As soon as I left the city gates, battle music started and I could see a broken cart burning in the middle of the road, ox struggling to escape. Goblins were attacking it, and the guards defending it. We rushed to their aid, and after a short slaughter... A gryphon swooped down out of nowhere, grabbed the ox, and flew off as I was trying to mount the beast. It just flew off with the damn cow, into the rising sun. When I turned back around... All the caravan guards were dead, and there was even a goblin taunting me still. So much for helping. I've seen that gryphon only once since then, again swooping down to haul off a cow, refusing to engage me.
After that, I recovered a tome for a fellow, "Sallomets Grimoir" or something. When I got back to Gran Soren, I decided to save and find out what it does before handing it over. Figured I could just revert to the save afterward. Turns out, its a scroll of meteor shower, and I used it in the poorer district of the city, killing several people and landing myself in jail. Also, the grimoir was used up.
So then I found out that the game autosaved after sending me to jail, so I can't revert... I am now a murderer, and the damn quest won't go to a failed state or even acknowledge the tome doesn't exist anymore. The dude is still waiting for me to hand it over.
Dragons' Dogma: Dark Arisen