Fraser: Travels in China and Egypt

I had been intending to get Anya and Maximus married then send them on a trip for a honeymoon, but when I opened my game up, Maximus was just getting ready to go to work, and Anya was kind of at loose ends, so I decided to go ahead and send her on another trip to China by herself so she could finish up some of her business there undistracted. So once Maximus had left, I had her place the call and arrange an 11 day stay.

First on the agenda was completing the opportunity she'd had for getting the axe. She did that, and received another assignment for tomb raiding, but she decided to go back to the Temple of Heaven and finish up that tomb first. There were a few areas she hadn't had time to explore and she wanted to be sure she hadn't missed anything.

While she was in there, she was faced with a challenge of trying to determine how to access a certain area. She sat down and meditated, and before she knew it she was floating, and she felt as though she'd be able to simply float herself to wherever she wished to go.

It took her a few days, but eventually she figured out all of the puzzles and found her way into all of the areas she'd missed before and officially finished exploring the tomb. She pitched her tent near the exit to get some sleep before heading on to the next one.

The next morning she headed off to the hot springs to find the next tomb. After smashing the boulder there as she'd been instructed to, she dove down into the well and found the passage through into the tomb. She could tell right away this wasn't going to be an easy one.

She made it through, though besides the traps she was battling fatigue much of the time she was in the tomb, and there wasn't anywhere large enough to set up her tent so she could get some sleep. When she found the end, she came out for awhile and took a nap on a couch outside, then went back in to get the items she'd had to bypass the first time through. She eventually got the relic she was after and went to claim her reward. She then found an assignment to go and spar with someone. After getting a good night's sleep at the base camp, as well as a shower and a good meal, she headed out to visit the woman. After talking with her for a bit, they began to spar.

Eventually the assignment took her into another tomb. This one proved a little tricky, and she got singed a few times on fire traps, but overall she made it through fairly easily and ticked one more tomb off her list. She now just needed to complete two more in China to be 1/3 done with her LTW. She also had achieved a level 3 visa in China and had started to dream of owning a vacation home there.

Her next assignment had her spending her last day there running all over Shang Simla trying to catch red assassin bugs for someone. Though she found several clusters, she only managed to catch one of the three she needed. Hungry and discouraged, she stopped at one of the small camps in the area to roast some of her vegetables at the firepit as her last hours in China ticked away.

Back home in Riverview, Anya and Maximus spent a quiet evening together while Anya sorted through the relics, metals and gems she'd collected in China. The next day, after working together in the garden, they decided it was time to take the next step in their relationship. Neither really wanted to make a big production of it, so they had their own private exchange of rings outside by the garden. Maximus decided that he would take Anya's name and became Maximus Fraser.

For their honeymoon, the couple decided to travel to Al Simhara, Egypt.

Though it was supposedly a honeymoon for them, Anya and Maximus went their own ways almost immediately upon arrival. Anya was anxious to start visiting tombs and earning a higher visa level in Egypt. Maximus wasn't very concerned about such things, but he was curious to see the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, so he consulted a map and then headed out to find it while Anya went to speak with her first contact. They met up again briefly in the market where Anya was stocking up for her tomb raiding and Maximus was hoping to meet some of the locals. He decided to hang out in the market while Anya headed out to explore her first tomb in Egypt.

Anya zipped through the tomb and retrieved the papers she'd been sent in to find. She got through it so quickly she even did a second walkthrough to make certain she hadn't overlooked anything. After reporting back to her contact and then with a follow-up contact, she headed back to base camp where she again met up with Maximus. They didn't waste any time in getting busy with...honeymoon activities.

Anya spent the next day collecting turquoise for an assignment, along with other gems and metals that she knew she could sell for a nice profit. Then she set about befriending a few of the locals to ask them about the corporation whose employees where giving her jobs. Meanwhile, Maximus spent the day at the market, reading books at the bookstore, and chatting with the locals. He hung around the market late into the night until Anya was ready to leave to go back to camp. They slept most of the day away together in one of the tents.

They returned to the market after they awoke, Maximus to hang out reading and swimming, Anya to continue working on feeling the locals out about the corporation. Finally she'd gathered enough opinions to report back to her contact, who hired her to venture into the Tomb of the Burning Sands to collect some flame fruit. She returned to camp with Maximus to spend what was left of the night and part of the next day with him before leaving him to his own devices once more while she headed off to the pyramids. Once there, she headed right in, eager to get started on this adventure.

Aside from getting caught in one fire trap soon after starting to explore one area of the tomb, everything was going along pretty well for her, and she'd come across a few treasure chests and piles of coins already by the time she made it to a room with 6 chests as well as a sarcophagus. She checked the floor carefully for traps, and then proceeded to rummage through the chests, collecting the treasures she found within. as she opened the last chest, the sarcophagus suddenly sprang open and a mummy stepped out and started lumbering toward her.

It walked past her as she stood there watching it, and she thought at first it was going to go on out of the tomb, but when it reached the end of the room it turned around and started heading back toward her. Then, just as she thought maybe it was going to get back in its sarcophagus, it turned toward her and attacked! Though taken slightly by surprise, she soon took charge in the fight and trounced the mummy but good! It disintegrated into a pile of dust after she'd defeated it.

Anya returned back to camp soon afterwards and spent some more time with Maximus. Though he had long since been ready to return home, he was patient with her desire to adventure since she made a point to spend time with him as much as she could. They set the tent to rocking at least once a day. Perhaps because of all the honeymoon activities they were indulging in, both started to wish for their first child. The wishes are promised to them, but it remains to be seen how soon I'll act upon it. Inevitably, there came a night when Anya was too deep into the tomb she was exploring to come back out to keep Maximus company in a tent, so he spent a solitary night at the camp while she slept in her travel tent in the tomb. After showering and using the facilities the next morning, he headed down to the market to buy some breakfast instead of just eating the bland cereal they had at the camp.

Anya eventually finished exploring the tomb, and got the flame fruit she'd been sent in to find plus plenty extra to take home and plant in the garden. After making sure she hadn't missed anything, she returned back to camp to spend time with Maximus again. The next morning, she went and turned in the fruit and received her next assignment to go talk to someone about a book.

After taking a bit of time to befriend the guy who knew about the book, she was able to find out its location in a secret library nearby. Unfortunately to gain access to the entrance to the library, she'd need to befriend the owner of the house it was inside of so she could get access to the house. She went over there, but no one was home, and after waiting for a bit she decided to just head back to the base camp to find Maximus. She found the owner of the house hanging out there as well, and it turned out to be a man she'd already gotten to know fairly well. She talked with him for awhile more until they had become sure friends, but lost track of him when he wandered away to get something and she didn't see him again until the next morning. She was getting a bit tired by then, so she found Maximus and the two of them retired to a tent together for the night. The next day was their last one in Egypt and she decided to stay around camp and spend time with her husband instead of trying to convince her new friend to go home and let her into his house. There would be plenty of time for that on her next visit, and she knew she would be back. She and Maximus shared a cozy lunch together before heading over for a final look at the pyramids before it was time to go catch their flight home.

They returned home and spent a quiet evening together. Anya sorted through the various gems, metals, and relics she'd collected in Egypt, sending some off to be processed and others to be sold. And here is where I've decided to wrap up this entry. While taking Maximus along worked reasonably well, still, I think Anya will be traveling alone in future. He has no particular desires involving travel, and I got feeling a bit guilty leaving him to his own devices most of the time, even if I did usually send him to the market where his Bookworm self had tons of new books available to read and stay happy. Only having Anya to pay attention to will make the travels much more enjoyable for me I think.

As noted in the storyline, Anya and Maximus both spun up the want to have their first child almost simultaneously. Once I'd locked those wishes in, I had them doing risky woohoo for the rest of the time they were in Egypt, and once after they got home. I don't really want her to have a child yet, but I decided I'd leave it up to Risky when the baby happens, at least for now. I've no idea if she's pregnant yet or not, since the risky woohoo that's part of Twallan's Woohooer seems to include silent pregnancy, but there haven't been any signs of it yet. She managed to finish 3 tombs in Egypt I believe, so she's doing well on her tomb exploring LTW, but still has aways to go.

Next up, I'll think I'll go back to the Medina-Britt household in Sunset Valley to see what's up with them, and see if I can't make more progress there with LTWs. Dylan is getting close if I recall, only needing a couple more points of painting skill, but Damien has a bit to go yet. I'll need to get him to buckle down and focus on trying to get promotions more. Until then, Cheers!