Winterfest

 

It's Winterfest and although Willow doesn't like the festive spirit or to eat a Grand Meal, she does love the decorations and also the presents!

Although Willow doesn't need an excuse for a party, Winterfest is a great time to invite a few "friends" over for some company and to open some gifts together.

Now Willow has quite a few enemies, most of which are dead but the few that remain didn't show up in the list of Sims that she could invite over.  Maybe it's because they really despise each other but I don't seem to remember this happening before as she has in the past invited quite a few Sims over that she hated.  Maybe EA/Maxis have changed things around a little with their updates to the game recently.  It's probably just as well because as I have said before, it seems strange to me that Sims that are despised and who despise Willow, still turn up to her parties.

So even though she didn't have much of a relationship with the Sims that she invited, and not much of a choice of Sims to invite, they still turned up.  This time however, Willow left her door unlocked so that they could enter her home for some festive cheer in the form of opening gifts and eating Pufferfish Nigiri...

A couple of Sims didn't get to open any presents unfortunately and they didn't see out Winterfest either.  They lay dead on the kitchen floor.  The good thing is though, the Grim Reaper turned up and joined in the Winterfest fun.

Willow then decided to build a snow pal in her garden with one of her guests, just to round off the party.

After a while Caleb Vatore called to ask Willow if she would like to go over to his place.  Willow thought this would be a great idea as Willow and Caleb are quite good friends and this would give Willow a chance to see Caleb's home and be introduced to Lillith, his wife.  

Willow accepted the offer and, with a few friends, travelled to the Vatore's home to hang out.

At first Willow and Lillith didn't really like each other but this was soon turned around a little.  Willow does need to be friends with Lillith considering she too is a vampire.

As there is a lot of time left in this Sim day, maybe Willow should return home and invite a few Sims over...

- Minicart

Building Snowpals

 

It's still mid-Winter in the little town of Glimmerbrook and the day before Winterfest.  Caleb Vatore has visited Willow at her home and there is thick snow laying on the ground.

If you have Eco Lifestyle installed in your game, you won't be a stranger to the NAP Inspector.  He's the guy who comes to your house uninvited to make sure that you are in compliance with the neighbourhood rules, i.e. a recycling initiative.  If you are not in compliance then your bills will be higher.  Much like a Tax Inspector, this sim isn't liked very much.  Now, higher bills doesn't worry Willow as she has plenty of money which she is growing on trees in her garden.  However, it's the principle...

Willow decides to Chillio the NAP Inspector in which she takes great delight.  However, once thawed, the Inspector tells her she is not in compliance and quickly takes his leave.  Being stupid, he will probably be back.  Our evil witch will be waiting.

Willow then decides to take Caleb out and about to build some snowpals.

They arrive at Magnolia Blossom Park in Willow Creek and start to build snowpals together in the freezing cold.  As Caleb is basically a "living dead" sim, i.e. a vampire and Willow loves the outdoors, the temperature doesn't seem to bother them.

While they are building, a few other sims appear in the park.  As stated in my previous post, Willow doesn't have many acquaintances left as she has killed most of them so going out and about is a good way of meeting new sims.

Willow, being a supernatural sim herself, doesn't really want to make enemies with vampires or other witchy sims so she decides to give a "cheerful introduction" to those she meets at the park.  After introducing herself, she is then able to see whether or not the sim is a witch.  However, it is a little harder to find out if the sims that she meets are vampires.  In The Sims 3, they had a mark on their necks but I cannot see anything like that on sims necks in The Sims 4.  One way of finding out if the sim is a vampire is to be mean to them.  So much so that if they are a vampire, they will turn into their dark form and attack.  This isn't something that Willow wants to see or experience!

So, finding out if a sim is a vampire is impossible on first glance.

Being nice to other sims however has it's benefits as the other sim is more likely to give you a gift.  In Willow's case, she was given a "Morcubus" by Cassandra Goth.  A Morcubus is a little figurine which is found in the world by digging up rocks and which can also be used as a potion ingredient.  Although Willow has a few of these in her inventory, this was still a thoughtful gift.

As not many sims were arriving at the park, Willow decided to take Caleb to the bar in Glimmerbrook.  She met a few sims there too and one such sim by the name of Milan Orourke she found was a mean witch.  Willow added this sim to her coven, making four members of mean witches.  Another sim who she gave a cheerful introduction to gave her a Furium which is a collectible crystal/rock and which can also be used in potions.

Although in this episode Willow didn't make any enemies, she met a few very friendly sims and had quite an enjoyable outing with Caleb.

Tomorrow is Winterfest.  Time for a party...

- Minicart

Gone Fishin'

 

Willow hasn't ventured out that much during her time in Glimmerbrook.  Although she has been to a couple of parks, Granite Falls and of course the Magic Realm, she has been more focused on learning her craft and killing other Sims, the latter being done more easily at home, especially whilst hosting parties.

Fishing is one skill that Willow has been learning.  Each time she comes to a body of water that she can fish in, she has given this a go and caught a few fish.  So much so that she has raised her skill to level 4.

There are quite a few places in all the different worlds where a Sim can fish, each one giving different varieties of fish that can be caught.  Of course, different fish can be caught with different bait such as flowers or fruit and Willow being a bit of a gardener has a variety of bait within her inventory.  As Willow is an outdoorsy type, she finds fishing most enjoyable.

In this episode, Willow goes fishing in the Magic Realm and catches a couple of Rainbow fish - a new fish that she hasn't encountered before.  This then gave her the idea that maybe she should visit Sulani.

Sulani is a beautiful tropical island with palm trees, waterfalls, a volcano and beaches.  

There are lots of different fish there where you cannot catch anywhere else so Willow decides to try her luck.

Visiting the bar, she chats with one of the locals and discovers that he is a witch too.  Afterwards, she searches around for a fishing spot but unfortunately there is none to be found.  But then Willow comes across a fishing basket laying in the water, ready to be baited for catching fish.  She decides to pop an apple inside to see what fish she might catch.  While waiting, Willow begins to make a sand sculpture on the beach.

After a little while, Willow checks the basket to see if she has caught anything but alas, no.  She goes back to building a sand sculpture and leaves the basket in the water, hoping that the fish will bite soon.

Maybe in the next episode, Willow will be lucky enough to catch some new fish and perhaps she should really buy a fishing basket of her own.

- Minicart

Fireworks Night

Fireworks Night comes once a year after Spooky Day.  Having a party where friends gather around the fire pit telling stories, roasting marshmallows and generally having a good time is what Fireworks Night is all about.  And then there's the added bonus of fireworks.  Watching the sky light up with all those pretty colours and sparks makes everything so much better.

Willow, as we know, is no stranger to parties and fire.  She loves to hold a party and get rid of a few Sims that she doesn't like either by poisoning them, setting them alight, keeping them out in the scorching sun or freezing them to death.  So this year, Willow holds a Weenie Roast on this special night, especially for her enemies.

Now, inviting your enemies to a party takes guts in the real world as no-one would turn up but this is Sim Land and all of the Sims that Willow invites turn up to her party.

Now Willow being an evil witch would usually make Pufferfish Nigiri for her guests or cast an inferniate spell near one or two or five of them but this time Willow plays it cool and casually walks over to the fire pit to light it.

They say that those who live by the sword die by the sword and this could also be said about fire.  Lighting the fire pit backfires a little and Willow is set alight.  However, she soon extinguishes it and goes on to light the large bonfire at the corner of the garden.  Unfortunately for her guests, the little fire pit starts raging again and sets 3 of her guests on fire.  Does Willow help them?  No, of course not.  As she cannot do anything else but either put the fire out, call the fire brigade or stand at the front of her house because of a fire on the lot, she opts for standing at the front of her house until it's all over.  A visit from the Grim Reaper is inevitable and he takes his time gathering the souls of her enemies.

Willow on the other hand is itching to light a few fireworks so she has no alternative but to call the fire brigade to put out the fire so that she can continue with her Fireworks Night celebrations.

Watching the fireworks was exciting and the Grim Reaper stood around watching them too.

Willow had a wonderful time this year and no-one can blame her for the deaths of those poor Sims as it was an accident and Willow was just an innocent bystander.

- Minicart

Making Friends

Willow has made quite a few enemies during the time she has spent in the little town of Glimmerbrook, many of which are now dead, although some still remain.  It is probably about time therefore, that she makes a few friends.

As Willow is evil, she tends to give a rude introduction to Sims that she is meeting for the first time.  This is not always advisable as there are many Sims that she has come into contact with who are either magical Sims, vampires or both.  

Willow is now able to talk about magic to other magical Sims and these options show up once the introduction has been made.  Similarly, when speaking to a vampire, options for enthusing about vampires and other vampiric interactions also show up.

Luckily for Willow, even though introducing herself rudely to other Sims causes a little animosity, she is soon able to turn this around with a few friendly interactions.  So much so, that she is then given gifts from these Sims such as crystals.

Even though Willow wants to make enemies, there is something to be said for making friends with certain Sims.  Not only does she obtain gifts from them, she also avoids any animosity from a vampire, which could be quite nasty.  I have seen this before in my personal game where the vampire suddenly appeared in it's evil form and attacked my Sim.  Needless to say, the vampire won.  It wasn't a pretty sight!

So, in this episode, we see Willow making friends with a few other magical Sims and also vampires, gaining gifts and perhaps, some more partners in crime.

Of course, Willow will also make enemies but only with non-magical Sims and non-vampires.  She needs to have some enemies too otherwise she wouldn't be the evil witch that we have all come to know and love.

- Minicart

Partners in Crime

 

Willow seems to have a little problem getting her Coven members to cast spells, be mischievous and basically mean and evil to other non-coven members.

During The Sims 2 years, if your Sim had a good relationship with another and had enough "influence" points, you could get your Sim to influence another Sim to talk to someone for example.  You could also influence other Sims to clean or cook.  Unfortunately this feature is not available in The Sims 4 and I don't remember it ever being in The Sims 3 either.  This feature, had it been added to The Sims 4, would have benefitted Willow enormously in as much as she would have been able to influence her coven members to cast evil spells and do all the mean and nasty things that The Coven members should be doing but don't do themselves.  It seems therefore that Willow, even though she belongs to an evil group of witches, is on her own.

One thing that she does have however are potions.  Giving a potion to another Sim will allow that Sim to drink it - no questions asked it seems!  One such potion is the potion of "Masterful Insults".  Giving this potion to one of her coven members seemed to Willow to be a good idea so as to make that Sim insult others.  How wrong she was!  This potion just made her coven member angry.  Maybe Willow should have hung around a little longer to see what else this Sim would do but after having spent too much time at Pupperstone Park already, Willow was ready to do something else.

That evening, Willow decided to have a party.  Of course, this wasn't just any party, this was a Willow Mendip party.  Music, Pufferfish Nigiri, and fire.

She invited most of the Sims that she was enemies with and, not surprisingly, they all turned up.  Even the Grim Reaper made a show and Willows vampire friend, Caleb Vatore decided to pay a visit.  This is where things became a little more interesting.

After the Grim Reaper had reaped a couple of souls, Willow chatted with Caleb amongst the frozen Sims in her garden.  It came to pass that an option to "Become Partners in Crime" came up with Caleb.  Of course Willow chose this and they sealed the deal by shaking hands.  Now it seems, that Willow and Caleb can plan some mischeivous stuff to do together.

I wonder what an evil witch and a vampire will do to cause a little bit of mayhem in Glimmerbrook.  We will just have to wait and see...

- Minicart

Pupperstone Park

There are three more spells that Willow needs to complete her collection.  Usually these spells can be learned by experimenting with the magic wand, i.e. waving it about to gain experience.  Unfortunately however, each time she tries this, a little notice comes up saying that she can no longer learn any more by doing this due to her rank.  Her rank is the highest that she can be so it has been quite confusing wondering how she can learn these spells.  She cannot experiment on the cauldron to get them as this only gives her the potions, which she has completed.  The only other way I can think of therefore is that she can only learn these spells through reading the magic tomes which she can purchase from a little shop in Casters Alley in the Magic Realm or by searching through the magical bookcases at HQ.

Willow therefore decides to go to the Magic Realm to see what she can buy.  Unfortunately however, these specific tomes for the spells that she needs, namely "Rite of Ascension", "Strangify" and "Duplicato" are not available.  After picking up a few other items, she then decides to search the magical bookcases but alas, nothing is found apart from a couple of orbs.

As Willow is on a mission to be able to learn these three spells, she will have to go back to the Magic Realm at a later date and maybe they will have these tomes on offer then.  Meanwhile she decides to have a little get together with The Coven at Pupperstone Park.

Now, Willow being Willow and an evil witch and all, decides to have some fun in the way of mischief and mayhem.  Her coven members are not really team players unfortunately so it seems that Willow is in this by herself.

She decides to chillio a few people and set off a few fires with no help from her friends but at least she gains another spellcaster experience point and some more points for The Coven.  She even gets into her first fight!

Having had a wonderful experience at Pupperstone Park making lots of enemies and doing some very successful spellcasting, Willow hangs around to see what else she can get up to.  I'm sure she will think of something.

- Minicart

The Witch's House

 

When I first created Willow Mendip of The Glimmerbrook Witch, I placed her in the empty lot in Glimmerbrook so as to build her a nice cheap "starter" home.  I knew that as time went on, she would need something a lot better and bigger.  Being able to afford to purchase something a little more expensive was obviously down to Simoleons.  Even though Willow doesn't go to work, the money trees in her garden will surely bring her enough to afford a more lavish home in time.

With this in mind, I went ahead to create "The Witch's House".  I decided to build this on a larger lot in Glimmerbrook so that Willow would have more room for gardening and of course her famous indoor and outdoor parties.

This build took me longer than usual, some 4 weeks in fact. I also had a little trouble with it at times, due to the platform rooms in the house.  At one point, the landing at the top of the stairs seemed to sink down a little so I had to fix that.

When I play tested it, everything worked fine except that my "test Sim" couldn't enter the conservatory/greenhouse outside.  I found out after a fashion that the little patio outside the door needed to be lengthened for her to get up the steps.  After pulling that out with the tools available in build mode, all of the windows in the greenhouse vanished so I had to put those back in and then re-do all of the vines that I had creeping up and around the windows.

Having finished the build, I took a few photos and then went ahead to create a stop motion video.

This consisted of 849 photographs and around 145 videos and took around 3 hours to do.  It then took me a further 2 or so hours to piece everything together.  Yes, it does take a lot of work to do a stop motion video but I do believe it's worth it in the end.

However, when I came to piece everything together, I found that on a few videos (there were 160 altogether), I had inadvertently recorded myself taking items away for the camera shots and then turning off the video for the transition from one room to another.  So there were about 15 videos that I had to discard and this also meant that I had no video on some parts when turning in a room or going to another room.  I therefore had to fade these through from one image to another instead.

Unfortunately, even though the build turned out really nice, parts of the stop motion video have no video transitions.

Maybe this build is cursed but then I did build it for an evil witch...

If you would prefer to watch a two minute montage of the build, here it is:

You can download this lot from The Sims 4 Gallery - my ID is TotallySimlish.

- Minicart

Spooky Day Party

Back in 2018 a Seasons Expansion Pack was released for The Sims 4.  This made an enormous difference to the game and gameplay with  of course all the Seasons that we have in real life.  Of course this also meant that weather was added, including rain and thunder and lightening, wind, snow and heatwaves.  Not every day was the same anymore.  Certain plants grew at certain times of the year and fish could only be caught usually in Spring, Summer and Autumn, the Winter making it too cold with ice covering the ponds.

Special days were also added to the game such as Easter, Halloween and Christmas (known as Winterfest) and the festivities that are associated with them.  In my game I have called them Happy Bunny Day for Easter and Spooky Day for Halloween, replacing the "Thanksgiving" holiday that is placed on the calendar in game.  I have also added Fireworks Night or Bonfire Night as it is also known in real life, the original name for it being Guy Fawkes Night here in England.

Many new objects for each holiday were also added to the game, such as a festive tree, pumpkin carving station and a bowl of candies for trick or treaters.  We also had related decor such as pumpkins and ghosts.  Being able to decorate the outside of your Sim's home with lights and banners was also made available, having chosen them from the little attic box of goodies that also came with the pack.

Now of course the best holiday of the year, especially for an evil witch, is Halloween or Spooky Day.  And Willow, being an evil witch, is extremely excited in this episode of The Glimmerbrook Witch, to hold a party.  Obviously, a Spooky Day party has to be very spooky and scary and with the new emotion of "scared" for Sims added to the game with the recent Paranormal Stuff Pack, this year's Spooky Day party is going to be the best ever!

Willow places a bowl of candies outside her door for the Trick or Treaters to help themselves and couples this with a very cool cauldron light that when turned on displays ghostly apparitions.  Of course a pumpkin also adorns her doorstep.

Once Willow has invited a few neighbours to her party, she puts on some spooky music on the radio and prepares fresh Pufferfish Nigiri for her guests.

Everyone arrives dressed for the occasion in fancy dress outfits.  Some dance and some partake of the meal, eating it with relish.  A little Trick or Treater turns up too, so that made it a little more interesting.

As you can guess, it's not long before the Grim Reaper turns up and joins in the fun, as usual.

All in all Willow "lost" three of her guests at this party so it turned out to be very successful.

The next party that Willow will be having is Fireworks Night...

- Minicart

The Hermit

 

Venturing through the forest in Granite Falls and having exhausted items for collecting, Willow decides to travel through the secret tunnel via the bramble patch at the edge of the wood.

Overcoming a few barriers, she arrives at a clearing.  Here she finds a little hut wherein lives a hermit who is out fishing.  Willow searches around and finds some dig spots and insects for her collection.  She also harvests another plant that she previously didn't know existed, from the hermit's garden.

Now Willow, being an evil witch, did have some mean thoughts about inferniating the hermit as she stood quietly at the edge of the lake.  However, Willow decided to have a friendly conversation with her instead.  It seemed futile to try and kill the hermit as no doubt, even she has a fire extinguisher.  After a nice chat, Willow learned the herbalism skill from the hermit so it seems that Willow is now on her way to building another skill which incorporates the new plants that she has found.  

As, in this episode, it's Spooky Day, Willow decides to make her way home back to Glimmerbrook to prepare for a party.

Looking through the items she has collected from Granite Falls, she decides to copy-pasto some of them so that she has enough to make any potions she may need.

Whilst doing this, she has a few visits from Trick or Treaters, eager to sample the sweets and candy that she has left in a pumpkin bowl on a table outside her door.  One by one she "tricks" them as opposed to giving them a treat.  One poor Sim was already scared because of the candy bowl and Willow frightened her even more.  However, one small child thought it hilarious and went merrily on his way to "trick or treat" other neighbourhood Sims.

It's Willow's favourite time of the year - Spooky Day!  Time for a party...

- Minicart

Granite Falls

There comes a time in a witch's life when one has to travel further afield to obtain rare ingredients for one's craft.  Willow is no exception and in this episode we see her travel to Granite Falls.

Although Granite Falls is a vacation world, full of forests, rare and wild plants, insects that can be caught and unique fishing spots, it's also a place for relaxation, fun things to do and to allow Sims to feel at one with nature.  

Willow searches around and finds quite a few insects and frogs for her collection.  She also comes across a couple of dig spots for more items and does a spot of fishing.  There were also some unknown plants that were ripe for harvesting so Willow garnered those too.  However, some of these unknown plants did not bear fruit.  Willow therefore needs to raise her gardening skill a little so that she can take cuttings and, to enable her to find out what these unknown plants are, she will need to learn a new skill of Herbalism.  Maybe this is something that Willow could do in the future once she has learned everything she needs to learn about her craft.

Of course Willow wouldn't be the evil witch that she is if she didn't cast a few inferniate spells on her forest journey, so she took the time to do that too.

Unfortunately, as we already know, Sims are now equipped with fire extinguishers on community lots so trying to cast a decent blaze at or around Sims is completely futile.  Of course, on residential lots Sims seem to forget they have these fire extinguishers and just either run away or die in the flames.

Although Willow didn't stay the night, she spent a good amount of time in Granite Falls and returned home with a few new items that she quickly cast the "copy pasto" spell on, so that she always has these items in her inventory and never has to worry about going out to collect them again.

Tomorrow, Willow will be visiting The Hermit through the secret tunnel via the bramble patch.....

- Minicart

The Vampire

 

Vampire.  The mere mention of the word conjures up images of Transylvania, bloodshed, death and fangs.

There are certain things one must know about vampires.  Firstly, they cannot venture into the sunlight as they will die.  By nature, they are creatures of the night, the undead.  They sleep during the day in a coffin that is placed on soil taken from their motherland.  They hunger and thirst for only the blood of the living and can take the form of a bat to venture out and strike the unsuspecting by sinking their teeth into their victims necks.  Apart from sunlight, another way to kill a vampire is to drive a wooden stake through their heart whilst they lay slumbering in their coffin during the day.  The vampire is repelled by garlic and fears mirrors, as the vampire has no reflection.

If you invite a vampire into your home, even without knowing that he or she is such, they will be able to come back at a later date, either in their human form or the form of a bat, and will enter at will.  

In The Sims 4, vampires are a little different in as much as other Sims cannot drive a stake through the hearts of these unworldly creatures, however, sunlight will kill them.  And of course if you don't want your vampire Sims to bite the necks of others, there is always Plasma fruit that is available for them to eat which quenches their thirst for blood.

Talking of which, Willow Mendip also seems to have a thirst for blood but in a different way.  Being an evil witch, she takes much pleasure in annihilating her neighbours one by one and sometimes two at a time.  Unfortunately this doesn't get Willow any friends and although she enjoys making enemies, one should have a friend or two, especially if they are as evil as Willow is.

On this particular evening in Glimmerbrook, a young gentleman paid Willow an unexpected visit.  His very name strikes fear into the hearts of Sims, except for Willow of course.  Caleb Vatore lives with his wife Lillith in Midnight Hollow, the darkest of The Sims 4 worlds.  As we know, Willow doesn't stick to the rules so she invited Caleb in.

Striking up some friendly conversation, Willow soon made a friend of Caleb.  They proceeded to watch the movie "Sims of the Dead" together on TV and chatted about it afterwards.  They then had a nice outing to the Magic Realm before Willow had to leave to tend her beloved plants.

One can only wonder where this friendship of two supernaturals will lead.

- Minicart

Raging

 

An idle witch is a dangerous witch, or at least this is true in Willow Mendip's case.  So to occupy herself, in this episode, she visits Gemma Charm who lives just up the road and is a member of "The Coven".

"The Coven" was created a couple of episodes ago and consists of five witchy Sims.  This group of Sims have had just one outing and Willow noticed that they are all unfortunately do-gooders.  Willow had hoped that they would help her in her endeavours of killing Sims on a community lot but, alas, no.  Even her coven carried fire extinguishers and used them in force.  In fact, none of the members of The Coven passed the test, not even the "mean" ones.

Unfortunately, one such coven member lives alone and on the largest residential lot in Glimmerbrook - the lot that Willow wants to build her new house on when she has enough money.  Taking all this into consideration, Willow decided that Gemma Charm should be the one to "go" first.

Knocking politely on Gemma's door, Willow is invited inside.  After locating the poor Sim sitting upstairs at her computer, Willow proceeds to cast the "inferniate" spell.  It seems however that Gemma was expecting this and proceeded to swiftly move out of the way, running downstairs to safety.  However, Willow had other plans.

As Gemma was lighting the fire in the parlour, Willow lit a fire at Gemma's feet, setting the poor Sims rug ablaze, along with Gemma herself.

The Grim Reaper, as usual, although turning up rather quickly, took his time to check his list before collecting the soul of Gemma Charm and leaving behind a very ornate urn.

Willow's job was done.  One less do-gooder in her beloved Coven and an empty lot that she can build her dream house on.  Unless of course story progression moves someone else into the house, in which case, Willow will have to kill them too....

- Minicart

Copy Pasto

As a witch, Willow has grown considerably over the past few weeks.  By practising on the cauldron and with her wand and casting spells, her power has grown and she has learned much in the way of new spells and potions.

As I mentioned in a previous post with regard to potions, Willow needs ingredients such as herbs and crystals which she garners from the world and purchases from the little shop in the Magic Realm.  Fishing is also needed as fish too feature in her potions along with gardening to enable her to grow all manner of herbs, fruit and vegetables.

Of course, if one could "magic" these items into existence, there would be no need to purchase, garner, catch or grow anything.

This is where the "copy pasto" spell comes into play.

This spell does exactly what it says on the jar.  As long as you have one item of anything, including bottled potions, you can copy pasto it and voila!  You have another!

Unfortunately this doesn't actually work on fish but it does on mostly all other items in Willow's inventory.

So as long as she has the ingredients to create the initial potion, she can then copy pasto it, nullifying the need for any of the ingredients.  And by casting these spells, Willow's little orange bar goes up, giving her more magic points to enable her to get stronger and stronger.  Its a win-win situation.

Maybe Willow can try this spell out on expensive items and get rich in the process.  We will have to wait and see.

One can only wonder if this spell is dangerous in the hands of an evil witch.

- Minicart

 

Dark Malevolence

 

I have really been enjoying building in The Sims 4, much more than in previous The Sims games.  I think, for me, the best part is piecing together the images and in game videos to create stop motion videos for my You Tube channel.  

My favourite "genre" of The Sims is the occult - witches, vampires and haunted things so when the Sims Team released the Paranormal Stuff Pack, I was on cloud nine!

Of course I knew I had to create a haunted house with this new stuff pack, incorporating items from the Spooky Stuff pack, the Vampires Game Pack and Realm of Magic.  I wanted the house to be dark, unkempt, old, dirty and haunted.

Dark Malevolence consists of three floors, with two bedrooms and one bathroom.  A couple of the rooms can of course be converted into bedrooms should you want this in your game.  One room is dedicated as a fortune telling room which houses the table with a crystal ball atop.

All rooms of the house, including the hallway and both landings, are lavishly decorated with expensive paintings and of course the odd spider web or two, not to mention the holes and scratches in the walls.

The garden has gravestones, an old bird bath, picnic table, dried up well and an old pond.  Plenty of weeds and dead trees adorn the lot with a little bit of greenery from the plants and trees that are not quite yet dead.

Gargoyles adorn the gateposts and one sits on the roof, watching and waiting.......

It took me a little while to create "Dark Malevolence" but I had so much fun doing it and I am pleased with the way it turned out.

If you would like this build in your game, you can download it for free on The Sims 4 Gallery - just search for my ID: TotallySimlish.  I would love to hear what you think!

- Minicart

Dancing Mr Reaper

 

Willow enjoys having a gathering of Sim neighbours at her home on a regular basis and this episode is no exception.

In previous get togethers however, only food and friendly conversation ensued, apart from of course the odd Sim dropping dead here and there.  This occasion is somewhat a little different as Willow purchased a music centre.  Just a small one. Some would call it a radio.  Nevertheless, having the addition of music changed her "party" into a "soiree".

As usual, Willow invited a few Sims that she didn't like, five in fact, to taste the delicacy of Pufferfish Nigiri that she made herself, afresh for her guests, participate in friendly conversation and dance the night away.  This is what her guests thought but you would think that, again, if someone you don't like invites you to their soiree, knowing that the feeling was reciprocated, that you wouldn't go, would you?  Well, I would have thought not too.  But, we are talking about The Sims and even though they are supposed to be "Smart Sims" as advertised when TS4 was first released, they are not smart at all.

One by one they turned up at Willows house, obviously looking forward to the evening ahead.  After being invited to dance, they were offered some freshly made food which, although struggling with the chopsticks, they ate with relish.  It wasn't long before one Sim started feeling the effects.  In fact the Grim Reaper showed up before the poor Sim had actually hit the floor.  It seems that Mr Reaper enjoys taking the souls of Sims, rushing to the place of death and then taking his time to read his list.

After receiving four of these souls, he decided to dance.  And dance he did!  He must be on dancing skill level 10 the way he busted those moves.  The Grim Reaper carried on dancing as the fifth Sim (the one who survived the Pufferfish dish) burned to death behind him.

- Minicart

The Coven

There are a few different types of witches.  There are those who prefer to work with herbs and/or healing spells known as "Green Witches"; hereditary Witches are those who have been born into a witch family so they naturally follow "the craft".  Some witches prefer to work alone while others prefer to work as a group, known as a "Coven".

In Willow's previous incarnation during The Sims 3 years, she preferred to work alone.  Casting fire spells on community lots and against other Sims was something she practised on a daily basis.  There was the odd Sim here and there trying to put out the fires that Willow started but all in all, the neighbours waved their arms in the air screaming.  An evil witch in The Sims 3 was truly evil and Willow proved herself to be such.

In The Sims 4 however, as I have stated before, it seems that The Sims franchise has calmed down a little.  To have a truly evil witch in The Sims 4 is a lot harder.  For example, whenever Willow witnesses another Sims death, even if she doesn't like them and even if she has caused their demise, she will cry - on the outside.  On the inside however, she seems happy, revelling in their misery due to the evil trait.  The Willow Mendip of The Sims 3 would laugh an evil laugh and never shed a tear.

It seems also that the neighbours of The Sims 4 are all equipped with fire extinguishers.  As soon as they see a fire, they become brave and attempt to put the blaze out, unless it's on a residential lot.  That's when they scream.  That's when they wave their arms in the air.  That's when they run away.

So, in order to be able to have Sims of the neighbourhood on Willow's side and reduce the number of Sims on community lots with fire extinguishers, Willow created a coven.

They say there is "strength in numbers" so by creating "The Coven" (as this is what she named it), there would be many more witchy Sims casting fires and creating havoc and less Sims trying to be "do-gooders".

The Coven members were told that they could only be friendly with each other, scare everyone outside The Coven, be mean to everyone outside The Coven and to cast spells and use the cauldron.

Together with her army of witches, Willow set off to Pupperstone Park.  

As you can guess, the only thing she had in mind was to set the place alight.  She cast inferniate spell after inferniate spell, setting fires all over the lot, expecting her coven to follow suit but alas, not one cast a spell.  Not one seemed to be on Willow's side.  In fact they all had fire extinguishers......

It seems that Willow has been foiled.  Should she throw them out of The Coven?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  There must be a way to make this gathering of spellcasters turn evil and follow in Willow's footsteps.  This is something that Willow is still trying to figure out.

- Minicart

Witch in Flight

 

As I have stated in previous posts, Willow enjoys a good party.

Usually, when "normal" Sims, and people, hold parties, they invite their friends, put on some music, provide good food and dance the night away.  But of course Willow isn't really normal.  As an evil witch, Willow prefers to invite to her party neighbours who she doesn't really like, lulling them into a sense of false security with friendly conversation.  She also provides poor quality food, such as Pufferfish Nigiri which her neighbours eat with relish.  The music is non-existent.  The dancing however is a little different.  You could call it a "fire dance".

In this episode, "Witch in Flight", Willow decides to hold one such party for the neighbours that she is not too keen on.  As before, she cooks them Pufferfish Nigiri and serves it outside in the cold autumn air. Most of her guests take a plateful of this delicacy, struggling to eat it with the chopsticks provided.  Of course, if this doesn't kill them, Willow has a back-up game plan, or two, at the ready.

As Willow now has the ability to cast her spells from afar, from the comfort of her warm living room she casts a few chillio spells.  One by one her guests become frozen, to the horror of the remaining few.

Not satisfied with chillioing her guests, she decides to make a fire.  One such guest was cold anyway, so warming things up seemed a good idea.

It is strange how neighbours on community lots have fire extinguishers and immediately put fires out but on home lots, they either just look on or run away, even if their beloved spouse is burning to death.  Sims also have the ability to put themselves out with their own fire extinguisher, as Willow found out the hard way, but not one of Willow's burning guests even attempt to do this.  Hence the "fire dance" - for two.

And as usual, the Grim Reaper turns up to claim the souls of the poor unfortunate Sims who should know better than to accept the offer of a party at an evil witches house, especially one who doesn't like you very much.

Party over, Willow decides to visit Magnolia Blossom park in Willow Creek, just for fun.

- Minicart

Glowing Eyes

The main job of a witch is to learn spells and potions.  By doing this, the witch gains points to enable him or her to refine their spellcasting and potion making abilities, thereby becoming stronger in all aspects of magic.

Willow is no exception.  Spending time in the magic realm actually allows her to learn magic faster and in turn, become stronger more quickly.

There comes a point however in any witch's career that no more magic can be learned due to the rank of the witch.  This episode sees Willow gaining more knowledge and strength and even though there is much more to be learned, Willow has come to the point where she cannot learn any more magic due to her rank.  This means that the only way she can gain more points is either by creating potions at the cauldron or casting magic on Sims and things.

It can take quite a while to to gain these points, but gain them she does, and then new spells are learned seemingly a lot more quickly.

Willow is gaining strength every day and with the help of drinking certain potions, such as the "Plentiful Needs" potion, she can work towards her goal of learning everything there is to be learned without needing to sleep, eat or shower.  As time is of the essence, this helps Willow to attain her goal more quickly.  Meanwhile, she casts spells on other Sims, reducing the neighbourhood Sim count, and reducing the neighbours to tears, all at the same time and having fun doing so.

Maybe tomorrow, Willow will have another party.....

- Minicart

Festival of Youth

 

As stated before in a previous post, there are quite few festivals in The Sims 4 if you have City Living and Snowy Escape expansion packs installed.  Willow seems to like to attend to these festivals due to the gathering of Sims and the mischief and mayhem she can cause.  One such festival is the Romance Festival in the city. 

Apart from the obvious romantic vibe this festival brings, there are rare plants that can be harvested, a "love guru" who can be consulted, food stalls and swag stalls and of course, the infamous Sakura Tea which when sipped, places the Sim in a flirty mood.  Although Willow drinks the tea, she is far from wanting any flirty conversations with other Sims.  Willow has something else in mind.

Armed with the "chillio" spell that she learned previously, Willow sets out to cast this on other unsuspecting Sims.  There are a few Sims there that have encountered Willow before and her evil shenanigans plus a few others who have also previously been chillioed.

Of course karma plays a part in Willows life.  They say what goes around, comes around and this is also true in The Sims 4.  Spells can backfire and when they do, they can leave the caster in a bit of a dilemma.

Willow thankfully survives and lives to face another day which she uses to visit The Festival of Youth in Mount Komorebi.  This festival, as the name suggests, is for the youth of any of the worlds to come and visit, play and make friends.  

Willow's evilness knows no bounds as she takes gleeful pleasure in setting alight the little pink climbing frame in the middle of the square.  I hasten to add here that no child was hurt in the blaze, in fact the little one carried on climbing and swinging and having a lovely time.  But in a sense, we knew this would happen, which is why Willow decided to set the climbing frame on fire in the first place.

Our evil witch will of course still try and exterminate her neighbours by fire and/or freezing on community lots and festivals and as she grows stronger in her magical endeavours, one can only hope that she doesn't exterminate herself.

- Minicart