Lynara, a novice elven sorceress in need of some money to continue her studies

You are Lynara, called Lyn by your friends. You are a silver-haired elf, quite young (by the standards of your race, anyway), living alone and studying the arcane arts. Alas, recently you have encountered a roadblock that has put your studies on hold: There's no one to teach you more. The majority of people that could teach you are on the front lines, and the rest can be divided in three groups: People that can't teach you anything because they know less than you do, people that are far too advanced and would never bother teaching a novice like you, and people that could and would teach you, if you could afford to pay their prices. Unfortunately, while you do have some money, you simply cannot afford the prices all the potential teachers ask for.

You realize that, compared to what many other people face, your issue is just an annoyance, but it is YOUR annoyance, and you intend to deal with it. The fastest way to get the money you need would be prostitution – only a small number of elves live in the city, so a pretty young elf offering sex will surely be very popular – especially a virgin like you. However, you like being a virgin and you don't like the idea of selling your body for money, so you have decided that prostitution will be your last resort, to be used if all else fails. Fortunately there's another option available to you.

The city where you live is home to the Arena of Illusions. For the most part you have ignored it in favor of your studies, but you know enough about it to be certain that you can earn more than enough money there – in theory even faster than if you were to sell your body for money. In practice it likely will take you a while to earn enough, but you are an elf – you can afford to wait a bit.

You have hardly any actual combat experience, but you hope to make up for that with your knowledge – both arcane and mundane. Plus the Arena seems like a great place to test your skills.

You take a day to prepare – mostly mentally, as you are quite ready physically. Then early the next morning you go to the Arena to register. There are no issues and after just 10 minutes you are the latest competitor, walking down a dimly lit corridor towards an wooden door. Behind that door is your first challenge - whatever that might be.

In your right hand is your main weapon - a Runestaff that boosts the power of your spells. It is nothing special, but it is of elven craftsmanship, so it should be a bit more durable than most staves. Sheathed on your belt is a silver dagger, enchanted for better accuracy. You hope you won't have to rely on it, but it never hurts to have a second weapon, just in case. You are wearing a regular green dress, of elven craftsmanship, like your staff. It too is nothing special, but shows quite a bit of your cleavage.

You are carrying a couple of potions: one healing and one mana potion. You considered bringing more than that, but then you remembered the stories of people losing some – or even all – of their inventory and equipment due to various reasons, most commonly traps. It would be a waste of money to bring a lot of extra potions only to then lose them to a trap you failed to spot.

Finally you reach the wooden door. Without any hesitation you open it and enter...