Year One, Summer: The Porter Family, Part 3 of 3

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Gertrude and Giles were heading to their first workday together as taverners at the Hefty Hedgehog. Gertrude was so excited, she leapt into Giles’ arms. They had spent a lazy morning getting to know one another, and now it was time to get to work. Gertrude knew she would be an asset for the business and the Hefty Hedgehog would be profitable for them and the owner, the Squire.

That evening, her mother came by, and Gertrude found herself happy to see her. It was encouraging to talk with her about the challenges of customer complaints.

The rest of the summer went by quickly, as the newlyweds fell into a routine of work, sleeping a little late, and playing chess or chatting before beginning the cycle again the next day around noon. Soon the Hefty Hedgehog was making more profit, and customers were more satisfied with its cleanliness.

Giles often entertained the guests with a rousing folk song. It was funny to see the proper merchant’s wife, Natalia Stroganov, and her mother, Tatiana, singing a drinking song.

One evening, Rhett Forester, and Gertrude’s aunt Ella came in together.

Knowing her mother’s concerns with Aunt Ella’s reputation, Gertrude kept an eye on them. Her aunt sat down to a poker game with James Fitz, and she engaged Rhett in light conversation, hoping to keep them from interacting.

The new merchant, Leonid Stroganov had become a regular, and one night late in summer, he asked Giles to sit and chat with him.

The merchant wanted to discuss the idea of beginning a merchant’s guild in Ayre. The two founding members would, of course, be Giles and Leonid, since Brodie McGobhan, the blacksmith, was a craftsman and would have a separate guild. Their main goal would be to encourage further trade in Ayre, including being able to give small start-up help to new merchants. Eventually, they would sponsor special events such as festivals, to increase business in Ayre.

Giles asked what Leonid thought would be an appropriate amount for guild dues. Leonid said that 5% per season was the standard in most places, and asked if that sounded feasible. Giles thought to himself, that this season they looked to make about four thousand nine hundred coin, and that would mean paying guild dues around two hundred forty-five, which seemed ok. Giles suggested, since Leonid was new in Ayre, that they share the leadership of the guild for the foreseeable future, and Leonid happily agreed. Ayre’s first guild was created.

At home that evening, Giles suggested a game of chess. He’d been thinking throughout the day how satisfying it would be to defeat Gertrude in a game. They were quite well matched but he wanted to prove to himself that he could out-maneuver her in a game of strategy. Unfortunately, this was not his night, and Gertrude prevailed.

Gameplay Notes:

I really enjoyed playing Giles and Gertrude. Working my way through the betrothal negotations was interesting, then the wedding was a lot of fun to play, and then, in day-to-day life they were compatible. It was a lot easier running the Hefty Hedgehog with Gertrude’s help, too, and I only had to cancel out the poker table for her a few times.

Being a pleasure sim, Giles’ fun motive runs low pretty often, so he wanders over to the poker table a lot. I tried to head that off and increase customer satisfaction by having him sing folk songs with the patrons, which worked very well.

Once they were able to get the tavern very clean, they did not get customer complaints. I think most of the complaints were due to the counter top and the latrine being dirty. They moved up to rank 3 this season and took the first cash prize for a perk. Giles also shared the earlier perks he’d learned with Gertrude.

Giles and Gertrude paid $2830 in taxes, tithes, and rent to the Steward.

Finally, do teens autonomously woohoo with ACR in Sims 2? Giles and Gertrude had lots of ACR interactions but they never woohoo’d, and I’d decided ahead of time to give them space to take their relationship at their own pace, so they finished the round at 100 lifetime and daily relationship, in love and married, but without having woohoo’d. They still have 1 bolt.