Janica approached the grand hall of the palace with measured steps. As she did so she could not help but become aware of the occasional male who more or less openly shot a few glances in her direction, not that she could fault them. She was only wearing regular plain traveling garb and a light leather armor in nondescript brown. Her swords currently lay in the guard house where the palace guard had asked her to leave them for the duration of her stay. There were traces of dirt and dust on her face and in her hair from the long trip behind her, but all this could not hide the fact that she was the almost perfect manifestation of every young males wet dream. Framed by her blond, almost golden, hair was an angelic face, and her clothes were fitting her tightly enough to give everyone a clear hint about her toned body, her long shapely legs, her small but firm behind and above all her exceptional bosom.<br/><br/>In her backpack was the tablet. It had come into her possession completely by coincidence. At the time she had been hired by a merchant as an escort through the unsave regions of the neighboring kingdom. The merchant had probably wanted more form her than just guard duty, but she had not felt in the mood, and after he had seen her fight during the bandit ambush he had respected her refusal to his advances. She was far more capable than her innocent exterior hinted at, her strength, speed and resiliency far beyond that of a mere human due to the demonic half of her ancestry, but she kept that a secret as good as she could.<br/><br/>Amongst the rabble in the bandit camp she had found the obsidian tablet. It definitely was old, and she could not decipher the runes that were etched into its otherwise smooth surface, but some instinct had told her that it might be valuable. And she was right, as the sage in Marbakh,  their destination city, could confirm. That tablet was one of the esteemed and ancient relics of the kingdom of Sorkanth, had been stolen a few months ago, and a sizable reward was offered for its return.<br/><br/>Sorkanth was not a big kingdom, mostly one large city with the same name, and a few villages around it, but that city had the fortune to be placed at the crossing of two important trade routes as well as at the Great River, which made it a very well off city. It had also gotten some notoriety for its rather loose morals and supposed debauchery. Not that Janica cared.<br/><br/>All she currently cared about was the reward for the tablet. She might stay a few more days and witness the supposed excesses first hand, but she had not made up her mind on that yet. Instead she stood still at the entrance of the hall as the guard had ordered her to do and watched him approach the king on his throne at the far end.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>