Everybody knows the witches live among us and do wrong things. It is a right and duty of the law abiding Pilgrim to identify and bring to prosecution anyone dabbling in witchcraft.
New skill: Witch hunt. 150 Law & Lore, 200 Faith & Wisdom
- Allows pilgrims to buy and use an Indictment document from the Providence judge.
New item: Indictment. (*)
- This item is a document which can be bought from the judge for 500 silver (fixed amount, not reduced with L&L).
This item can be used by a Pilgrim with a Witch Hunt skill on ANYONE if the player thinks said person is a witch.
New flower menu item: "Accuse"
- This menu shows when a player right-clicks another player while holding an Indictment document and having learned Witch Hunt skill
Accusing someone creates a link between an accuser and his target. The link is terminated by death of either one or when the target is acquitted in a witch trial. The link is later used to determine what an impact on the accusing Pilgrim will be caused by the witch trial. Accusation has its weight which is equal to the sum of L&L and F&W levels of the accuser at the moment of the accusing act. A pilgrim can defend from being accused by pointing at someone else to be a witch. In this case the value of his L&L + F&W will be subtracted from his accusations counter and added to the other person counter. The subtracted value is capped by the target's L&L+F&W to make scapegoat alts not feasible.
Using a witchcraft scent on the indictment document doubles the accusation weight if the scent belongs to the target and reduces it by half if it does not.
It is not possible to accuse the same person twice before trial.
Praying in the church slowly decrease the accusation counter. It is possible to accuse someone while he/she is praying in the church.
When accusing Pilgrim dies his accusations become null and void.
When accused Pilgrim dies all the reductions of accusation counters are cancelled as well. In extreme cases this may result in a trial of the accuser. The only exception is when the reason of death is being convicted and burned (because that proves accusations).
The sum of accusation values (accusation counter) is an internal server variable. For a moderate fee judge can tell one's current accusation status in vague terms like:
- "People think you are a good Pilgrim"
"Some people have doubts about you"
"There are accusations towards you"
"I do not talk to witches!" (while still taking money)
"I have a stack for you"
When enough accusations accumulate towards a Pilgrim the witch trial begins.
The suspect is tied to a pole in Providence and exposed to the public view. The trial lasts 24 hours.
Light drain and madness gains are adjusted so after 24 hours the defendant is still alive unless a Blood Moon begins.
All the pilgrims who have Rights of Englishmen are allowed to vote whether the defendant is guilty. Voting is performed by right-clicking the pole and selecting either one of two options. After 24 hours the result of voting is determined and the suspect is either released or burned on the stack. Released prisoner receives a Writ of Habeas Corpus. If the suspect is deemed guilty and burned his/her heir receives Remains of Old through the postal office or, with a very small chance, a doll. The item appears in the post ONLY if there is a heir.
Voting in the trial creates another link between the voting Pilgrim and the suspect. After the trial is concluded both accusers and jury receive rewards according to the result of the trial.
Accusing:
- Witch and convicted: L&L & F&W proficiency increase by 2, some witch hunter trophy gained, maybe Malleus Maleficarum - a club type weapon (shaped like a book)
Non-witch and convicted: L&L decrease by 2, F&W increase by 1, Remains of Old or Ashes of Maudney
Witch and acquitted: L&L & F&W decrease by 2-4, 1-3 level of madness gained, higher chance for lower madness gains, cursed Teddy Bear 70% chance or Tinfoil Hat 30% chance
Non-witch and acquitted: L&L & F&W proficiency decrease by 2-4, 1-3 level of madness gained, higher chance for higher madness gains, cursed Teddy Bear 30% chance or Tinfoil Hat 70% chance
Voting:
A)voting ending with burning: all voters receive a bone or a darkenbone through the post office depending on the witch status of the suspect
- voting guilty and witch : +2 F&W +2 L&L
voting guilty and non-witch: 50% penalty to L&L & F&W inspirationals until 5 points of F&W are gained (visible debuff)
voting not guilty and witch : -1 L&L, -1 F&W, 1 level of madness
voting not guilty and non-witch : +1 L&L, +1 F&W, 1 level of madness
B)voting ending with releasing the suspect: (cannot make a much a difference here because it would tell the status of a living Pilgrim)
- voting guilty and witch : 60% chance to receive Pilgrim's Bible, 1 level of madness, invisible 10% buff to L&L & F&W inspirationals until 10 points of F&W and L&L are gained
voting guilty and non-witch: small chance (5-10%) to receive Pilgrim's Bible, 1 level of madness
voting not guilty and witch : small chance (5-10%) to receive Pilgrim's Bible, 10% penalty to L&L & F&W inspirationals until total of 10 points of F&W and L&L are gained (invisible debuff)
voting not guilty and non-witch : bigger chance (15-30%) to receive Pilgrim's Bible
By invisible buff/debuff I mean there is no other indicator than faster gain of proficiency points towards filling the progress bar.
Items to be given via postoffice, except of the Tinfoil Hat which is applied directly on the target head. Tinfoil Hat is cursed. Ways of removal of said hat - TBD.
The list of names of people accusing in the last trial (just top 10 maybe) should be available at the judge to give the victim a chance to retaliate.
This mechanics can be extremely dangerous and can lead to lynching any player without any relation to him/her being a witch. In extreme case a powerful faction can try to kill a player through spamming alts. That's the reason the requirement to accuse were set quite high. The threshold for actually starting the trial should be set at 30% or more of total L&L + F&W worth of active players with Witch Hunt skill.