[quote=@Leidenschaft]
Hank definitely has a point there. Dervish and I have been running RPs for a while and we notice they always got bogged down when any of these happened:

-We were too laissez-faire with the players
-We let them have too many collab posts
-Literally nothing of note (anything from a fight to a character's admittance to something or a great reveal) happened for any length of time

There will always, always be chances for characters to interact. This scene in the tavern was to introduce us into Camlorn and allude to us plotting, as well as just so happening to be a place for Finch to further his character's arc just a wee bit and for a certain Dunmer to introduce themselves. I tried splitting each group into characters I think wouldn't give each other the time of day given your regular ol' tavern scene. I wanted to pen you guys in and force your characters out of their comfort zones when it came to people they're not used to fraternizing with. Brynn vs Fiona and Faruq are particularly at odds with one another, one being a man whose reputation has spiralled out of control and whose betrayal by his group is shrouded in rumor and the others being otherwise righteous do-gooders who Brynn would've had to fight in any other kind of meeting with them.

This kind of dynamic can be seen by Mauly's group, that and I really want to peel back Cyrendil's shell and get him talking about his life somehow. I'll get you one of these days, you sonofabitch. But I know these things take time, I'm just saying, conversation will happen. Dervs and I wanted to get you into the filet mignon of the story. All we've experienced so far was the pre-dinner salad, so to speak.
[/quote]

This pre-dinner salad is pretty good so far. I can see the concerns about speeding through opportunities for character development, but I must agree, it seems that our characters are mostly sticking to specific sub-groups thus far. In these groups there is a touch of conflict spurring some development, but it seems like most of them are still in the getting to know one another phase. I expect as the new small groups break away to sneak into Camlorn proper the added stress will create more opportunities to develop. Maybe it's not appropriate to have some long moral speech as we sneak into the castle, but meeting eyes as a sneakthief lifts a precious gem and saying nothing is quite powerful too.

I welcome the chance to have Faruq actually engage with Brynn and Fiona directly. Brynn and Fiona are making hard decisions to help the group survive, something I think Faruq respects on one hand but also suffers as their way challenges his sense of self. I think having the three go in together will make for a serious power team in terms of combat and inspiring change in one another.