The siege seemed to early to me to put the party in direct, armed opposition to the city council. I had them go straight from DSL to ToTSE and then come back to find that time on Occipitus flowed at a different rate than on the Prime Material Plane, giving the party time to intercede and quell the attack since Sir Alec was dead.
I have the Siege ongoinget concurrent with Secrets of the Soul Pillar and Lord of Oblivion.
The party was gone for so long that when they returned, the Mayor was gone, the Guard and the horcs were emptied to go siege. Cauldron wasfilled with refugees so the city had a more chaotic feel to it. Made the assassin attack and the Zarik Door fight more reasonable. Lord Vhalantru is holed up. Churches are focusing on refugee help. Sorta Syria esquire.
My intent is to keep the city this way, until it's ravaged by the volcano. Making it all a bit more Sandboxy and changing the landscape based on the party decisions.
If the party does intervene in the Siege, then at some
point the war ends and it changes to a post war military lockdown by the returning guard. Just a thought. I don't think my party cares about Redgorge so they are likely to.let it burn.
I run Skellerang like Javert, very much "I am the LAW!" He isn't evil, but he has been manipulated by Lord Vhalantru. So far, every group thinks he's evil, and has lined up Sargeant Krewis as an ally, so they never attempt to inform/convert Skellerang.
With that dynamic going, the Blue Duke always slays Skellerang. The Blue Duke is legitimately mystified as to why all of the humans don't fall in line under his leadership because, from Blue Duke's POV, he has properly usurped authority in true orc fashion.
Sargeant Krewis approaches at that point, saying, "Okay, you've beaten him your way, now you have to beat him our way." And they have a fight. There's so much going on during the siege that I treat this as a cut scene, describing the action and how Krewis wins.
The PC's can, at this point, completely throw the orcs under the bus if they want to. Redgorge being a small town has relied upon the larger small city of Cauldron for defense over the years. The players can make CHA checks to persuade all the humans to attack the orcs or whip up the Cauldronites into a frenzy to smash Redgorge.
Three times I've done it, the PCs always turn on the orcs, they scatter and the siege falls apart. Lord-Captain Commander Krewis returns to Cauldron, leaving Redgorge alone.