Fiernas Holm:
I mean with the dogs outside the door I don't think it'll be a big deal. But it does leave a sour taste in my mouth about RPOL in general that I can't just say, "hey, let's make sure we keep a watch on him while we're doing all this because I clearly don't trust him and I'm treating him like a prisoner," and trust that the policy won't be invalidated because I didn't touch base or say the magic word every time we change game areas. That's just so counterintuitive, and it makes me wonder what other basic common sense things are missing.
It's a little like how the Watcher described playing L5R online: I don't want to have to 'pass' every little tiny thing, I want us to use enough heuristic logic to keep things moving without having to reiterate every single step of the way.
Let's try to sweeten that sour taste a bit, if we can!
I hear and appreciate your concerns, but I also feel pretty confident that had we played this out to the most minute detail, the end result would have been similar (as I theorycrafted in my above post). It just would have taken us 2 weeks to get to the same place.
Here's my thinking:
Hadrian didn't have to move in any kind of suspicious way to close the door. He didn't have to slip away, get sneaky, enter a code, or anything else.
Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
He didn't even have to physically touch the door (spoilerz).
He just had to wait for the right moment.
I already knew that
Barachiel would be satisfied with keeping an eye on the kid from arm's length. He's paranoid about Traveling and "the peril" that brings him places, but he hasn't indicated that Hadrian is one of the dangers he sensed. And he probably would have mentioned that. He's also not a security guard, nor trained in any sort of surveillance. He'd deem the kid smart enough to know that he can't get to the end of a hallway before a bullet or a dog could run him down, plus he'd expect the kid -- who has been by all indications cowed by Fiernas's aggression and Kayla's rifle -- to be docile and sulky.
I also know that
Kayla, who would have been more cautious, more careful, and more of a problem for Hadrian, was dragged into another room to deal with
Meltdown Rebecca.
You would not have left
Rebecca to guard Hadrian alone, so that scenario is off the table.
That leaves
Fiernas and the dogs. When I asked if anyone else wanted stuff out of the room, I was specifically fishing to learn whether or not Fiernas was going to enter it. I was pretty sure you'd want to grab your cybernetics kit, but whether and how Fiernas did that was my line for what would happen next.
When you posted that you were gathering your kit but didn't place a caveat or additional orders to the NPCs regarding the prisoner, that created the opening Hadrian needed. You didn't mention the dogs either, but we can assume the remained outside near the prisoner if desired.
Locking you in a room and waiting for help was always Hadrian's best option for solving his prisoner dilemma. If you hadn't gone into the room, Hadrian would have tried a similar ploy in the ready room, the airlock, or elsewhere. It would have been difficult to avoid it, but certainly possible with enough care and planning.
In this medium, I'm left to interpret the unwritten interactions. I try to do so in a way that stays faithful to the characters and the author's intentions, but also in a way that makes sense within the context of the story. Fiernas, while skilled in many things, is not a policeman or a security guard. Barachiel, Kayla, and Rebecca lack these traits, as well.
With sufficient distractions (and here I maintain that Rebecca's meltdown would have drawn all eyes and ears for at least a couple seconds. I've never had screaming in my head and out loud at the same time but I suspect it's jarring), an opening was likely to occur sooner or later.
Anyway. I hope that helps explain my thinking a bit.
Would this whole thing have been more fun to do in person? Absolutely! But RPOL's the best tool we've got to play together over distances and I hope that despite instances like these it remains an enjoyable medium for adventure.
PS: Are the dogs out there or not? I'm good with any answer to this. If they are outside, we can shift into combat rounds. Let me know!