how many lights I put around they're still dark!)
Dagmar helps young Fifa grow up, though her method brings new meaning to the term butthead.
That looks painful... but funny. Anders takes a mental snapshot.
Finn's transition goes off without a hitch.
He looks so much like his other father, Tom Viking, that I keep mentally calling him Tom.
Finally! The family can re-enter the house. Elsa, the last denied, is the first one in. She's so relieved she actually walks straight past dishes that have been steaming toxins for a week -- despite her full Neatness points!
Before I roll up the next challenge, Dagmar gets her own interlude -- a vacation trip to see if she can find her lost love.
"A cruise? That's tempting... but no."
Wouldn't it be great if one of the vacation choices really was a cruise? Sims 2 Love Boat! Since that's not a choice, she picks Takemizu Village. If she doesn't find Alec there, my plan is she'll move on to Twikkii Island or Three Lakes, till she finds him.
"This might sound like a weird question, but I'm looking for someone... he's a white guy with red hair, and he's a masseuse..."
The concierge chuckles. "Look behind you."
"Hey babe! Long time no see!"
D'awww.
Dagmar isn't about to let her man go, this time.
Okay, here's what really happened: I planned it like I said. I was going to send Dagmar to all the vacation spots till she found Alec. But when she called up to book her vacation, it turned out he was in the list of sims she could invite along. Since I'm new to BV, I didn't realize they could take people outside their family. Also, it doesn't have to be all that high a relationship (though Dagmar and Alec's was still high).
Till she married him, Alec wasn't playable. He was sort of like a pet, in that I could see his interface but not control him.
I looked (briefly) for a definitive answer on the criteria for who can be taken on vacation, but didn't find one. But I checked this out with three sims in-game. At the point when I checked, Dagmar had the choice of 13 different sims for traveling companions: her household, plus five others. The lowest relationship was 35/35, so not even a very close friend. Alec only had 8 choices: household plus one friend, who I believe was also a BV NPC. Anders had 18 possibilities, including a relationship that was only at 29/24.
So, I don't know what the criteria are exactly. But if your sims meet a Bon Voyage NPC who can't be called or summoned with the teleporter bush, then try inviting them on vacation with your sim -- they definitely don't have to be best friends or anything. So far that's the only way I know around the seeming no-contact clause with BV NPCs.
I forgot to check if teens can book vacations, so it's possible this will only work for adults. But at least it's something.
Back to the story, a happy Dagmar and her new husband enjoy the rest of their vacation. They partake in local customs...
(whoops, that might not be a local custom, there... more like a cute fetish)
...and enjoy the luxuries of the resort...
...and each other.
When it's time to go home, naturally Alec accompanies Dagmar. The rest of the family is eager to meet him.
The kids are especially excited about getting a new uncle. And Alec gets along with the children very well. They love the way he tells stories.
"Once upon a time, there was a cat who loved music more than anything in the world."
"He lived in a fairyland castle, but the place was a real shithole. The cat didn't mind, though, because he could rock out whenever he wanted."
"The only bane in the cat's existence was his neighbor, a stupid blockhead dog who hated music -- even worse than than he hated cats."
"One night when the music drifting over the castle walls was especially loud, the dog tried firing rockets at the castle. But the cat had a missile defense system in place, which destroyed the rockets and rained burning debris down on the dog. The cat just laughed and laughed."
Not your typical children's story I think.
When not entertaining the younger set a somewhat inappropriate fashion, Alec can be found sucking face with Dagmar. It's like they never come up for air. In fact, Anders suggests using a snorkel.
Alec also ingratiates himself by making cheese toasties for all -- and he did it autonomously, as the challenge I rolled for the next TWO weeks is...
Uncontrollable Urges: designate one sim (and only one) that you can control for a sim week. All other sims cannot be checked on/controlled at any time for the duration of that week - not even to give them makeovers.
Not being able to control my sims means a whole lot of this kind of thing:
Even though he's one of the passed-out sims, Baldur is my controllable. He was just exhausted by trying to keep up with everything that needed to be done.
That's right, son. Drink up! You're going to need the energy.
I made two exceptions to the challenge. One, I allowed makeovers. Personally, I don't believe they interfere with the spirit of ISBI type challenges; I didn't look at needs or act on wants, I just sent them to the mirror. Two, I allowed myself to check the kids' current grade levels. This was so I could prioritize whose homework Baldur would concentrate on -- because with three kids, there was no way he was going to get each one to do their homework every day. The last thing I want is for these kids to get taken away by the social worker.
Elsa has her birthday and I miss getting her a cake.
She still has a very interesting face. I really like her looks. She has great personality stats too, so I kind of want her to be the heir.
But man! How can I pass up Fifa? She's freaking adorable. And she has great stats too.
Good thing I don't have to decide yet!
As you might have inferred from the pictures above, Dagmar brought a little souvenir home from vacation.
The ghosts have become more aggressive, showing no mercy even to the youngest of the household...
...or even to the unborn.
Fortunately, Dagmar goes into labor shortly thereafter. I've lost pregnant sims to ghosts before and it's heartbreaking.
And baby Greta is the first bathroom baby of the legacy! Don't forget to mark your Legacy Bingo cards!
To celebrate, they leave her there on the cold tiles for hours while Baldur was at work. :P
Anders (who has aged to elder, earlier than I expected) has taken to sitting on the beach all day, and sometimes late into the night as well. He just sits and stares at the ocean, contemplating his life. I like to think he's pondering the way he treated women in his youth -- so casually playing with their feelings, always thinking about the next lay, rather than appreciating and respecting the women he dates. Perhaps Envy really did make an impact on his life.
Others in the family also spend time on the beach when they really should be doing something else.
"Come on, Finn. You've put it off long enough, it's time to do your homework."
"Do I hafta?" Finn whines.
"Yes, you hafta."
"The cool kids at school don't do their homework." Finn tries to make a joke of it.
"You're not one of the cool kids," Baldur replies with a touch of sourness.
Finn is just as cute as Fifa in his own way, but he's terribly hard to manage and getting him to do his homework is an absolute bear. Baldur can just tell Fifa once and she'll do it. Pretty much the same with Elsa. But Finn has to be dragged back to his homework over and over. Each lesson takes many sim-hours to complete, not counting breaks where (hopefully) Finn is getting his fun bar up. Some days it's just impossible.
And when I peek at Finn's grades, he's the one that will send them all to Child Protective Services if I'm not diligent. For this alone, I decide against Finn as heir. :P
Dagmar's daughter, Greta, becomes a toddler. When I see her stats, I groan because she'll probably be another hard-to-manage kid. I forget what all her personality is, but she has hardly any nice points.
She also pretty much got her father Alec's face! You can already tell.
Here's the one and only time I saw Bekah cheer for her bed. Aww. I love that she died in her space pirate uniform.
Lest we get too sentimental, she turns and scares the pee out of Elsa!
While Baldur is dragging his son to do homework yet again, I notice something odd on the stairs.
A puddle where no puddle should be. It must have teleported there from the nearest bathroom.
Winter comes and caps the beach house in lovely deep snow...
...which doesn't stop Anders from his nighttime beach meditations. By the time I see him, he's basically an icicle -- and contemplating going for a swim! I'm sure he would shatter once he hit the waves. D:
Thinking it will be warming, I have Baldur call him inside, then influence Anders to bathe.
But he chooses the outdoor shower to do it. *facepalm* My sims are going to kill themselves before this challenge is over.
Unless the ghosts get them first. Tag-team haunting is their new sport.
Birthday time! Here are Finn and Fifa, ready to enter the world of teenagers.
That's if they survive their own party!
That's four hauntings so far... two per twin, in only a few minutes.
Fifa is sure the ghosts are satisfied by now.
SO FREAKING CUTE. Couldn't you just die?
Evidently that's what Shannin wants for her granddaughter... for her to die. O_O
Geez. Maybe Fifa should vacate the kitchen. Is the bathroom safe?
Hell no.
She's still all smiles, though! She's the best little sim ever. I really love her. ^_^ (And yeah, okay, that's obviously a potty-training face, I cheated and had her potty train the toddler... so sue me *grin*)
If I'm counting right that was seven hauntings, two for Finn and five for Fifa, all in a very short span of time. The ghosts are getting VERY aggressive.
Finn continues to skate along with a D-ish average. I take to moving the Golden Skull of Jumbok IV (thanks Bekah!) near him, for its dubious boost to needs.
It doesn't help that his twin got into private school, and he didn't. Not that Fifa ever rubs it in, but still, that's gotta rankle.
Elsa didn't get into private school either. And since she's doing most of the cleaning around the house (the maid can only do so much) she's not the happiest of campers right now. Though she cleans autonomously, so it's really her own fault.
In other news, Alien Nanny finds a stray kitty out by the mailbox, and he becomes part of the family. His name? Minsk. He is immediately seized and squeezed by Evil Toddleric Forces.
Minsk: "Minsc will be free! These bonds will not hold my wrath! Butts will be liberally kicked in good measure!"
He is a brave and fearless adventurer cat, ready to dispense justice wherever he sees fit.
"Evil, meet my sword! SWORD, MEET EVIL!!"
Fortunately, that appears to have been Wood Shop homework, so probably not vital...
Greta becomes a child, to her annoyance.
And now the full import of the stairwell puddle becomes evident. Somehow, the maid gets trapped in the little space (one floor below). I have no idea how he got there, but figure it has to be the return of glitchiness.
Fifa: "Just come back over the rail. Here, I'll help you. Aw man, don't cry!"
By the time I free him, he's in hysterics.
He makes tracks for his van, high-tailing it out of there. And I for one don't blame him; maybe he sensed what was about to happen next.
My game is visited by graphic glitches from jayeless_sims' VDSL, warping across time and space to slice through my house like pixel-thin knives.
Not pictured, but present, were more weird remote-control glitches like those at the start of my last update. Let me tell you, when you see a toddler snap from the kitchen to the changing table in the next room, and back again, while their soiled diaper flies over the family's dinner, then you get a heavy feeling of foreboding (if not active disgust... think of the germs!)
When I realized that the family was completely unable to interact with NPCs such as delivery drivers, I knew it was time to ditch the glitch house.
And so I packed them up and moved them out, and sadly bulldozed my lovely beach house. I built my own house for them to move into, on a bigger lot so there's room for a graveyard outside (I suspect my frequent moving of urns inside is to blame for some, but not all of the glitching). It's not as pretty but I had issues with that downloaded beach house from the start -- like the driveway I couldn't use. That's resolved now.
I have a few screenshots from the new house, though I'll save them for next time. However I do have some extras and random pics to share, which I'll post soon.
Thanks for reading!
ETA: Extras are here!
http://pixelcurious.livejournal.com/238329.html