If you ever gotten boxies on a hunt, you know something about locksmithing. Boxes are dropped by critters, and will require the locksmithing skill to open them. Boxes can drop as trunks, coffers, boxes, strongboxes, and chests. So if you are not trained in locksmithing, you will have to find a rogue who is, or else travel to one of the lockpickers that have set up shop in certain areas.
To pick a box open you will first need to EXAMINE it. This will tell you a few things. First, it will tell you the type of trap on the box. These nasty little added challenges can range from a simple poison cloud to make you gag, to something as severe as turning you to a pleasant puddle of goo. So if you EXAMINE that moldy chest and see a set-up that includes bones, make sure you're sure of yourself before you attempt to DISARM it.
After you have DISARMed the trap, you will need to pick the lock. To do this, you will need a lockpick. There are five different styles of lockpicks: trochos, egkopi, mochlos, syrtis and diskos. For each style, there are also five different levels of sturdiness that correspond to the level of the lock: ultra-light, light, medium, heavy, ultra-heavy. EXAMINing the box will tell you what style to use, and then will tell you the level of the lock. The levels are as follows:
- fragile = ultralight
- delicate = light
- sturdy = medium
- durable = heavy
- strong = ultraheavy
Matching up the correct pick to the lock will give you a much better chance of success at picking it open. You can carry around the whole bunch of lockpicks (5 styles x 5 levels = 25 lockpicks in all) individually. Or you can buy picksets and take the time to insert the picks into the correct slots on each one. Then you just whip out the matching pickset, OPEN it to the correct pick, and PICK BOX WITH LOCKPICK (or PICKSET if the pickset is opened to the correct pick). Then just CLOSE the pickset, put it aside, open your box and enjoy the goodies!!
Example box:
Special Notes:
- Some special stores sell professional and precision lockpicks, and some merchants also sell special lockpicks that will work for any style of lock. It is important to note, however, that for the professional and precision lockpicks you must DISARM the box before attempting to pick it, or the trap will automatically trigger. Bad news if it's the goo. For normal lockpicks, disarming is optional (though safer).
- In some rare, rare cases you may find yourself lucky enough to have a gleaming steelclad strongbox. Lockpicking will not work on these special boxes. You will need a skeleton key to open them. A rogue will sometimes have a skeleton key on them, as they can carve them from the bones they find in box traps. Note: these boxes are worth the extra effort!
- Some box traps will give you items when disarmed (or even in the course of just skipping the disarming and picking them straight up). One of these is bones: arm bones, finger bones, etc. Bones from box traps can be carved with any dagger (just CARVE MY BONE WITH MY DAGGER) to get a skeleton key. Hang on to them! They're handy! Another neat little item is the dark crystal fragments. JOIN enough of these together to create a glowing dark crystal. Then sell the crystal for a pretty dinar at a gemshop, or rub it to see what it does for your stats (temporarily of course)!
