01-14. More Quests and a Fire Escape

Rexel and Marion's Tour de China continued. I had given Marion the Prepared Traveler lifetime reward, so they were able to stay six days instead of the usual three.

In one of the tombs, they found a room with several sarcophagi. Some had to be dug out of rubble.

But there was treasure in each one; although a couple just had dried food morsels.

One of the sarcophagi gave Rex a bit of trouble. He got pulled in and then spit out a little shaken!

Rexel's next Martial Arts assignment was to meditate. To do that, he had to get his sim fu level up to 5. Marion finished her own adventure with the local who she found at the Academy.

Both she and Rexel have reached level 1 in their Chinese Visas.

Before sending Marion off on another quest, I had her practice the Martial Arts skill. She's level 2 now. So funny to see her with that hat on while wearing her sim fu outfit! I think there's a way to change the hairstyle for the Martial Arts outfits with NRaas, but I can't remember how to do it yet.

While checking in with a quest giver, Marion decided to blow him a kiss. Honestly, Marion! He's a total stranger.

Rejected! And you deserved that, little Missy. You don't see Rex flirting with locals, now do you?

Marion had to find two Red Assassin bugs.

When she turned them in, she asked the lady to pillow fight. At least she wasn't blowing kisses!

Rexel reached level 5 in Martial Arts and started his meditation session at the Chinese Garden.

Meanwhile Marion had a wish to practice breaking boards. She started with foam.

The weather turned stormy, with rain and hail, while Rexel was in his trance, but he was still able to levitate.

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The last day, Rex was given the quest to retrieve the Writings of Qin Shan Hu from the Resolute Fist Retreat. This place is a dangerous fire hazard! There are timed fire traps to jump over and hallways filled with more traps. In these walkways, Sims need to work together to turn off fire traps in a certain sequence.

By the time those traps were all disarmed, it was getting late. I was afraid they wouldn't get this tomb finished before they had to leave. Without thinking, I sent Marion into a room to pull a statue aside. Big mistake!

Luckily there was a well of water nearby. Poor Marion.

Unfortunately, Rexel fared worse. I thought I had told him to walk AROUND the fire trap area, but he decided to take a shortcut--right into another fire!

Marion was standing in his way, so it took Rex longer to get to the well.

And he ended up scorched! I sent him back into the well and he healed up then. The singed moodlet disappeared.

After reporting in and closing all quests, Rex had one more tomb wish left and there was just enough time to grant it. He wanted to sleep in a tomb. He and Marion also got in a quick love session while they were alone. And then the couple said farewell to Shang Simla--until next time.

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Back home, after settling Rexel and Marion in and packing away travel gear, I checked on the Barker household.

Torin was socializing with Shira.

Jillie was at the fishing pond doing Magician tricks for tips. I was afraid she was stuck there since it was in the middle of the night, so I reset her. She needed to go home and get some rest.

Keesh was guarding the pet bowls.

Shira decided to call it a day. With a big yawn, she nestled into her bed.

01-13. China for Beginners: Part 2

On waking up the next morning, Rexel and Marion had a lot more energy. They put it to good use since no one else was around the Academy at that time of the day.

Once again, they headed for the market place. They each baked a fortune cookie with the machine.

Both fortunes were sim silly! I don't even remember what they were. But Marion and Rexel had fun eating the cookies and reading the quotes.

Marion has the Shy trait. She feels uncomfortable around all the strangers she meets.

But she's holding up well, and of course, has Rex by her side.

Marion also has the Proper trait and she often changes into her formal wear. But this was the first time I'd seen her wear fancy clothes while swimming!

It was time for Marion to catch her fish. Rex and she stood side by side, singing, chatting, and fishing.

The bait really made a difference in catching the right fish. Both Rex and Marion also reached level 3 in Fishing.

They quickly caught several Kawarimono Koi. Marion delivered the fish and received her rewards.

Rexel's second adventure was to spar with a sim two times. He found the designated "Master" at the Base Camp.

Rexel lost the first match, but won the second contest, 2-0. He was able to report in that night.

Meanwhile, Marion learned the two Chinese songs from another local visiting the Base Camp.

She'll teach them to Rex when they get back home.

As I was sending Rexel off for a bath, Marion queued up her own action to serenade Rex with the violin. This was the first time the new Marion had played it. Rexel seemed to enjoy the attention and her sincere efforts, but ...

... he also had to hide a few snickers! Marion isn't the best musician right now. She did manage to reach level 1 before the serenade ended though.

Marion fell asleep before Rexel had finished his bath. But he woke her up for a quick romp when he got in bed.

01-12. China for Beginners: Part 1

Rexel and Marion wanted to travel to China, so off they went!

They arrived on a beautiful clear day. Their first adventures from the board were easy enough. Marion was supposed to catch four Kawarimono Koi, and Rexel was asked to explore the Tomb of the Lost Army. 

Marion first tried fishing for Kawarimono, but was having no luck. So they went to the market place to buy a fishing book to learn what bait to use for that type of Koi. The Lost Army Tomb was also in the town market area.

This tomb was a repeat of what they'd done together before the game glitch, but it was a fun exploration. They bought more dry food and some plums for fish bait. Plum trees grow naturally in France, not China, but the market sold the fruit, thankfully.

While they were at the market, they explored the tomb under the store area.

The sarcophagus held only treasure, no mummy.

Once again, Rexel wasn't afraid of a few bugs. 

More treasure! 

Marion helped clear away rubble. 

She dove into a well to explore other areas on her own. 

After gathering the treasures she found, she rejoined Rexel who was busy disarming a steam trap. 

Always mourn the graves in tombs. Doing so opens up hidden treasure troves or secret rooms. 

The buried souls rewarded Rex and Marion's respectful mourning by revealing more treasure stashes.

Marion also has the Brave trait and is not squeamish about bugs.  

Once this tomb was completed, it was getting late, but Marion wanted to visit the Academy and learn the Martial Arts skill. I let her get started on it, but she wasn't quite able to reach level one that night. 

Since they'd found so much loot, I splurged on a picnic meal for them. The picnic basket is nice to take along when adventuring--certainly better than just eating dry food morsels every day!

After a meal and shower, the couple were too tired to do anything but sleep! I had them pitch their two-person tent on the sparring platform at the Academy. 

01-11. More Like a Yorkie

I took Shira back into CAS and tried to  give her longer hair, more like a real Yorkshire Terrier (which she was originally labeled in CAS). This was the best I could do given the limitations of the CAS sliders.

Before:

After: