Kuiper

The vendors are here early, as usual, shouting good-natured greetings (or barely-contained insults) to one another across the wide cobbled walk-way. A few customers are already hovering around the stalls, angling for their chance to get a bargain on whatever tools, trinkets, and treasures might be on offer today. The smells of coffee, corn dogs, Zok Drink, and Sludgie™ sauce waft through the air, blending together in a dubiously tantalizing aroma.   The Crating Bazaar is about to open for business.   Then, we hear it: that distinctive rattle-clatter-clatter-clop-clomp of the old wooden cart being pulled across the cobbles, and those unique... hooves? claws? toenails? scraping on the stones.   Is it him?
Is he coming today?
He is!
It’s him!
  The dusty cart pulls into an empty space, and the little old man in the tattered canvas trench coat begins to set up his wares. People turn away from whatever tables they’ve been eyeing—that stuff can wait. Morbinary is here. And, of course, there’s good old Kuiper, snorting appreciatively as someone brings a pail of water and sets it down in front of the beast, hoping to curry early favor with his driver.   The children rush forward to pet Kuiper’s rough, greenish-brown hide and stare into the gentle swirling blackness of his bottomless eyes. If they’re lucky, they might be allowed to climb up on his back...if they have a handful of sugar lumps or a big, juicy bug to trade for the privilege.   Kuiper, Morbinary’s ever-present companion, is a Requueptile from some unknown dimension—perhaps even a previous iteration of the Perpetuarium itself. No doubt Morbinary himself knows where requueptiles come from, but when questioned, he always seems to change the subject or claims that his hearing aid is on the fritz, and then changes the subject. (If Morbinary wears a hearing aid, he hides it well beneath the wide, low brim of his hat.) Regardless, dimensional zoologists are reasonably sure that Kuiper is the only such creature to have ever been seen in the Gri’x or the known surrounding planes.   [IMAGE]   Morbinary might allow the zoologists to take a closer look at Kuiper some day, if they ever have something of appropriate value to trade for the opportunity, but so far they haven’t been able to come up with anything acceptable.   The ragged old peddler and his faithful beast have been everywhere (literally, some say) together. Morbinary shuttles his wares across the planes, and Kuiper pulls the cart as they travel the Line One conduits on the trading circuit from bazaars to swap meets to roadside pop-up markets all throughout Crating. Sometimes they seem to be at every event; sometimes they don’t show up anywhere for months at a time—but when they return, you can be sure that Morbinary’s got something you’ve never seen before...and yes, now that you know it exists, you need it.   And even if he doesn’t have something for you this time, you’re always welcome to stare into good old Kuiper’s eyes. You might find something priceless in there, well worth a handful of sugar.   Kuiper pulls the cart with two strong, simple ropes affixed to a leather harness, which Morbinary removes whenever they’re not going anywhere for a while. He requires no bridle or restraints.   He wears a wide leather collar with a single Coin as its pendant which has prompted much speculation:  

Is it the token of a significant debt owed to Morbinary, which he may be saving for a very special occasion?

Is it Morbinary’s own Coin?

Is it Morbinary’s last Coin?

In any case, don’t ask Morbinary about the Coin, or you won’t get the discount. And don’t try to grab it for a closer look, either—Kuiper has never attacked anyone, but he does have some pretty sharp teeth in that mouth.