Vlad is back in the insanely beautiful (and green) world of the Therapy Game.
Still in his insanely stupid clothes... And he still feels so, so hungry.
So they can escape their ingame feelings by logging out, but they'll be back as soon as they log in again.
And time did not pass. He and Diablo still stood where they logged out. Not the best news for poor Jack who logged out of that cell he'd been locked in...
This village is so pretty. Vlad's experience is so much better than Jack's.
At the moment, he is the only one of them stable enough to test the Therapy Game. So it depends on him if Ji Ho, Siawa and Jack will get a successful therapy to help them to deal with their hardships...
And so he entered the village.
Diablo: 'I have a bad feeling about this...'
But Vlad didn't listen. And he has no choice anyway.
The mayor approaches the new arrival.
Vendor to the mayor: "I have a bad feeling about him. I bet he ran away. Just look at his clothes..."
But the Mayor didn't listen...
Mayor: "Good Day! What brings you here?"
The Mayor does not have a questionmark above his head but this is a game so Vlad tried the obvious:
"I have no money and I'm hungry, do you maybe have a quest for me?"
It's so embarrasing. But everything for Ji Ho.
And it's not real anyway. Just a playtest for a game. Nonetheless it's hard for Vlad to forget his foolish pride, step out of his comfort zone and ask for help (he really, really hates this!) and keep his temper at bay. Plus he is an introvert and feels uncomfortable around people he doesn't know.
Mayor: "How is it possible a beautiful boy like you you has no money? Did your Laird abandon you? Did you run away? Are you a criminal?"
Vendor to the mayor: "I have informed you thusly, Roberto."
Vlad: "No! None of these! I'm just passing through."
Mayor: "I see you are a Vampire. The Queen will have to decide about you. I'm afraid we can't help you as long as your status is unclear or we'll be in troubles ourselves."
Vlad: "The Queen? Fine. And where is she?"
Mayor: "At her castle of course. Two day trips to the west."
Vlad: "I won't survive two days without food."
Mayor: "Uhm, I think it will be ok when you sell us your horse then. You'll get a share of the meat and you can leave. And we won't be punished for hiding a criminal."
Vlad: "I told you I'm not a crimi... THE MEAT? You would slaughter my horse?"
Mayor: "Why not? Horses are useless. No milk, no eggs, no wool... The only thing they are good for is meat."
Vlad: "But horses are intelligent, beautiful, noble creatures!"
Mayor: "Who says that? Don't you eat meat where you come from?"
Vlad: "Sure. But we only eat cows, pigs and chicken."
Mayor: "What a weird attitude is this? Pigs are way more intelligent than horses, cows more noble and chicken more beautiful. AND they are all more useful than a horse."
Customer: "So who gets to decide which animals should be slaughtered and which not?"
Vendor 2: "I don't care, they all taste so good!"
*sigh*
Vlad: "Is this your last word? Is there no job for me where I could earn some money? How could I possible reach the castle without a horse?"
Mayor: "You have a point, though. But no one here would offer a job to a criminal."
Vlad: "..."
Vendor: "Except for the sculptor..."
Mayor to the vendor: "Yes, but no one would work for him."
Vlad: "I would!"
Mayor: "Fine, you work for the sculptor and we'll spare your useless horse. Let's hope the queen forgives us."
Vendor: "She will. That's the only way for us to get rid of him anyway. Before he starts to steal from us."
Vlad: "I'm not a crimi..."
But the mayor already turned away: "You better behave, boy. Let's go to the inn, Martha darling."
(You might remember Roberto and Martha from our Horse Ranch Adventures. It seems Tiny Can uses some known faces to populate the game, inspired by Vlad's logs. But since they did not recognize him, I guess it's just the visuals and the names.)
'A Christmas song from behind the wire
Auld Nick patron saint o thieves, murderers & sailors
Strike these shackles from me uh-huh
Slide the bolt from out the door & tear down all the wire
My babys growin cold & im on fire
The aind that whistles off the hills & carries her perfume
Carries too a lonely carol badly out of tune
For just tonight beyond them walls id lay a mountain low
And sing to her like only i know how
They dont hang no fairy lights these rusty iron bars
So ill burn a paper lamp for her to see
Though shes left like a widow of a war that never was
Theres a light still burns in me'
The Rumjacks - Patron Saint O' Thieves
From the Beginning ~ Underwater Love ~ Latest
🕹️ 'Therapy Game' from the beginning ▶️ here
📚 Previous Chapters:
Chapters: 1-6 ~ 7-12 ~ 13-16 ~ 17-22 ~ 23-28
No one asked and yet, here they are: my spin on the premades that came with TS4 Horse Ranch EP.
The households that had horses still have horses; they aren't pictured because I didn't alter them in any way. I also didn't change any of their outfits even though I really wanted to, so they're dressed in every category. All the CC is BGC! That being said, their eyes and some skin details fall in the “occult scar” category. (If you don’t have vampires or werewolves you’ll need the CAS unlock mod to get the hidden occult categories.)
All I ask is that…
You do not dramatically change them or reupload and claim them as your own.
You tag me if you play with any of them in your game!
Thank you to all the CC creators. Let me know if you have any issues!
The neighbours were kind enough to bring food and some advice. Jolene really needs to get herself some ranch appropriate clothing. Those sneakers won't stay white for long in a place like this.
After the concert, everyone gathered upstairs. Jay and Landon introduced Aly and Matt to Rose and Dorothea, and they all spent the night together, getting to know each other.
Jana and Roberto Crinkletop really enjoyed each other's company.
Anyone else's sim gets beaten up by Roberto Crinkletop without any apparent reason? I wouldn't quite expect it since he has the good trait, but he beat up Solongo twice in a row out of nowhere when I made her introduce herself to be able to buy nectar 😳
(There is a Poll below)
Vlad is still playtesting.
And while he took a walk through the village and admired Tiny Can's work, it slowly went dark, the stands closed and the folks went to the Lion's Pride Inn.
He heard the music from the inside.
'The Dublin Pub Crawl' by The Irish Rovers was playing.
'We all went in to Kitty McGee's for we're a jolly crew
We all went in to Kitty McGee's to have a drink or two
Kitty McGee's, in Dublin town upon the crawl
A hell of a time was had by all, down where the beer and whiskey flew'
He had nowhere to go and so he went in. Maybe someone takes pity on him and gives him some food? He already felt a bit weak on his legs. And his job at the sculptor only started early next morning...
There are so many known faces here! Ms. Coombes, their former teacher, Travis (Jeb and Ji Ho's Roadie) and Uncle Stefan, who raised Jack. But they are just NPCs Tiny Can created and none of them recognized him.
As soon as Gia, the bartender, saw Vlad, she stopped him.
Gia: "I'm sorry. You can't enter as long as your status is unclear. Go to the castle after you got paid tomorrow and ask for an audience to talk to the Queen about your status. You can sleep in the shack behind the Inn and I'll care for your horse after my shift. But that's all I can do for you."
And so Vlad went over to the shack...still hungry.
Let's hope Diablo finds a better place for the night. At least he can eat some grass and would't have to go to sleep hungry.
And then this cute - but somehow really delicious looking bunny approached Vlad... should he...?
It's just a game. But the thought of eating a bunny makes him uncomfortable. He does eat meat, but killing the animal himself is a whole different thing.
But he's so hungry. And he'll have to survive the night and the next day working before he gets paid...
Vlad tried to escape this situation by going to (try to) sleep.
But when he stood up and stepped inside the shack, he saw stars and almost fell unconscious. He has no choice...
In the meantime, Gia was caring for Diablo.
The way she looks at him. Is she having the same thoughts about Diablo as Vlad has about the bunny? Ö.ö'
Phew. She finally leaves the stable.
But Diablo decides it's better to stay awake and alert.
No one will eat him. No matter how 'useless' they think he is!
Gia: "You weren't about to eat that bunny, were you?"
Vlad: "Uhm..."
Gia: "You really must be very hungry then."
And she gave him a plasma fruit!
A HFN for Vlad and the bunny ^^'
This will help him (and the bunny) to survive the night and the next day. After he had the plasma fruit (that really tasted like a real one outside of the game), he lay on the straw in the shack and pondered about his ingame experiences so far.
Even though many events here were upsetting and annoying, they still were managable and there had been no moment where he wanted to scream 'OUT!'. So Tiny Can improved a lot.
And of course the Therapy Game will be annoying and hard. They all know that. Therapy is no rose garden after all and as far as he can speak for the others, they are determined to change their lives for the better and are willing to work hard for it.
And he will help them by testing this game and make sure it's safe for them. He decided to playtest also the following day and then report back to Saiwa.
And then he fell asleep under the stars that shone through the missing shingles of the shack and the bunny watched over his sleep...
TMI: Even though Vlad got killed by the Killer Bunny once, he isn't resentful.
Vlad's sweet memories with Bunnies: on their trip to Henford and at Beltane.
The situation with hungry Vlad and the bunny reminds me of some quests in games that gave me a hard time.
There was one in World of Warcraft where I had to use torture on a prisioner to get information.
It's many years ago.
I did it but I still feel uncomfortable about this.
Killing when I get attacked ingame is ok for me, but this - I don't know.
I play computer games for over 40 years now and I am still not dulled ^^'
Do other players even have such thoughts? Let's find out:
You are also very welcome to leave a comment with your thoughts.
This is a very enthralling topic for me these days while we explore the Therapy Game and there will be more situations like this.
I'm so curious how the Boys will deal with them.
It's also very different from other games because the Boys act as themselves and it really feels like they are a part of their ingame surroundings.
From the Beginning ~ Underwater Love ~ Latest
🕹️ 'Therapy Game' from the beginning ▶️ here
📚 Previous Chapters:
Chapters: 1-6 ~ 7-12 ~ 13-16 ~ 17-22 ~ 23-28
“Horse Ranch”: New Video Shows the Backstory of Roberto Crinkletop
Maxis has just released a short video on social media telling the backstory of one of the NPCs on the recently released The Sims 4 Horse Ranch Expansion Pack: Roberto Crinkletop.
As many simmers suspected, his story is linked to Agnes Crumplebottom from Henford-on-Bagley (the world from Cottage Living). The video shows how he left her for a life in Chestnut Ridge.