Given that no one involved in it's creation has any kind of background as a lawyer or in legal drafting, poorly worded is probably the best outcome possible, and that's likely due directly to the efforts of Felix.

If push comes to shove, we can probably get a lawyer from the ship to render the contract null and void, but for now it serves it's purpose, and I'm sure the Captain and David will have all kinds of fun trying to twist it in their favor, and more power to them. Let the experts deal with the Primate from now on.

Arkady has a very good grounding in bureaucratic gaming (every ex-soviet does), and he's learned more about that kind of thing from the Church. A perfect background for advising on 'poorly worded'.

But realistically, this contract is going to be a pain to uphold anyway; and will probably be automatically revisited when the Terrans get strong enough to kick or the corporate Elene Church gets suitably interested (or both).

Were, a question - are you intending to use Arkady's Psychic stunt while investigating the room?

The difference is, without the stunt, you would be rolling Investigation (and actually not rolling because there's nothing relevant to be found with Investigation).

With the stunt, you would be rolling Mysteries, but potentially opening yourself up to any hostile supernatural forces - if there are any around.

I'd say go for it if you're willing to risk whatever comes, Weremensh. It could provide us valuable insight into what happened to her.

Well, Arkady does have some actual training in dealing with dark powers (however theoretical); the finest the RCC could provide, for what that's worth. And he's already praying...yes, he's going to do this as a mysteries roll. If necessary, he's more than willing to tag his exorcism aspect to get out in one piece.

Since he wasn't actually investigating her, Piper politely contrived to be out of the room while Arkady did his thing.

Arkady tried to roll Mysteries on Piper back on the ship without getting much (in fact, I'm not sure if it was ever rolled). What he learned about her came from Empathy. That said, the collapsing Styric lady he saw was not the queen, right?

...I may have missed that.

There's a difference between using Mysteries, the skill, and using the Psychic stunt. The Psychic stunt is more likely to give you information, but also leaves you vulnerable in... interesting ways, and not only from malevolent entities (sufficiently powerful benevolent ones can nonetheless psychically "blind" Arkady temporarily, and there may exist some things that don't like being looked at). As a result of this, in order to use the Psychic stunt, you'll need to explicitly invoke it - either in the game thread or in the OOC thread.

Using Mysteries without using the Psychic stunt merely involves using Arkady's pre-existing knowledge of the paranormal and looking at what mundane clues are in the area. Using Mysteries with the Psychic stunts picks up portents, impressions, and clues which often cannot be revealed by other means but which tend to be on the vague side.

The collapsing Styric lady was not the Queen. Styrics are pale, virtually albino white, while Elenes (like the Queen) are dark, almost ebony black.

Being a Ukrainian, Arkady is vastly closer to Styrics than Elenes in coloration. The last several thousand years haven't done much for his tan, either...

Now it seems obvious enough that the swords would be the knights, but one never knows. It also seems obvious that at some point someone's going to wonder where Arkady is getting this stuff from, but again, one never knows.

Colouration, yes, but Styrics have noticeably different facial bone structure to the Terrans. Some people not too familiar with Styrics might mistake Arkady for one...

Rest in Peace, Robin Williams.

It being essentially impossible for someone not massively overburdened to have a large, three pound object removed from their pocket without noticing the loss of weight and lack of pressure on their leg with every step, it would be fascinating to see what Arkady is carrying instead. Unless, of course, Piper lost a gun.

Piper did not lose a gun, because she does not carry one.

Working assumption, seats can be found for four men in the back of the supply truck, perhaps two or three more in the technical; but stuff would have to be left behind to do better than that (if that well).

If the trucks are four door models, we can bring along 8 knights in the cabs, plus whomever fits in the back. If two door models, then only 2 in the cab. Depending on the length of the truck beds, figure we can fit a minimum of 6 in the back, 3 per side. If the truck is wider, then 8 with a guy at the front and the back. If longer, we could maybe fit 12, but it would be cramped, and with no seatbelts to prevent injury.

I think we should track down where the thief got the gun from. We have to go into the city anyway to meet the Earl anyway, so why not get two birds with one stone?

I also think it would be smart to head back to the ship to swap out our gear loadout. The trip to the city was a diplomatic mission, we packed accordingly. This would be a flat out combat mission, something we could pull off as is, but easier to do with the propper tools.