Didn't plan on getting here yet

[Jvelez1199]

Hey first time long time.

Tomorrow I have a mini session with two my players. Long story short, the palace my two players are from (they're brothers) is in complete war. They are currently dealing with Fire Giants and repercussions of an incursion.

How do I make this "not just another siege" as they had just gotten out of one earlier in previous sessions.

Honestly in my Homebrew setting/story I didn't think they'd be back home yet. Originally it was going to be completely leveled. But now, I feel like it needs to be mid chaos?

They are newly level 13 characters.

Thoughts?

[Unoriginal]

Hey first time long time.

Tomorrow I have a mini session with two my players. Long story short, the palace my two players are from (they're brothers) is in complete war. They are currently dealing with Fire Giants and repercussions of an incursion.

How do I make this "not just another siege" as they had just gotten out of one earlier in previous sessions.

Honestly in my Homebrew setting/story I didn't think they'd be back home yet. Originally it was going to be completely leveled. But now, I feel like it needs to be mid chaos?

They are newly level 13 characters.

Thoughts?

Rather than mid Chaos, I would go with complete Law.

Have the person in charge of besieging the palace be very friendly, very impressed with the PCs due to their past deeds, and very honorable. And so, they are both willing to talk things over with the PCs and to propose alternate means of conflict resolution. For example:

-Combat by champion to decide the outcome of the war. Maybe in three separate challenges, like armed combat - magic contest - unarmed wrestling. Or any odd number and any contest, from playing dice to a competition in blacksmithing.

-Having the PCs do a quest that grants the besiegers the equivalent of what they would win should they take the palace.

-Making an alliance and have the PCs (and/or the palace's forces) join them in their next venture.

-Offer the PCs to accomplish a great deed to help the besiegers' faction, which would grant them the status needed for the leader to justify calling off the attack (as you don't repay someone who helped you with an invasion).

[Greywander]

How do I make this "not just another siege" as they had just gotten out of one earlier in previous sessions.
Can you make it personal to the players? Are there locations or characters that they are familiar with that could be threatened or partially destroyed? Seeing a famous landmark toppled or your favorite tavern burned to the ground can make an impression on the players, depending on how invested they are.