1. The intent was to give you guys the flexibility to choose whether or not you'd like to be attacked. If you choose to write a top-level with option i., the screams you hear could be another PC or it could be an NPC in the court. There's really no wrong read here unless you say it's Fayura.

2. The Strangers have what amounts to their own list-serve with the farcaster. Messages can be made more or less secure, or filtered to people in whatever kinds of groups you'd like. Messages that are left unfiltered can be seen by anyone.