So I want to siege a city ....

[TheFamilarRaven]

Just like the title says ... I'm the DM, and I've got a month until my group meets again (vacations and all), to make an epic city battle.

The Set Up

Without going into too much detail, I've got a power hungry lord, attempting a Coup D'Etat. He's made an alliance with witches, and while few in number (relative to the size of the Lord's army), they do have the ability to summon demons (mostly low level ones), and of course, they have magic (think low OP sorcerers). One of the high ranking witches has infiltrated the church of the land (which has power relative to the renaissance era catholic church), and has essentially cast a permanent dominate person spell on the leader of the county's religion (the Grand Cleric)

The country itself has strict anti- arcane magic laws, and therefore, don't have access to high arcane magic. They do however, have an knightly organization called the Slayers, (an actual homebrew PrC) that specializes in defeating said witches and their demons. Of course, the witches are not so easily killed, but the Slayers are still a credible threat to them.

The town itself has a small port, an outer wall that surrounds the city and an inner wall the surrounds a not yet complete castle. Outside the outer wall is a large peasant's district, rife with villagers seeking jobs in the city. The garrison in the towns consists of the king's soldiers, and a small garrison of Slayers. The king himself is a fairly high level paladin, as such, assassination attempts have failed (by the interloping of the PC's mainly). There are a few old relics deemed "holy" that protect the new castle against some of the "win" buttons of magic (i.e teleportation, divinations, etc).

The party of 6 has an average ECL of 12. The highest tiered character is 2, being a sorcerer/dread witch (which has no relations to the evil witches :smalltongue:), who just recently in fact gained teleport as a spell.

The Evil Players
as in, what the BBEG's are capable of ...

There are 7 witches (not not including the ultimate BBEG), each have spells that have been tailored to fit a theme for each school of magic (there is no necromancy, she recently bit the dust). They may or may not all be in this battle (hubris and all). The one that is definitely a part of the battle is the divination witch.

The grand cleric, who is a high level cleric and willing toadie/sleeper agents of the witches

The duke, the evil lord mentioned earlier. Pretty much a high level rogue, with an army at his disposal.

The Plan

All the evil lord really has to do, is kill the king and take over the city. Since the Grand Cleric is secretly dominated, he can officially legitimize the evil lord as the new king, since at this point in time the current king has no heirs.

The Problems

And here's where I get to the part where I need help... the problems ... of which there are a few.

I'll ask these in question form.

1) How does the evil lord move an army (with siege equipment) big enough to attack a city without alerting the rest of the country. (Teleporting is not an option, and neither is mass illusion, the witches are neither powerful enough/numerous enough to perform that type of magic). essentially, the highest ranked witches have spells equivalent to a 14th level sorcerer.

2) How do you maneuver the BBEG's into a position where the PC's can stop them, without resorting to hacking n' slashing through the entire army?

3) How does the king survive long enough for the PC's to rush in to save him at the most dramatic moment?

3 a) How do the BBEG's reach the king so that the PC's can rush in at the most dramatic point to save him?

4) What, if any, are good moral dilemmas to throw in to add some RP to the event?

5) What are some of the objectives the PC's may have to accomplish in order to save the city?

basically, i'm looking for tips, tricks and advice on how to solve these dilemmas. If anything needs clarification, just ask. Thanks in advance.

[hewhosaysfish]

My first thought was a false-flag operation: the evil duke provokes some sort of minor friction with the king; the witches summon some demons to eat the duke's most expendable minions; the Grand Cleric pops and annouces "I have INCONTROVERTIBLE proof that the king sent demons to attack the duke"; the other nobles of the land (and the Slayers) either join with the duke against the king or hesitate and ask for further proof. If anyone pushes too hard for further proof, the duke moves to take the capital anyway, claiming that of course it is necessary to imprison the king for the duration of the investigation (and that during the imprisonment, "trustworthy" administrators will be "temporarily" appointed to run the royal holdings).

[TheFamilarRaven]

I thought of that too. But the problem lies within DnD mechanics itself. The king is a paladin, so all it would take for him to disprove the claims that he summoned demons (an act worthy of falling I'd image) is to have any joe shmo cut himself and have the king use lay on hands. Certainly, it would discredit him among the commoners and those who weren't there, but the Slayers are pretty knowledgeable about paladins (having a few in their order themselves), and could very well sort out the issue then and there (The king has a few Slayer bodyguards to protect him from demons popping out of no where), and THEN they would know something is up with the Grand Cleric, popping up where he ain't supposed to be and all ( he generally hangs around the grand cathedral) ... Plus the king is fairly well liked, even if the rumor spread he summoned demons most people might very well dismiss that as untrue slander and form a mob to beat the guy who said that up.

Overall, yeah, the Grand Cleric may have the power to to detain the king until he's judged by all the lords of the land plus the Church if he has proof, but the Slayers would look at the incontrovertible proof and controvert it, cause they're cool like that :smallcool: unfortunately ...

Which is why I decided on the less than subtle approach to this. It makes things a little more epic (big battles and all), and it fits the duke's ideals of "might makes right" better. Oh sure, he'll be killing the well liked king, but he'll find a way (he's a charismatic rogue after all) to spin the story, and make the deceased king look like he was dragging the country into ruin, thus saving Scolis (that's the country) from it's certain doom.

[Thrawn4]

How about hostages? If those in charge of gathering the army are concerned about their families, they might hesitate to do so.
Another approach would be to discredit the king by sending minor demons to the villages where they act like royal envoys. While the slayers leave to investigate, the high priest could step forward and intervene. He doesn't even have to blame the king as he could state that it might be a course or a test of fate. Frightened folks accept a lot of explanations if the person offering them has a good reputation.

[Storm_Of_Snow]

1) How does the evil lord move an army (with siege equipment) big enough to attack a city without alerting the rest of the country. (Teleporting is not an option, and neither is mass illusion, the witches are neither powerful enough/numerous enough to perform that type of magic). essentially, the highest ranked witches have spells equivalent to a 14th level sorcerer.


If there's a source of wood near the city they're going to besiege, then they wouldn't move siege engines across the country, they'd build them in place once they get there - even if your head BBEG didn't assume he'd be able to blast down the walls and everyone would just surrender, it's a lot easier to move around without them and build them in place.

He might have a few smaller items for use on the battlefield as part of his train, and one or two heavier things as flat packs to be put together if needed.

To move the troops, they could be split up under trusted commanders - a small group could be teleported or hidden via illusion much more easily, others could be disguised as pilgrims or other groups that would be able to move around without comment, still more could move via less travelled or observed routes (close settlements would be no more days walk apart, but that still leaves a lot of space to navigate between them), or settlements could simply be conquered and their populations controlled (or slaughtered) to silence them.

The BBEG may even have sympathisers, agents or other assets in place in the king's court who can suppress intelligence about his movements, allowing him to move around without the army being able to intercept him, or misdirect parts of it.



2) How do you manoeuvre the BBEG's into a position where the PC's can stop them, without resorting to hacking n' slashing through the entire army?

And without resorting to them trying to storm the walls at the head of the army?

Sally attacks to eliminate the enemies command structure? Intercepting an infiltration attempt, led by one of the BBEGs, in order to open a gate or capture an important target (a person or an item)?



3) How does the king survive long enough for the PC's to rush in to save him at the most dramatic moment?

Lots of bodyguards, defences, and the BBEG wants to take the King alive for some reason.



3 a) How do the BBEG's reach the king so that the PC's can rush in at the most dramatic point to save him?

Whatever it takes them to get through the first and second things in the previous answer.



4) What, if any, are good moral dilemmas to throw in to add some RP to the event?

If it's a siege, the besieging forces will be trying one of two things - starving the occupants out, or trying to reduce the defences to allow an assault to carry the walls. And for the second, the first will also come into play because if the defenders are weakened by starvation and associated diseases, they'll be easier to defeat.

One dilemma might be if the besiegers are firing animal carcasses over the walls in order to infect or poison the population, and the PCs have to destroy them despite the population being starving. Create/Purify Food/Water will only go so far, especially if the enemy are attacking things like water supplies.



5) What are some of the objectives the PC's may have to accomplish in order to save the city?

Stopping infiltrators and fifth columnists, looters, people who just want to escape and are willing to sell the city out to do it, fighting fires, fending off assaults on the walls and performing sally attacks on enemy siege engines and supplies, protecting food/water supplies, obtaining some item held by a citizen or hidden in a vault/crypt.

If the walls do fall, then the assaulting forces will sack the city (even while fighting is still going on) - the players would have to sneak and fight their way through them. Which opens another moral dilemma, do they save a family from the enemy troops and likely have to fight off a large number of troops, or leave them to their fate and sneak off to where they can potentially do more good?

[Amphetryon]

I think I'm misunderstanding something, or missing some vital bit of information. What's preventing the PCs from doing rudimentary (for 12th level) recon/intel work, then using Teleport to the nearest safe location (my reading of the OP indicates Teleport works in some/most of the city, and the Slayers and Witches simply can't follow it) to make a surgical strike and extract the king? How is a siege functioning, in a world where Purify Food/Drink, Detect Poison and Create Water are simple low-level Spells that those under siege could and should reasonably choose to prep multiple copies of - including scrolls and potions - during the crisis itself? Heck, at 12th level, a Decanter of Endless Water and Myrdlyn's Spoon (however it's spelled) are affordable enough to stave off starvation for years, before we even get into the usefulness of Teleport to replenish supplies.

[IslandDog]

In terms of moving the army about:
The duke could make a deal with a neighbouring country - he'll give away a border town or two in exchange for what is essentially a distraction. The duke will arrange for the neighboring country to attack the border, and when the king calls the army to arms the duke will volunteer his army... Which will need to conveniently pass by the capital. After the duke has deposed the king, he'll end the war with the neighboring country by diplomacy or force.

[veti]

I think I'm missing something, too...

Why do you need a siege? Or an army? The mere act of raising and equipping an army like that is going to set off warning bells, even without marching it in the direction of the capital.

A coup d'etat - a successful one, at least - generally involves no sieges. What it requires is a small group of people walking up to the king and saying "Good morning, sire. Lovely day to abdicate, isn't it?" And the king looks around and realises that for some reason, he's not carrying his good equipment right now, and none of his guards are within call, and his trusted bodyguard is quietly whistling to himself and gloating over some new jewellery.

Or the small group could cut to the chase and just stab him. That works too, so long as they've got some plausible tale worked out to tell afterwards. All that really matters is whether the powerful people will go along with them, or not. If their tale is good enough to convince enough of those people - the king's council, important local nobles, guildmasters and bigwigs - basically, everyone who would normally expect to have access to the king - that the rest don't think they've got a chance of opposing it, then they've won.

The only time an army comes into play is when the whole thing goes horribly wrong, and the powerful people are more-or-less evenly split between your supporters and your enemies. Then you get a civil war, which is usually a far worse outcome for the kingdom than just "putting up with a bad ruler for a few years".

[Lord of Shadows]

In terms of moving the army about:
The duke could make a deal with a neighbouring country - he'll give away a border town or two in exchange for what is essentially a distraction. The duke will arrange for the neighboring country to attack the border, and when the king calls the army to arms the duke will volunteer his army... Which will need to conveniently pass by the capital. After the duke has deposed the king, he'll end the war with the neighboring country by diplomacy or force.

This, I think, has possibilities. You wouldn't need to involve a neighboring country, just have the witches set up shop in a remote area of the Paladin's country that is on the other side of the capital from the Duke's area. Have the witches summon/cast like crazy so that the Paladin thinks there is a major incursion of evil in that area. Then the Duke, the high Cleric, and whoever else the Duke can fool into going along with him will convince the Paladin that an army needs to be raised and sent that way. When the Paladin does that, then, as IslandDog says above, the Duke's army gets to march across the land legitimately. Of course they stop at the capital, while the witches have since also relocated to the capital. With most of the rest of the "army" sent off to fight the "evil incursion," the capital falls relatively easily. The party, of course, would have been sent with the army to go investigate the trouble. Perhaps a lower level Cleric (or a higher level cleric of another deity) sends them a Message or Sending that there is trouble at the capital, they 'port in just in time to save the Paladin. There is the possibility of a lot of deception in this scenario, and many twists and turns. Enjoy unleashing whatever you decide on your party, it sounds like fun.

[IslandDog]

This, I think, has possibilities. You wouldn't need to involve a neighboring country, just have the witches set up shop in a remote area of the Paladin's country that is on the other side of the capital from the Duke's area. Have the witches summon/cast like crazy so that the Paladin thinks there is a major incursion of evil in that area. Then the Duke, the high Cleric, and whoever else the Duke can fool into going along with him will convince the Paladin that an army needs to be raised and sent that way. When the Paladin does that, then, as IslandDog says above, the Duke's army gets to march across the land legitimately. Of course they stop at the capital, while the witches have since also relocated to the capital. With most of the rest of the "army" sent off to fight the "evil incursion," the capital falls relatively easily. The party, of course, would have been sent with the army to go investigate the trouble. Perhaps a lower level Cleric (or a higher level cleric of another deity) sends them a Message or Sending that there is trouble at the capital, they 'port in just in time to save the Paladin. There is the possibility of a lot of deception in this scenario, and many twists and turns. Enjoy unleashing whatever you decide on your party, it sounds like fun.

Thanks, and lovely additions might I add! The way you spun it works great as well - you get the subtlety of learning its all a deception (bonus points if the duke is played so the PC's think he's a nice guy), and the last minute drama of a dash to the capital and rescue :)

[Coidzor]

1) How does the evil lord move an army (with siege equipment) big enough to attack a city without alerting the rest of the country. (Teleporting is not an option, and neither is mass illusion, the witches are neither powerful enough/numerous enough to perform that type of magic). essentially, the highest ranked witches have spells equivalent to a 14th level sorcerer.

He doesn't. He hides in plain sight by manuevering to aid the capital against the BBEG's army which is threatening the capital while there's other forces that have risen up distracting most or all of the other fiefdoms in the country so that they can't arrive at the capital to help in time.


2) How do you maneuver the BBEG's into a position where the PC's can stop them, without resorting to hacking n' slashing through the entire army?

Well, you could have a nearby hill which is guarded but well away from the main fighting from which the BBEG is observing and directing the battle.


3) How does the king survive long enough for the PC's to rush in to save him at the most dramatic moment?

Narrativium. Someone botches it but not so badly that the Pally is able to take 'em out.


3 a) How do the BBEG's reach the king so that the PC's can rush in at the most dramatic point to save him?

They take out the sentries and sneak into the castle but they miss a sentry or something or other and the alarum is raised, causing them to rush to take out the Pally rather than strike at the most opportune time. So they've only gotten there a few moments/rounds before the PCs finally put 2 & 2 together to go check on the Pally. Or some of them are with the Pally.


4) What, if any, are good moral dilemmas to throw in to add some RP to the event?

If there's no obvious moral dilemma that come to mind, probably shouldn't contort too much to make there have to be any. I suppose there's the obvious point where being bigoted against everyone who can use magic that isn't a god's personal whipping boy and how this makes you vulnerable is less than desirable, but you seem to have just made all arcane casters be evil witches who summon demons, so there you go.


5) What are some of the objectives the PC's may have to accomplish in order to save the city?

There's RHoD that suggests things to gain Victory Points, if you have access to that, may give some ideas. Hold certain sections of the wall against siege equipment & the like, repel a dragon or keep it from torching too much of the city, collapse buildings to keep a fire from raging out of control and taking out the part of the city you're actually defending... The RHoD for DMs thread may have some further ideas on that subject as well.

I suppose there's always stopping sappers from undermining the walls/gates. & taking out the various hierarchy of the enemy army's leadership. I guess there's also exposing the Duke and Archbishop as traitors/ensorceled.

[Lord of Shadows]

4) What, if any, are good moral dilemmas to throw in to add some RP to the event?
Suggested moral dilemma:

The party receives word that the "capital is threatened/Paladin is under attack and losing" right at the same moment that a village/shrine/outpost is being attacked by enemy monsters. Perhaps the party was assigned the job of defending this village/shrine/outpost. They must decide whether to defend the village/shrine/outpost or save the Paladin. This could get really messy if the party has a Paladin of their own.


Magic might mitigate the dilemma some, if the party has access to multiple Teleports or a quick way to eliminate the enemies or something.

The party might be able to arrange a replacement defense for the village/shrine/outpost. This could be part of the army, or creatures summoned through any of the various Summoning spells, etc. A lot messier than if they had defended it, but it allows them to abandon their post.

The party divides to try to defend both locations. Not usually a good idea.
.

[TheFamilarRaven]

Wow, thanks for all these great responses, and they've given me a lot to think about it terms making this plan flawless ... to address some issues that came up...

More info on the PC's: The party consists of

- a sorcerer
- a bard
- a havoc knight (homebrew melee class)
- a water shugenja
- and a revamped Soul Knife
- plus a Shadow caster who hardly ever shows up soooooo I guess there's really only 5 party members

the party itself is sympathetic towards the king, but do not actively work for him (i mean, two illegal mages spoil the bunch), and therefore, there is no "The king commands you to do X" scenario.

@Amphetryon: using teleportation surgical strike is an option for the PC's of course. I won't say i'm playing with the most optimized or strategically savvy group, but i'm sure if they tried they could find the prime targets and attack. As far a spells go ... those have their limits by caster level, and theres not a bunch of clerics who can actually cast spells walking around, and even if they were, they wouldn't have the numbers to feed thousand, if even hundreds, of people per day. The city doesn't have those items on hand because the basic idea in DnD that those items exist and are easily available to people with the right amount of money is absurd, so magical items aren't in wide circulation, especially in the country the campaign is taking place in.



@Veti: Previous methods to force "abdication" have gone poorly. Sure they could keep trying, send one assassin after the other, but that would take the campaign it another direction, and I feel liek the PC's have dealt with enough subterfuge for now. Besides, in the duke's mind, he'll need an army to enforce the law of his new regime


@ShadowLord & IslandDog: The false army idea would actually be awesome.

So I've got a rough skeleton of the plot for this particular adventure mapped out.

-Pc's got two weeks down time while they rebuild their inn that was blown up. (don't worry about it :smalltongue:)
-During these two week, the Slayers hear reports of this (false) army and send members to investigate.
-They get captured and dominated by magic. And return to inform their superiors of a massive force amassing south of the capitol.
- The lords of the land begin to mobilize their armies.
-two weeks are up, the inn is rebuilt
-The army is sent south (the PC's are free to follow) to defeat the phantom army, with the Duke being "conveniently" late.
-The duke storms the city when he arrives, and floods over the outer wall with no trouble, but the defenders close the inner gates in time.
-The city is sacked and the inn the PC's just rebuilt is damaged (or destroyed, because that's funny). Also, it may not seem like a plot point, but they love their inns (they started a chain) and it would REALLY make this personal for them.
-The Grand Cleric starts preaching a hullabaloo of whatever the Divination witch tells him (which will probably be along the lines of "People should surrender, and come to the grand cathedral". The idea is the PC know something's up at the cathedral, and head there (or probably teleport because really, walking? SO last level.).
-They get into a dramatic dialogue with the divination witch (who they really hate by the way), they learn the Duke is heading to the king, but of course, they won't "get there in time".
- After the PC's (hopefully) win the inevitable fight, they rush to defend the king, consequences be damned.

[Amphetryon]

@TheFamiliarRaven: Your concept of 'absurd' is vastly different than mine. Good luck.

[Coidzor]

@TheFamiliarRaven: Your concept of 'absurd' is vastly different than mine. Good luck.

To be fair, it is a society that's suicidal enough to ban arcane casters *and* not shore that up with more divine casters.

[Braininthejar2]

Read Sun Tzu's "Art of War". It is a very short book that you can read over several lunch breaks and it contains the summary of all that can go wrong with a war and how to prevent it.

[ElenionAncalima]

When in comes to overthrowing a regime, fighters storm the gate. Mages and skill based characters survive to high levels by using a little more finesse and subterfuge.

Perhaps the duke's army is marching against the gates, while many of the main villains have important missions within the city that will make the invasion successful, such as:

-Opening the gates for the invading army.
-Sabotaging the city's defensive measures (ie. sabotaging the Ballistae, destroying arrow supplies)
-Assassinating/distracting/dominating important generals.
-Impeding communications that would bring reinforcements.

It could be the PCs job to weed out these plots in order to prevent the invading army from breaching the gates.

[Lord of Shadows]

@Amphetryon: using teleportation surgical strike is an option for the PC's of course. I won't say i'm playing with the most optimized or strategically savvy group, but i'm sure if they tried they could find the prime targets and attack. As far a spells go ... those have their limits by caster level, and theres not a bunch of clerics who can actually cast spells walking around, and even if they were, they wouldn't have the numbers to feed thousand, if even hundreds, of people per day. The city doesn't have those items on hand because the basic idea in DnD that those items exist and are easily available to people with the right amount of money is absurd, so magical items aren't in wide circulation, especially in the country the campaign is taking place in.


@TheFamiliarRaven: Your concept of 'absurd' is vastly different than mine. Good luck.


To be fair, it is a society that's suicidal enough to ban arcane casters *and* not shore that up with more divine casters.

To be doubly fair, it also sounds like a low-magic campaign. It makes a big difference in the campaign if there isn't magic (both spells and items) readily available. Even in a high-magic campaign it would be a challenge for the local casters to feed thousands of people per day. Without getting into too much math, although Create Water is easy enough to cast (0-level Cleric/Druid [Pathfinder adds Oracle and Inquisitor, and unlimited casting, which would help], and 1st-level Paladin) it only creates 2 gallons/level. Create Food & Water is a little harder (3rd level, Cleric only, min. 5th level to cast [Pathfinder adds Oracle]) and can sustain 3 humans or 1 horse per level per day. If you run the numbers, that doesn't add up to thousands per day, even if you add a Decanter (endless water) and a Spoon (4 people/day). It would seem that there would be plenty of water, but not enough food.

In any event, the strategy the OP seems to be settling on is the diversion-subterfuge route, where some threat on the opposite side of the country draws away the army (and presumably several higher levels, including the party) from the capital in the opposite direction of the Duke's army. Duke's army can then storm the capital, likely with help from the compromised Cleric inside, and threaten the Paladin King.

About the only way the Paladin has to call for help is likely the spell Sending, which is a 4th level Cleric/5th level Sor/Wiz spell, perhaps making it "higher level" magic than is commonly available in this campaign. Still, it's about the only way to contact someone at a distance, and chances are that someone in the capital would be able to do it. There is also Scrying and Crystal Ball as options, although a Crystal Ball with Telepathy is a premium item. And without Telepathy, all anyone at the other end will be able to detect is that someone is "dropping the eaves," so to speak.

Aside to the OP: Wouldn't it be something if the Paladin decided to keep the High Cleric back with him in case he needed a Sending, only to find out that the Cleric has been compromised... perhaps the spell is on a scroll, and the Paladin has to fight the Cleric to get the scroll, then engages in a mad dash through the castle, desperately trying to find some Cleric to try to cast it. Hopefully, he finds someone "familiar" with at least one party member. All of this while our heroic party is off "defending the kingdom," completely unaware of what is transpiring at "home." Perhaps your Shadow Caster, whose player hardly ever shows up, could also have been left behind and gets mixed up with trying to save the Paladin King long enough for help to arrive.
.

[veti]

How about this:

Duke Badguy's army is camped outside the city. Not threatening in any way, oh no, they're just... sitting around, quite peacefully - playing dominoes, what have you. The PCs are sent out to ask what the heck they think they're doing and would they mind moving on now please.

While they're out on that mission (which takes a full day or more, 'cuz they keep getting passed from officer to officer, and the end answer is "we were told to march thataway but we can't go any further right now because my feet are sore", or something equally convincing), the duke stages his coup. The PCs get back to the city to hear that the king has abdicated and the duke is now in charge.

There are signs that not everyone is happy with this. A couple of the PCs' most trusted friends have mysteriously disappeared and been replaced by people they've never seen before (who seem perfectly nice and competent in their own right, but if asked to explain how they came to be there, just say something like "Oh, the old guy was getting too set in his ways, everyone felt it was time for a new direction"). But more worryingly, nobody seems to know where the old guys are. But of course the high priest is still in place, so most people, if maybe a bit uneasy, think it must be OK really.

The palace guard has changed too - they're the duke's men now. Which is natural enough, but it does mean there's no point talking to them.

It should be fairly obvious by this point, but just in case it's not you could plant an NPC to spell it out, that the king was forced out and his closer cronies are locked up, or assassinated. The ex-king himself has retired to his country estate, where he'll live a while (watched by the duke's henchmen, obviously) before being quietly assassinated in a few months' time. Lots of other people can also expect to be quietly rubbed out over the coming weeks. But on the whole, the casualties will be way less than a civil war.

Enter the PCs. Now, they can:
accept the change and offer their services to the new king. (They may have some idea of pretending to do this and working against him behind his back, in which case see option (3).)
violently denounce the new regime and set out immediately to spring the political prisoners. (If your party is typical of my experience, this is the likeliest course, and the one that will lead to immediate civil war, whereupon the siege will begin.)
go off in search of the ex-king to get his account and enlist his help before attempting (2). This is a double-edged sword, because every day of delay means the new regime gets to consolidate its grip. After a day or two, they should hear of suspicious murders, villages being burned etc. - enough to give them a sense of urgency.

... and that's what I call a moral dilemma.

[Marcelinari]

Keeping in line with OP's updated plot, I'd like to suggest two changes.

First, don't damage or destroy the inn. They've just spent 2 weeks fixing one of those up, and I know that I would begin to get miffed if I had to repair one again. However, I think you're right to target the inn, largely because they care for it. So instead of destroying it... billet the Duke's troops there. They're rowdy, they break stuff, and they don't pay a copper. It should make them furious.

The other suggestion is for the Cathedral duke-out (despite the Duke being out), in that as it now stands, you don't appear to be doing anything to hold the PCs at the Cathedral. If the King's in trouble, the PCs are liable to just teleport to his aid. In order to force a fight, or at least a dilemma, have civilians at risk in the Cathedral. If the PCs flee to save the King, the townspeople are slaughtered (by Witch-demons? probably), but if they stay, they just give the Duke more time to assault the King's castle. This gives them a reason to stay and fight in the Cathedral, but also a reason to regret doing so.

Also, I suggest you have the Grand Cleric stay non-partisan until the final moments. If the Duke's plan is to use GC's good PR to win over the masses, and to crown himself monarch, then he should be considered a valuable resource, not to be used recklessly against intrepid adventurers(/inn proprietors).

[dojango]

There's a ton of useful things your bad guys could do with that dominated Grand Cleric to advance their cause without burning the asset. Like the church hierarchy reports intel to him, that somehow ends up in the hands of the BBEG. Or low-level flunkies "accidentally" opened some postern gates, letting the Duke's army in. Plenty of opportunity to hint to the PCs that something's up with the church.

As far as moral dilemmas go, sieges are pretty terrible things, plenty of chances to throw curve balls at the party. Like, their inn just received a big shipment of food before the siege started. What do the PCs do, keep it for themselves, turn it over to the king, or sell it at massively inflated prices? What happens when the king's soldiers "politely" ask for it to be turned over for safekeeping? Or they see the king's men kicking non-combatants out of the citadel. Do they protest, try to intervene, try to help the citizens? And then there's the classic scenario where a fire has started, spreading in one direction towards the siege-weapon depository, and in another direction to the orphanarium. Which ones do the PCs try and save? Lots of options, most of which you can find more details about in reading about real-life sieges.