I had the same problem, by the way, so I gave up on the Gunthar quests for a while. then one day someone said to me - should we ask a knight to unluck the spur so we can work on quests? and I had no idea what she was talking about.
It would be nice for newbies to know about this. But nothing bad happened, like when little Raelle was slaughtered in Sanction for trying to help some slaves. I dunno, live and learn.
(I didn't really explore VK very hard, though. For all I know, there's a sign on the door of the Spur that says "ask a knight for access to this area." Do the NPC patrols warn you in Neraka/Sanction? I know they do in Flotsam - always telling me to leave)
Neidar has two :P