

Ferby: Hey Alex, thanks for inviting us over for Christmas Snowflake Day. I brought you this pie, but it won’t render, so I’m just going to cup the air for the entirety of our visit.



Fluffy: Sweetie, is that your furniture outside?



Alex: Haha, yeah, I wouldn’t be able to fit four people in here if I kept it all inside.

Fluffy: …dear god.



Alex: Here you go, dad, this is for all of you.



Aw. Alex may have been eager to get away from her family, but I think she misses them.





Alex: Hey, Traci. You should ignore the fact that I’m still in this legacy. And the fact that it’s snowing indoors.

Traci: Can I mention the imaginary pie that dad keeps carrying around?

Alex: Probably best not to.



Alex: I’ll help you with that snowman.







Ferby: Get it? Because I’ll probably die soon?

Alex: …I’m not a fan of this.

Fluffy: Watch out!

Ferby: Careful Traci, that had a rock in it! Alex, throw one at your sister.

Traci: That wasn’t me, that was mom.

Fluffy: Just try to hit me, kids. Snowball fights are a completely non-electrical, no carbon footprint form of entertainment. I’ve been doing these for years.

Fluffy was born in my game in 2010, nearly seven whole years ago, when I was twelve. That’s over a third of my life. I’m really glad that I get to link my new stories to my old ones.

Before they leave to go back to the farm, Alex’s family have a group picture done. Naturally, she’s in the front.

﻿

Alex: Ugh, work sucks. I can’t wait until I get a promotion and I can stop teaching sports to two year olds.

Maybe you should take a break.



Alex now has the Jetsetter and Prepared Traveller lifetime rewards, which allow her to spend longer amounts of time abroad and for less money. That means it’s time for six days in France!





Alex: Aw man, I can’t wait to get back to tomb exploration. It’s just the best fun in the world.



Alex: …Oh my god.

Tombs do tend to have dead bodies in them. It’s kind of what they’re for.

Alex: Yeah, but this guy was clearly an adventurer like me. Weird.



Alex: …So I explored the entire tomb, escaped traps, slept underground, and came across corpses to get your ‘relic’ back.

Yves: Yes?

Alex: It was an old baseball.



Yves: Am I paying you to criticise me? Besides, it’s a lucky baseball.

Alex: Well it’s great to know you’ve got your priorities in order.



Alex: I’ve never found exploration stressful before. I guess that skeleton just kind of freaked me out. So, I’m going to do the touristy thing and check out the winery.

What do you mean? There’s no alcohol in the sims.

Alex: Oh right… I meant the ‘nectary’. *wink*

That’s better.



Alex: Hey, this is pretty fun too.



Alex: Agh! I sure hope this doesn’t become a viral video.



Alex: Huh, there’s a basement. It must be where they keep the top quality… nectar.

Alex: Is it just me or does that look like a dive well, like the underwater tunnel I found in China?

It does.

Alex: Hmm… this place might have a hidden tomb under it! Only one way to find out…



Alex: It’s just wine. I just dived into a pool of wine.

Please, Alex. It’s called nectar.

Alex: Oh my god, people are looking at me. I need to leave right now.



After her ridiculous attempt at chilling out, Alex decides to return to what she does best – excavating tombs. This time she goes to Chateau du Landgraab, in search of some hidden documents that the old inhabitant had locked away. It’s just a nice old mansion, so hopefully this will let her de-stress.





Or not.





Alex: Shit, that really hurt.

Are you okay? You really got a shock.

Alex: Yeah, but I think this place must be covered in traps.



Alex: Good thing I have this shower in a can to get me back to normal!

Sims logic.



Sadly, Alex isn’t back to normal for long, as she quickly gets taken out by another burst of electricity. This trip really isn’t going her way.





Hey, are you okay?

Alex: Yeah, just appreciating the artefacts. I got asked to watch over the museum; one of the employees keeps hearing weird noises. It’s not exactly as exciting as exploring, but I need the extra cash.



Do you really prefer exploring, even after all the hard stuff you’ve been through in the past few days?

Alex: Of course. It’s my passion. Besides I’m pretty damn terrible at watching over this place. I’ve already stolen a couple of gnomes.



Alex: Sorry boss, I couldn’t find anything wrong with the place. The noises are probably just floorboards creaking and stuff.

Lea: Well, did you check the Chinese wing?

Alex: Uhh… no.



Lea: If you could, that would be wonderful. Also, keep an eye out for thieves – we’re missing a few gnomes. Do you know anything about that?

Alex: …Any help?

You dug yourself into that hole.



In the Chinese wing, Alex finds a glowing switch on the wall, which, if I were to make a wild guess, means that it’s important.





Alex: Okay, so it opened the door to this secret room, but it’s way too dark in here for me to see. Let me just grab this…



Alex: Aaaaaand it was a secret switch. Yep, totally knew that, no problem.

Of course you did.



Alex: This place is just full of old relics. Still, I doubt that these are making noises at night.



Alex: But whatever is getting loud at night might just be through that door.



Alex: …I don’t want to cross it. I’ll tell Lea the sound was rats and leave it at that.

What about your brave trait?

Alex: Yeah, well, I got electrocuted the other day and I don’t have a stupid trait so I’m not really feeling it.

Then work out a solution. Come on, you’re smart.



Alex: Did it.

How?

Alex: A couple of puzzles and acts of extreme heroism that you forgot to take pictures of. You were too stunned by my brilliance.



What does it say?

Alex: It’s a message left here by an old curator. He got trapped down here – he thought he was going to die. Judging by that tombstone, I’d guess that he was right. I’m not a superstitious sim, but… I’m pretty sure his ghost must have been the source of the noise. He says that all he wants is to be buried in his family chest.



If he got trapped down here alone, how is there a tombstone?

Alex: Sims logic. Don’t question it. Now be quiet whilst I – uhh – gather up what’s left of him.



Seemingly a little bit shaken by all the death overshadowing her recent adventures, Alex still finds the time to explore every nook and cranny of the tomb.





Alex: Ah, gold glowy stuff. My only friend.



Alex: There you go, bud. You’re back with your family now.



Lea: Alex, the museum is free of odd noises, and I have you to thank! I’m just sorry that you had to go into that awful tomb. I had no idea that it was under us the whole time!

Alex: It’s no problem, honestly. I love exploring old places.

Lea: That’s so interesting – you have to tell me all about it!

Lea and Alex became fast friends, and I’m glad – it will be nice for her to have people to talk to outside of her family, even if they live abroad.





This guy called Gustave also joins in on the conversation, and he too becomes Alex’s friend. (If you have The Sims and he looks a little bit different, I edited his appearance because it seemed like every single sim had his hair!)





Alex doesn’t mind about boring hair, though. She’s just glad to have a normal conversation after the tough week she’s had.





Yves: Oh great, it’s the girl who thinks she’s too good to rescue my baseball.

Alex: Okay, firstly, I’m 23, so I’d say I’m definitely a woman, not a girl. Secondly, I’m here because I want to buy some stuff. Specifically, a chest.

Alex spends her final day determined to crack Chateau du Landgraab, the castle which proved to be her biggest challenge yet.

After she fully explored the groundskeeper’s shack (with its grand total of two whole rooms – hardly the most difficult tomb) her grand total of tombs explored is 5. 3 in France, 1 in China and 1 in Egypt.

You’re looking extremely pleased with yourself.

Alex: See those switches?

Yeah?

Alex: I think I just deactivated almost every trap in this stupid castle. It got the better of me before, but I think I’ll be able to finish it off next time I’m in the country.



Alex: So, just saying… I’m pretty awesome.

I’d be inclined to agree with you.



As soon as she gets home, Alex places the chest she bought inside her home. It’s just like the one the curator’s family got buried in – maybe, she’s planning ahead, creating her own family vault for the future. What with all the danger and death she’s come across over the past week, it’s not surprising that she’s thinking about it.



But that’s a worry for another day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. As always, leave a comment or like if you got to this point, and let me know if the pictures are too light/dark. I’ll do my best to make the graphics as easy to see as possible!

Until next week, happy simming.

Emily