“I can't very well stand by and let this man continue on as he is doing now, can I?” The tall man in the fancy red cloak paced back and forth in front of the small group of adventurers, rubbing his temples with one hand and letting the other swing freely by his side, “He's raising an army to conquer my hold, and I'm supposed to just sit idly by and let it happen? No, no,” The man wore velvet boots that matched his cloak, and they made a soft sound as he moved back and forth across the thin carpet, “And a slave army, to boot! How would my men feel about going into battle to fight slaves? I just cannot abide by this situation,” The man stopped abruptly, whirling to face the quartet. He stood atop a small flight of stairs, so that he as higher than any other person in the room. The way he had stopped, he was framed perfectly by the tall, gold-enameled throne on the pedestal behind him. His long, oiled, black hair shone fiercely in the bright light from the hearth in the center of the room,
“So that's why I need you four. I can't very well march on this upstart. I'm too short on troops, and it would leave my northern borders unguarded. But I've heard tell that the four of you are some of the most fearsome warriors for hire that a body can find on the big isle. Surely you could infiltrate my enemy's hold and put a stop to his plottings. I am sure it would be a trivial task, and I am willing to pay very generously. What say you?” His lips were pulled tight into a thin line that might have been a smile if not for weariness...
Spoiler
The man is Lord Edding. In the grand scheme of things, he is a relatively minor noble, but he holds a tract of land which controls a choke point through the mountains on the big island, to the eastern side. Recently, another minor Lord (Lord Jacob), with holdings near the Savageland, has decided to expand his reign. He took a large swath of plainsland mostly uncontested, for the men who lived there were unorganized and had no ruler. However, he wants to move further North, into the more populated regions of the island, and he sees Lord Edding's holdings are the perfect entry point. Lord Jacob has been gathering what are in effect slaves from the surrounding area, and planning to mount an assault on Lord Edding. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to enter Lord Jacob's holdings, and to take down his scheme from within. The specifics are left up to you to figure out. Oh, and one more thing: you're to be hired as a group; it's all of you or none of you, so figure it out amongst yourselves.