Ideas for events in a small holy town recently captured by Asmodeans.

[Aberzanzorax]

The scene:
It is a small vale, cut off from the rest of the world/help for 3 months of winter. Normally a very holy site, Asmodean cultists and their bugbear army have taken it over, seeking to slay everyone in the vale --especially any clerics/spellcasters and to prevent people from seeking help.

I'm looking for what events might occur over the three months of seclusion and slaughter. Feel free to put yourselves in the place of the DM, or in the place of a player of a good priest/churchgoer seeking to survive the winter.

(I didn't mention this at the start, but this is from the adventure path Way of the Wicked; the Asmodeans are the player characters.)

I'll be using this map for the town within the vale:
http://brennor.dyndns.org/~shurijo/pathfinder_society/maps/map_absalom_pathfinder_grand_lodge.png

 

[Gilladian]

Well, if I were a person trying to survive in a holy place that has been invaded by evil, the first thing I would try to do is save the holy relics. I would attempt to conceal them as far from the temple as possible, so they'd be unlikely to be found, and I would also not hide them in a home or living area so nobody would be killed if the invaders did find them...

I would then try to hide the most defenseless people of the region; the children, the elderly, the priests, and the women who would be vulnerable. If I thought the invasion was going to be short, I might initially try to get these people to hide in places like cellars and in the woods. As we realized that the whole winter would be passing before help came, I would probably try to relocate them to caves or other more permanent shelters.

Then I'd try to salvage food and other resources. The people in hiding will need warmth and protection, possibly healing, as well as food.

The very last thing I would do, if I were an able-bodied person, would be mislead, harass and possibly attack the invaders. This would have to be done very carefully, so as not to bring wrath down on people who were not involved in striking at them.

And, of course, most of all, I would be trying to find a way to shorten the period of isolation. Sending small groups of daring mountain-climbers or hunters to try to get out, or using magic to alert anyone possible; even do something like go into the caves of doom that have been forbidden to everyone for centuries because waking the evil that lies there would risk destroying the valley; if the valley is already being destroyed, maybe I can find and awaken something that will duke it out with them and we can hide while it happens and pick up the pieces afterwards!

 

[Gilladian]

double post

 

[fba827]

Random thoughts:

3 months in a small isolated town like that? easily every corner could have been turned over and so hiding spaces in town that still have people hiding in them? very slim chance of that, i would think, depending on how thorough they care to be.

asmodeous is more about tryanny and taking control, rather than slaughter, right? (or am i thinking of a non-cannon spin on asmodeous from how it's played in your game) -- if so, i would suspect it is less about slaughter (maybe a could people killed for effect to illicit fear and control) but then the others would be more or less treated like slaves/servants through fear/power.

the holy types would try and hide the relics and those might still be hidden (it's easier to hide things rather than people as things take up less space, can be in more awkward locations, and don't make noise or need to come out for food, etc)

you may have some random person who scaled a wall and escaped when the attack was first happening -- quite literally being a coward when everything was just starting. maybe he is hiding out and paralyzed with fear unable to go further cause of weather/snow but unable to go back for fear of the attackers or even what his people might think of him for having fled

maybe (if they are high level priests and such) they were able to erect some sort of consecration/sanctuary type spell or ritual that makes it painful/difficult/etc for asmodeons/evil to enter a certain area. if so something of importance (or someone of importance) might be hiding in such a location or else maybe it is something like a central church has such protections and thus is the only safe haven where the asmodeons try and get it (and keep others out of) but a few hold outs made it inside and have been hiding out in there (though this begs the question of what they will eventually do for food/water unless they have spells/magic to do just that).

maybe one of the priests is able to use communicative type magic to call for help and it will be spring before help will arrive ?