is stealing from Avendell anvil illegal?

[OpalimTeGolim]

Yesterday SL player took a tiamat cleric armor from anvil while PwnD player was doing xfer. Later that day, Gorm apparently killed the thief (causing his xp loss), took the armor from his inventory, returned it to its previous owner and sent the thief to prize room. I don't know if the thief got xp back or not.

In a discussion here:
http://www.nsrealm.com/public/ns/viewto ... l#p1018118
Kim said that stealing from anvil is illegal, however in topic here:
http://www.nsrealm.com/public/ns/viewto ... &t=1001135
Tep said

the anvil was never meant to be used for xfers. transfering items in it is at your own risk.

he also added:

its only illegal to steal from players in avendell when they are trading between 2 players, at which point items have to hit the ground. unguarded items left in odd places have not protection.

I'd like to know if stealing from anvil is legal, and if it is, why was thief sent to prize room? If it is not, why was the armor returned to previous owner?

Disclamer:
Since my description above was based on in game tells, I deeply apologize if the chain of events did not happen in exactly the way described. In that case, please someone correct me. I just want to understand better what is and what is not allowed, and what are the consequences of stealing items from the anvil.

[Amoenotep]

the events didn't happen exactly how you think. the dm was actually there when it happened and watched the whole incident. it was not 'stealing from the anvil' as the pwnd player was still standing right there as he placed it in..the hips'd char snagged it out immediately when it happened. thats the stealing from the player and why the item was returned. also as this whole event took place in minutes and inside avendell no one was killed or lost xp from anything.

the dm was right

read my post carefully as that is the only thing you need to know about stealing from the anvil...stealing from players that are still standing there using it is what will get you into trouble.

[OpalimTeGolim]

Indeed, in that case dm did a right thing when he returned the item. I had an incomplete and wrong information. Thanks for fast reply Tep. Hail Gorm!

[weasel423]

Gorm, schmorm

[Rufio]

Regardless of the legality, that is pretty low. Since the game mechanics don't allow you to capture or kill someone to retrieve a stolen item, it is a quick way to ruin someone's fun.

[Amoenotep]

it was thought about for a bit to have it returned...but the mechanics were a little difficult to make right

[Lokey]

It can be fixed to do whatever it was it was intended to do. I don't really want to do it (would need testing).