<div class="floatright">(https://i.imgur.com/7983EzN.png)</div>When the demon offered a polite curtsy the King returned with a bow of his head with a warm smile. "<strong>I am most pleased to hear you have had a positive experience in my home and I will most certainly provide a map, as well as we have maps for the journey.</strong>" It was an unfortunate reality that much if not most of the territory the group would be traveling through was not mapped in any real way, or at all in fact. The very many dangers that suck up as one traveled farther from the kingdom proper had made such progress painfully slow.<br/><br/>The King next turned his attention to the Orcish one who had opted not to sit at a provided chair and instead stayed standing, or at least perched against a wall. King Aemon made no thought on it, he was very familiar with those who did not like to sit. As it could happen he could recall one rather amusing situation where a room did not have sufficient corners for all the rogues who preferred to position themselves in such a fashion. "<strong>You will of course he compensated very well for your efforts...</strong>" the King turned his attention momentarily to a boy standing at attention, with a brief nod the lad ran along only to return very shortly later. Now however he was followed by two guards were carried a neat wooden chest. They set it down on the head of the table and slipped it open, revealing the stacked golden bars inside. "<strong>We are a small Kingdom but we are rich. Each, enough to live out the rest of your lives in splendid comfort. I will offer you one quarter upfront if you desire any part of it to acquire anything you deem necessary for your adventure, at your preference it will be kept here safely. The rest will be rewarded upon completion of the quest, either to yourselves or a beneficiary of your choosing should the task be completed but you unfortunately do not return.</strong>" the King offered another nod of his head towards the boy and he started to slip by each person in turn, offering a standard if ironclad adventuring contract.<br/><br/>Next his attention was brought to a young woman asking about anything he wasn't saying. There was an uncomfortably shrug of his shoulders and a weariness on his face. "<strong>I am afraid a lack of information is one of the problems, the expedition went far beyond where we have mapped or explored. It is common you see, for treasure finders and explorers to venture beyond our area of influence, as it were. They come back with all manner of stories but very rarely anything along the lines of reliable topography. Allow me to show you what I mean.</strong>" with that the King took a step back before offering a nod to the guards. They closed the chest and stepped off to the side. Nice and quietly. A moment later King Aemon was before the back wall, or at least a wooden base perched on the wall. Sliding the wooden face aside he revealed the map (https://i.imgur.com/coBi04e.jpg).<br/><br/>"<strong>This is the entirety of my Kingdom. For those of you not familiar with this land, we are currently in the only true city. Beyond there are only a handful of townships and several villages. Should you accept my request you will travel the main road until you reach Blaviken, about two weeks by horse at a comfortable pace. Beyond that another week and you shall reach the Mountain Gate. We are shielded in this valley by the mountains but beyond them....there are no formal territories of my Kingdom. When crossing the mountain path there is the risk of dragon attack, beyond the mountains Orc and Goblin settlements are common. As a rule of thumb they are not friendly, occasionally you might find some temporary private expedition encampment, hopefully a good source of local information. We have had reports of giants, rat me. Not to mention countless claims of ghosts, fairies and all manner of unlikely things. I'm afraid many adventurers fail and exaggerate the cause so they are not always reliable.</strong>" With that the King offered them a moment to take it all in. It would be a very significant journey, would takes months at the very least. Potentially more, especially considering the very many problems they could encounter. Aemon laughed off the idea of ghosts and fairies but the truth of it was he simply could not say for a certain. Highly unlikely but stranger things existed in the world. "<strong>...and yes, noble Xandross of the Dragonborn. It is possible Arakesh himself still exists in some....abominable form.</strong>"