Larcenies

A simple scripting idea (with no scripting supplied ;-) for keeping track of larcenies in the Keep.

In various houses (not all, but some) there will be hidden compartments, along the lines of Terjon's bookshelf, that you have to search for and can find stuff in.

Inside will be gems or other valuables. But they will be, not flagged, but specific: ie say you nick the Castellan's family jewels (down, Bertram!) then you won't get say a generic 'opal' and 'pearl', you will get unique protos. These can be written into the protos.tab in place of 'Otis' magic jockstrap' and 'Wonnilon's scroll of penicillin' and all the other individual stuff there is in ToEE we don't need.

Now, when you try to sell them, you just MIGHT be selling them to someone who recognises them... that can be scripted in through recognition by id#. Probably the party should have the chance to bluff their way out of it (if they can), although for mundane things they should be able to get away with the thievery: who can really tell one plain gold ring from the next?

The scripting bit: the box or shelf or whatever has a heartbeat, that periodically checks if the equipment it contains is now in the hands of the party (there are various scripts already in existance for this, Otis' anvil comes to mind). If it finds it IS there (and thus has been nicked), then it adds one to the 'things nicked' variable, and game.new_sid=0's the heartbeat (job done). Of course if the variable gets high enough, we have a crime wave and the Watch will take appropriate measures. (See earlier ramblings on the behaviour of the Watch, here).

Also, if the thing nicked is jewelry or armour, then the owner, in conversation, will of course have a script to see if the item is equipped (ie worn). A line or two in san_dialog will do nicely. If so, the NPC will act accordingly:

Castellan: You seem to be wearing my mother's jade necklace that was stolen last Friday night, when you were here for a visit.
PC: Ah well see the thing is, I can explain that...
Castellan: Of course you can. Archers, FIRE!!!

Edit: Just realised, there are flag, ocf2_item_stolen and oif_stolen that could perhaps be flagged for any jewel etc that is hidden in one of these chests or whatever, that can quickly be scanned for by a single script if in the party's possession, to save having to create new items all the time. Well, some of the time. And maybe we can have some sort of fence who will give you a better deal (but then has the wool over you for selling stolen goods) compared to say one of the more honest merchanst who won't trade with you at all so long as you have stolen merchandise in your possession.