I logged on to the Great Lakes and I was using my thief character named Jack. I was in Minoc and decided to see if I could cause some trouble North of Minoc, East of the spawn grounds. I started walking and I heard the beautiful sound of a door opening so I ran as fast as I could and see an open door with one guy standing outside and another standing inside (sorry I cant remember their names). I ran up and stood in the doorway so they couldn't close the door and said, "Hey whatcha doing?"

The guy outside says, "Get out now before we kill you"

I am now smiling and making small talk as I search his bag to find a key. I steal the key and run outside. They both chase me around some houses and seeing my chance I run into the house and lock them out. Apparently I had their only key so I start looking through their junk. They pace around the outside of the door as if they think I'm going to let them in and I notice that one of the guys owns a small house right in front of this one. They must have been tailors because the house was full of useless clothing, sewing kits, etc. I did find a few magic bows and a little armor so I snatch them up and see two other people recall outside so I hid and then I see some guy (sorry about not knowing their names) log into the game right next to me in the house. Being the smart people they were they open the door and the E-Bolt their friend that had just logged in thinking it was me. My criminal flag had worn off so I ran back to Minoc and banked the key.

Later that night I came back with Jack to see what was going on. I see the 2 guys in a large smithy with a guild named 519. I was out numbered and I was wearing nothing but a robe so I was being careful. They saw me and ran out of the house with a few guys from the guild. I was bored so I decided to hide under a tree to see what would happen. The guild knew I was near and as the members passed, I snooped their bags hoping to find the key to the smithy. I searched and BINGO, a full key ring right in front of me. I almost crapped my pants. I jumped out of hiding, scooped up the ring and ran for it knowing I stood no chance against these odds.

I wanted to check out the playing ground so I log my main char on and take him out to the houses. I see the guild master (named Force) sitting outside on the large smithy and about 7 other guild members who must have heard about the keys getting stolen.

"What are you doing?" I ask.
"Our keys just got stolen" replied Force.
"Ohhhh.... That sucks" I said.
"Some thief named Jack"
"I know him! He almost got into my house once!" I said.
"Really? Does he live around here?"
"No. Near Trinsic."
"Damn"

This was making my day. They thought I was there to help when I really was the thief. I recalled and waited till it was late. I came back with my two good friends Vasio and Paul to loot them out. I had brought my main char this time so they may think I was a friend if they were there. They weren't home. They had lots of junk but there was some stuff to salvage. Having the idea that the key ring may hold keys to the other two houses, I went over and sure enough *Click* I had keys to 3 houses. We made a few trips, recalling to our houses every so often. I recalled and came back to see that there were Force and his guild mate WeeBaaDaa. They still thought I was their friend and they said:

"Someone's in our house! Help us out!"

"OK"

We weren't totally equipped for battle but we had no choice. We fought and they had deadly poisoned katanas but we had the upper hand until one of them cast and energy vortex. It killed Paul and we killed WeeBaaDaa and the ev chased Force back. We rezed Paul and went home.

Moral: Don't stand next to thieves especially when you have you key on you and he's standing in your doorway. Also don't bring keys to 3 houses with you when you are going to chase a thief down. You may regret it. :)

We had more fights and encounters but those are a different story. The new house patch has now messed up things a little for us house looters but the good times still go on. Luckily this happened before the house patch had been put in.

Jack of Great Lakes