Erthainya

You choose the smaller country on the grounds that there will be plenty of opportunity for gold and girls there anyway, plus it's likely to be more pleasant. Venderbrast is probably in more need of help from a questing knight such as yourself but, despite your reputation, you've never been all that virtuous. Erthainya it is!

You arrive at the capital a little under a week later, tired from the journey but none the worse for wear. You immediately go to a good quality inn and rent a room, get a nice meal, and sleep in a warm bed. When you come downstairs the next morning though, it seems that news of your arrival has spread and your reputation has preceeded you.

"Sir John?" says a small man in a servant's uniform as you reach the bottom of the stairs. "I have a message for you, from my mistress, the Countess Lyria. The Countess was wondering if you would do her the honour of breakfasting with her this morning, as she has a matter of great importance to speak about with you."

Already, some rich noblewoman was seeking your skills for some quest! Venderbrast would have been quite unnecessary... "Lead the way," you say, for there's nobody that puts out such a good meal for breakfast as the nobility.

The servant leads you to a manor house not too far away and leads you inside. Opening a door that leads on to a lavishly decorated sitting room, he declares "Sir John, Knight of the Mighty Thrust," and retreats as you step inside, smiling at the epithet you had given yourself.

Countess Lyria is lain across a couch opposite you. She;s a very beautiful woman of about thirty, with lusciously thick brown hair and dark eyes. She wears a tight fitting dress in scarlet red which shows an impressive amount of cleavage, and smiles at you with lips you just know would be perfect for sucking cock.

"Sir John, you honour me with your presence," she purrs, sitting up and appraising you with her eyes. "I have something to talk with you about; but shall we eat while we talk?"

"By all means."

She has the servant bring in the food, and she speaks as you help yourself to various delicacies. "There is a ruin in a forest not far from this city," she says, "no more than a day or two's travel to the east. This ruin is a remnat of the classical age, when the Perinans ruled this land. An enchanter of great power lives there, and he is in possession of a jewel, known as the Irsir Stone."

"Let me guess," you say. "You want me to get the Stone for you."

"It was stolen from my family a century or more ago by another enchanter, who passed it on to his son, whom he also trained in the arts. It rightfully belongs to me, and I want it back. I put out a bounty for it, but nobody thus far has succeeded- the forest is in Elfin lands, and the elves are not kind to humans, and even then you must overcome the monsters in the ruins and then the enchanter himself. I can think of nobody more able than yourself, and I fear that if I employ anybody else they too will fail."

You lean back with a satisfied smile. "And what do I get for doing this for you?"

"You will be payed handsomely. I may also, if I am feeling particularly grateful, see if the less reputable half of your reputation is justified," she says, her eyes flickering towards your crotch.

The deal is too tempting; you haggle a little over the price she will pay you and then set out immediately for this ruin.