The Dark Canuck

I had the same issue here. Impulse worked, firewalls setup to allow it, etc. Uninstalling and re-installing fixed it for me.

Ok, a two-parter here. First, I got the Damsel in Distress quest. Set off with my sovereign to the bandit camp, attacked... and lost. Sovereign teleported out, so everything's ok. Kept playing, trained some troops to prevent my Sovereign from losing so often, got the kidnapped knight quest. Set my new army off against the bandit cave, fought won... and rescued both the knight and the damsel. So it looks like fulfilling one quest's conditions won both. Escorted my charg