The young king's brother has been killed, and the heirless king is likely next. With various nobles and officers likely to claim the throne once the nefarious deed is done, and the murderer of the king's brother still unknown, the only people the king can trust to investigate are the PCs, who arrived just this morning, after the killing.

Having escaped from a band of slavers, the PCs find themselves in a city in the middle of a blazing desert. Water is expensive and rationed, food is hardly more abundant, and the PCs have only the rags on their backs. No time for heroics; survival is the first priority.

The PCs are hired as couriers to a nearby primitive village of orcs, ostensibly to establish trade relations. The letter they deliver is trapped, and the leader of the orc tribe is killed in the explosion. The PCs have now been framed for murder, and the conspiracy must go a long way up.