The Gagged Quaklu

We did some in my Gnydrion setting this weekend in the area of the Lake of Vermilion Mists using the rules lite game Grok?! Most of the players had the game, but none of us had ever played it, so it was a good excuse to take it for a spin.

I quickly put together new Background and Asset tables, but it was a rush job, and something I'm probably revisit over time. Anyway, the players were:

Aaron as  Nortin Tauss, an arcane dabbler possessed of a vial of hwaopt intoxicant for some reason.
Andrea -  Yzma Vekna, teamster with poor hygiene and a blunderbuss.
Paul - Antor Hogus, skinny vagrant with a stun wand.

Yzma and Nortin arrived in Phaelorn Gap on the stage coach out of Flinterjay. (Yzma was driving, Nortin a passenger.) Antor was already in town, sleeping in the stables and doing odd jobs. They all intended to eventually make their way to the hippy spectacle of the Festival of the Hierodule in the vicinity of the Lake, but at the moment they were looking for lodging for the night.

Finding the hotel a bit pricey, Nortin, on recommendation of the local constabulary, sought a room at the more modestly priced (and appointed) boarding house of Milda Brept. While Nortin and Yzma discuss the hidden fees and riders associated with boarding with Matron Brept, Antor inquires if there is any work for him. Another stranger at the boarding house, one Kreik Gelmot, speaks up to offer him a minor commission.

In the boarding house's back yard, Gelmot explains that he has a quaklu (either a flightless bird with hands or a feathered theropod dinosaur with beak, depending on how you look at it, used as a riding animal) he wishes to part with. He wishes Antor to take the beast outside of town and make sure he doesn't return. Interestingly, the quaklu is muzzled, which isn't common. 

The three noted this as unusual and assumed something else was going on. Yzma examined the animal and found it to be sound to her experience eye for draught beasts. Nortin threatened to summon Shreev Molok. Fearing this potential income might be snatched from him, Antor quickly pulled up the stake and leaped upon the creatures back to ride away.

Gelmot was satisfied enough with this outcome and departed. Nortin and Yzma were still curious and followed on foot.

In the scrub outside of town, Antor removed the quaklu's gag. It was indeed one of those rare, atavistic specimens, capable of speech. It immediately began squawking that it had seen a murder!