Geese. The party is in a market. The NPC that wants to hire them has a macguffin, and he is talking about how they just need the 2 other macguffins to open the way into the labyrinth, at the center of which lies the vault.
Then a goose swoops in and steals the macguffin, and suddenly the market is overrun with a level appropriate encounters worth of Small birds. One steals a young man’s overdecorated hat. He’s better off without, but seems rather distraught. Another steals an older man’s wig. Another a parasol from a beautiful young woman buying fruit.
They gotta chase, fight, and/or corral the geese. Make the goose that steals the macguffin stand out somehow. They’re the biggest one, or their all black, or have blue tail feathers, or whatever.
Now, this can go two ways from here.
Mundane: the geese are just mundane if odd wild geese, the more you catch the more can be sold to the local butcher, leading to a small feast the next day in your honor.
Fantastical: each captured to killed goose explodes into a cloud of feathers, obscuring their space. On that goose’s initiative the next round, the feathers clear to reveal a historically laughing Quickling. A fairly low History or Arcana check identifies them as a local type of quickling that rewards those who are good humored about their tricks. If the party spares the quicklings, they are each rewarded with a golden apple with a silver acorn where the stem would be. The Apple is a healing potion mechanically, and the acorn is a single use Light spell that also drives away evil (turn undead?). The leader (the standout goose) is a slightly taller female quickling who recites a cryptic poem that proves useful later in the adventure.
The party is now the “Heroes or The Mercado” or something. Bonus XP and/or gold and/or new side quest opportunities for each person whose property they save from the geese. Level up to level 2.
