Year One, Spring: The Porter Family

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Giles Porter had a rough spring.

First, I need to catch you, the reader, up.

When Giles first went to the Hefty Hedgehog to open on Monday night, he was not the owner, he was a visitor! I figured the deed must be in James’ inventory!  The game had forced me to create James, an adult, to save Giles in CAS, and he had then been moved out to the Barracks.

So I moved James back in, sold and bought back the Hefty Hedgehog.  I guess James is going to have to stay until Giles ages up.  That’s where most of the trouble started.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

So, to start Giles’ story:  It was a dark and stormy spring.

Giles had made it through the winter, with what was left to him from his family:  the house, the tavern, and a larder full of traded dry goods and ale.  He was down to only $100 and a few weeks’ food.

His cat, Snow, was a comfort to him.  Otherwise, he’d have been utterly alone.

One day, a man named James returned to Ayre, from battle, and explained to Giles that his dad’s dying wish had been for James to help Giles run the tavern.

That first day with James was a little trying.  James kept losing to the customers at the card table, and then he swept Daralis Gothard, one of the customers, into a kiss.  And Daralis’ father was standing right there!

Fortunately, Daralis seemed to like it, and Gabe was oblivious.  Daralis and James had been making eyes at each other since the Berry’s had thrown a ‘do a few weeks earlier.

But Lady Elizabeth, the Squire’s mother and Abbess, did not approve.

That evening, Giles and James ate together in stony silence. In the morning, Giles was about to make his morning porridge when the unwelcome sight of James bathing in the kitchen made him turn around and forgo to break his fast.

That day, Lady Rosalind came to check on her Lady’s tavern, and for good measure, gave James a talking to.

She expressed her anger over the Squire’s profits being squandered at the cards table.

“And look at the squalor,” she added with disgust.

Battle-hardened he may have been, but James was penitent and meek at the Lady’s tongue-lashing.

Next thing Giles knew, James was guzzling ale.

Giles stopped him and asked him to leave, before he got a fine for public drunkenness.

The Steward came later that evening, bringing his fair daughter, Eithne, with him.  Giles offered both of them lamb stew with dumplings.

The Steward rejected his offer.  He had heard that James was drinking and gambling with the guests.  And Giles couldn’t say anything; it was true that the tavern had lost a good amount of coin yesterday from James’ gambling habit.

The tavern’s profits did not belong to Giles, they belong to the Squire. The Steward took James’ losses out on Giles.

Much to the horror and dismay of the Sister, a frequent gambler and one of the villagers who won some of the coin off James.

Giles went home that night exhausted and discouraged.

He tried to cheer himself up with Snow’s antics

The next evening, he headed back to the tavern, rested, alone, and determined to mend his relationships with his patrons.

But the worst humiliation was yet to come.  Her Ladyship, the Squire, personally delivered a lecture on cleanliness, profitability, and chastity, to Giles.

Daralis complained.

A random man-at-arms, complained.  His name was Brice.

Rob, another of the men-at-arms, complained.

Giles couldn’t even discern what the problem was.  The place was clean, and there was entertainment, refreshment, and a toilet.

But to hear the customer’s complained, it sounded as if all of Ayre’s iniquity was the fault of the incapable tavern managers.

When Giles returned home that evening, his well was on fire.  Fortunately, the downpour of rain extinguished it.

Rent of $1000, and taxes, were due in two days, and Giles had only earned a paltry profit of $767!  He sat at his chess board and strategized.

The next morning, Giles had two visitors at his door, Gertrude Wise and Hadley Gothard.  Both were about his age.

Gertrude said she had a head for business and wanted to help Giles.  She quizzed him on his business practices, and gave him some advice.

First, he needed to go in earlier and stay later.  And he needed to raise his prices, and he needed to clean the floor, display more of his wine stores, and make less free food for the patrons.

She advised him this would help him turn a better profit.

As soon as he was dressed, washed, toileted, and fed, he hugged Snow and off he went.

Ralf Forester was one of the first patrons that morning, and he and Giles chatted and joked.

 Millicent Wise, the caretaker from the Almshouse across the street dropped by.  She had a warm and reassuring presence, and she gladly paid for her ale and champ.

Rhett Forester joined a game of cards with her.

She cleaned him out pretty quickly, and he left.

That day and the next went well, with no complaints, and steady customers.

Her ladyship, the Squire, had just returned when vermin was found on the stoop.  Giles quickly cleaned them away, hoping she would not see it.  He dreaded more complaints, more lectures, more recriminations.

She didn’t see the vermin, and was gracious and pleasant to Giles.

Henri, another man-at-arms, was far happier this evening at the tavern than he had been days earlier.

But Snow must have remembered when Henri had fussed at Giles, and he hissed at him.

Hadley seemed pleased with Snow’s protectiveness of Giles.

Giles worked on into the night and wee hours, chatting with the customers, cleaning, and serving.

Giles’ good reputation restored, Anais Honeycutt came by at breakfast-time on Saturday.

As soon as she was served, Giles cleaned and closed the tavern, exhausted but happy.  He and Snow headed home, where Hadley, who had been visiting with James, had prepared a meal.

Gameplay Notes

The Porter household started with $100 and ended with $3532.00!  On Wednesday I did not think he would be able to make his rent.  They paid $2565.00 to the treasury.  The total treasury balance after two households is $4200.00.  At $8000, we are allowed to add a Weekly Market, so that each household does not have to try to run a cottage business independently and can sell their wares to the merchant.

Giles used his two perks (which he earned on Thursday and Friday) to get the good and sterling reputation.

He needed it, I thought, with so many dissatisfied customers.  Also, in this challenge I don’t think sims are supposed to buy anything from the catalog, but I suspected the complaints must be about the lack of decoration and the dirt floor, so on Thursday I added a $1/tile stone floor, two hanging meat displays, and one wine display.  It seemed to help.

The other issue that was difficult was that I had downloaded medieval bandatrons, as well as using either SimWardrobe’s customer limit mod OR CJ’s More Than Three Customers mods, and both seemed to conflict with that bandatron and the vanilla one.  They did not function as long as I had the customer limit mods in the game, and didn’t function even after removing the customer limit mods, so I don’t know what the issue is.  It was very frustrating.  I also searched GoS, the Keep, Simlogical, and Insimenator for poker tables with lower advertising but haven’t found them, if they exist, yet.

Giles likes Hadley Gothard but since he is the eldest son he is only supposed to marry at or above his station.  The only sim he can marry right now, is Destiny Honeycutt, who is still a child.  Gertrude Wise would actually be a good match for him because she is a fortune sim and he is pleasure.  She would probably run the tavern well.