OOC

1) Swaneke has made his position perfectly clear. With the way he has acted and some of the comments that he has made, I doubt that our captors can be convinced that he has had a change of heart.

2) I realize that our association with Swaneke, as well as the uniforms that the rest of the party are wearing, are significant barriers to trust. Based on the way the militia has treated the party thus far, I am comfortable with asking them to give us the benefit of the doubt.

3) Phineas hasn't objected to being lumped in with the patrol because

a)he was with them when the two groups met, and
b)there hasn't really been anything objectionable about the way they have treated him.

4) That being the case, since he isn't wearing Emi's colors, he hasn't been branded, he does have the uniform and trappings of office of a member of the Holy Court, and he is extremely charismatic (on paper, at least), he ought to have a decent shot at convincing them that he is an outsider and a neutral third-party.

5)I'll have to look back and see what, if anything, we decided, but I seem to remember that, back in character creation, you raised the question about which side of the conflict had requested a mediator, and I think we decided that the request had come from the legitimate government. If that is the case I feel like that lends even more weight to Phineas' argument and may even be enough that if he vouched for the other PCs, that might give them a mark in their defense.

That will be his argument, anyway.

Ultimately, I think that we are only trying to convince the militia to put us in a supervised probation or work release type situation that would make it possible for us to, eventually, earn their trust.

I'm not fussed at all griffrpg. I didn't post last night because I had a soft deadline that I needed to meet. (Book review) If you're super busy in real life, I fully understand. There's no pressure on my part, and I'm happy to do my best to keep you to speed with what's been taking place in the game if it would help. I could just make up dialogue for Rose if you want as an NPC. Just let me know when you've got a free moment. No worries

My plate was a little full over the weekend and I had to avoid logging into GP so I could finish a project. To the post by the_puppeteer, these are all excellent takes on the group's current situation. I'll go ahead and push things forward in the game.

Had a cross-post; now fixed.

@Phil_Ozzy_Fer,

I looked back at the character creation thread and confirmed that it was the legitimate government that had asked the church to send an Arbiter. Also, I imagine that the full Regalia of a Cleric of Justitia would include the same iconography that has traditionally been associated with her. She carries a sword in one hand, a scale in the other hand, and she wears a blindfold. No one has given any indication that they recognize his affiliation. Although admittedly, there would be few, apart from the nobility, who would have much chance of doing so. If you are willing to accept that as Canon, though, the blindfold might actually increase the chance of someone recognizing him.

As an aside, no one ever needs to apologize for being busy out in the real world. I understand. I have a family, a full-time job and various obligations that come along with all that. I fully empathize with time being tight for people. I'm not at all offended if your posting slows down. If it looks like you need to step away, just let me know. It's really not a big deal, this is only a game after all.

Hey Phil, I'm going to bow out of your game. It didn't turn out to be what I had envisioned and is by no means any reflection on you. Thanks for having me, and good luck with it.

ok @windyridge. Thank you for having joined us. That leaves us with two, maybe three active players for this game at the moment. How would you like to proceed? I can put this up for another player t join us. We can proceed with just a couple of PCs and supplement with NPCs. We can call it a game here. Let me know what you'd prefer.

Unfortunately, I think it's best if I pull up tent stakes as well. Thanks for running, Phil -- sorry if I was a hassle to manage at times.

See you both around GP!

It is your call to make, Phil_Ozzy_Fer. Although, I will say that I have only ever seen one game survive after losing all of its players except for one. In that case, it wasn't an influx of new players that kept it alive. It was 100% GM tenacity. The game had been running for almost two years at that point, and it took another year of new players joining and leaving for it to eventually 'hit its stride' with a regular core group of players. Generally, I think it's easier to start from scratch.

Having said that, I am enjoying the game. I like the socio-political backdrop you have painted and I'd enjoy finding out why Emil revolted. Is he power-hungry? Was the old regime really awful? Is this actually the covert expansion of a neighboring nation? Did he swoop in to prevent some existential threat that only he knows about?

Don't try to keep it going based on me, though. If there is a story to tell that you feel passionate about, let's tell it. If not, that's ok, too.

This game is as good as dead. In my experience, once a game reaches this point it has run its course. Too bad, but thank you all for joining up and letting me run this.

I enjoyed it. Thank you for doing so!