Patron: Religious Pilgrims
Required Skills: nothing special
Required Equipment: starship with some middle passage space

Players’ Information:
The PC’s are contacted by Friar Grissom, the leader of a band of missionary monks who spread their version of “the Word” to offworld planets. They seek passage on the PC’s ship equal to the amount of staterooms available times two. Their destination is a monastery some six parsecs away. They say they all have taken a vow of poverty and only Friar Grissom handles the finances. Each of the brothers following Friar Grissom wears the same simple brown cassock robe with hood that he does and their only possessions fit in a small-sized sack. It is only on a rare occasion that the brothers show their faces or anything more than their hands.

If the PC’s accept the deal Friar Grissom will pay 50% down and 50% at their destination (he honestly does not have enough money for the entire transaction). During the trip the brothers stay in their quarters in prayerful meditation, only to come out during meals in which half of the meal is spent either in respectful silence or in prayer. Once a week, all the brothers will ask that they be allowed to conduct a service in the passenger’s galley/lounge where they will chant and pray for hours.

Referee’s Information:
If the players look up information on Friar Grissom they will uncover that he did register with the local and subsector government to perform missionary work on this system. He has been on the planet for three months and his funds require that he return home. If psionically scanned Friar Grissom appears to be who and what he is.

Outcomes:
1. Their offer is legitimate and there are few complications. When the monks arrive back at their monastery they will be paid immediately with the agreed upon amount. This does not mean that the crew – brother interaction is at least moderately annoying for the crew. The constant praying and meditating should be played up. (For example, Brother Jakob decides to go to the engine room to meditate because his roommate Brother Marius smells bad).

2. Their offer is legitimate and there are some complications. The brothers will be more than annoying with the constant prayers and meditations. During the meals the brothers will ask the crew about their religious beliefs in the hopes of engaging them into a religious discussion/debate. The crew will be exceptionally happy when the brothers depart, who do pay at their destination as promised.

3. Their offer is legitimate and there are few complications. The brothers are not as they seem, however. They are, in fact, a group of new psionic talents on their way to a clandestine training facility. Friar Grissom is a talented psionic instructor who can shield himself some most psi probes and avoid any kind of attention. The crew may suspect something is amiss when a fork at the dinner table suddenly elevates or one of the crew gets a headache for absolutely no reason. After all, these brother-adepts are completely untrained and have little control over their natural abilities. At their destination Friar Grissom will escort these brothers to another instructor and the PC’s will be paid double what they are expecting if they continue to remain discreet about what they have learned.

4. Their offer is legitimate and there are few complications. The brothers are not as they seem, however. Friar Grissom has a cybernetic brain implant that makes him immune to almost any psionic scan. The brothers he is escorting are actually clones of a very important nobleman who is having them moved away to another world for training as a body double. If the crew looks at the faces of the brothers they may notice they look like brothers from the same mother so to speak. At their destination Friar Grissom will escort these brothers to another instructor and the PC’s will be paid double what they are expecting if they continue to remain discreet about this secret if they had discovered who or what they were transporting.

5. The same as condition #3, with one big exception. One of the “adepts” (goes by the name of Brother Arias) is a “Psi cop” who is undercover. Brother Arias is trying to ferret out a group of rouge psionics who have been causing trouble throughout the sector. He will witness the PC’s being paid extra for their silence. Within a month or two, the PC’s will be hauled into a police interrogation and arrested for aiding and abetting fugitives. They will be fined 2d6 x 1000 credits or face six months in prison.

6. The offer is legitimate but there is a big problem. Apparently, due to the bad diet and the cramped conditions, three of the monks are suffering from a debilitating respiratory disease. This illness was not detected by any of the starport sensors nor will a medical scan see the problem until they have been aboard at least two days. Three days into hyperspace one of the brothers will start to cough up blood and he will; need immediate medical attention. The other two monks will fall sick the next day. Half of the rest of the monks will fall sick within the next 7-10 days and the crew has two weeks before they will need to roll versus C3 to risk being infected themselves. The disease is a type of virulent airborne tuberculosis and once it is detected a recovery time of two weeks is necessary. I hope the PC’s have a good ship’s doctor. When the PC’s deliver their human cargo to their destination they will be paid the amount of money as promised.