The Strange Bestiary
This monstrosity is an unseemly mixture of serpent, leopard, goat, and lion. The beast's massive body stretches some 20 feet (6 m) long and weighs nearly 1,000 pounds (454 kg). It has the body of a lion with a leopard's spots. Its legs end in split hooves, and emerging from its body's trunk is the neck and head of a great serpent with dripping fangs and flicking tongue. The Round Table Knights committed themselves to finding this creature, but those who did found only their deaths.
Legend tells that the Questing Beast is, in fact, the offspring of Arthur and his half sister, an act of incest not realized until after the deed was done. From her loins sprang this monstrosity, a living symbol of the divine curse leveled against them for their wickedness. The beast wanders the lands of Avalon (and similar Arthurian recursions), spreading discord and death.
Motive: Destruction and corruption
Environment (Magic): A questing beast seeks out the most desolate and barren places to nest. It rarely stays in one place for long, as its hatred compels it to roam the lands and visit horror to all it encounters. A questing beast may also pass into other recursions and is never weakened from extended forays into such places.
Health: 24
Damage Inflicted: Major wound (8 points)
Movement: Short
Modifications: Stealth actions as level 4; Speed defense as level 6 due to size.
Combat: Muted, muffled yapping and braying sounds from the beast's swaying gullet, an unwholesome noise that makes it almost impossible for the monster to get the drop on its prey. The beast pursues its victims with single-minded intensity, bounding through the underbrush and flailing about like a thrashing monstrosity born from nightmare.
When the beast closes, its snake head darts forward with lightning quickness to sink its fangs into whatever it can reach, injecting powerful venom. A living creature exposed to the venom must make a successful Might defense roll or take 6 additional points of Speed damage (that ignores most Armor) from the poison.
Interaction: A questing beast is more intelligent and crafty than a wild animal, but rarely shows it.
Use: A noble knight hunts a questing beast, and the characters might join an expedition to track down and kill the monster. Invariably, efforts to find it fail (possibly because the beast is secretly quickened), but they usually lead to other, greater adventures.
GM Intrusion: The noise from the beast's yapping echoes all around, making it hard to determine which direction the creature is coming from. When it finally appears, one character loses his action to surprise.