Oh, one note: Mephitis is worshipped as a minor goddess in Rome already. If Visellia Mertia doesn't like the part where we move her temple, she CAN stay behind while Roman priests of the same deity staff the new temple, I imagine.
I think that godnapping and assault on Aeclanum do not go hand in hand. First, we'll need to spend a lot of time to dismantle the temple and it'll give defenders time to preapre. Second, we'll have to detach some of our forces to transporting duty.
My take is that for now we take the priestess and whatever items are of ritual significance with us for safekeeping, then lock the doors and bar the path. The full dismantling of the structure comes after the conquest, as part of the extension of Roman governance to the region.
For that matter, we could in principle just
leave the priestess here and take nothing related to the temple with us on the march to Aeclanum, then come back for that stuff later. Our decree that the temple be moved doesn't have to be carried out this minute. The worst that might happen is that the priestess might go into hiding or squirrel away some of the temple treasures. And all that happens
then is that said treasures will be lost to her when wemove the temple to Rome, or that her rebuilt 'order' becomes homeless.
Samnium delenda est, Furculae Caudina memini
This is the best chance we get to end the war quickly by imposing harsh Roman justice on the samnites. Show no mercy to everyone who resists. Make an example of these folks and the rest will fall in line from fear. Should the temple be destroyed, the priestess must also be taken as our personal slave. I believe she will not stop being a hostile agent to Rome even if we "kidnapped" her gods or showed mercy.
So first we laboriously raze the town, taking time to enslave and carry off all the inhabitants. And we do this before the assault on Aeclanum, because unlike the temple treasures, the inhabitants
won't be around if we come back for them later, not if they know the plan is death or slavery.
Then we go march off to battle. The Aeclanum garrison will have had ample time to prepare field fortifications around the town. A significant chunk of the garrison will be militia from the town we just destroyed, men who have lost everything to us and have no reason to do anything other than fight on suicidally. The rest of the garrison will know we are likely to destroy their town too and resist fiercely if we attack.
In addition to this, we take the last surviving priestess of a goddess of
poisons, after we killed all her friends and mentors and destroyed everything in her life. And then we force her to stay with us as our personal slave.
Gee, that sounds like it's going to end well.
Funny thing is options says green guys are more likely to listen us than first cohort. So first is more likely to go over board than greenies.
More likely to listen, less likely to have the kind of iron discipline you expect from crack troops. For some purposes that would cancel out. For other purposes it wouldn't. I think here, it'd cancel out.
That said, the messenger needs to be avenged.
We can always blame the (conveniently dead) leader for the death of the messenger.
______________________
As per my discussion with
@Telamon , I am posting this vote, since I won't otherwise get a chance to for about twelve hours more. NOTE: Other people who do a vote with X's will not be counted, Telamon says, not for another five hours! Moratorium is still in place!
[X] Plan Carmen Sandiego
- [X] Cohors Primus
- [X] Loot most of the town's wealth.
- [X] Attack
- [X] Write-In:
Swords For Plowshares. Leave the ruined town as it is, and set
most of the people free. Confiscate the plows and draft animals. Bring a few Tuticans with the cohort on the march to Aeclanum. Through them, inform the Tutican militia that we'll let them return home in peace and return their farming implements if they stand down and hand over their weapons. With the spring planting season coming up, it's a tempting choice.
- [X] Write-In:
Captured Gods. You show the priestess the mercy of Rome, sparing her order and her life- but on your terms. You order the men under your command to gather up the sacred artifacts and idols of the Grey Lady carefully, returning anything they have taken from the temple precincts. The goddess Mephitis will be honored- in Rome. Her temple will be taken apart and relocated. Visellia Mertia can take up the task of re-establishing her order with Scaevola,
as she will be compelled to make an extended stay in Rome to supervise its re-establishment.
EDIT:
Italicized portion of "Captured Gods" is an edit.
