Petting Zoos and Finding Clues

an adventure starring Stella Argentine, Wing/Nugget, and Skirmish Killington. Companion episode: Dudu The Pudu At The Zoo Zoo 
Setting: The Mount Hokkaido Zoo
Tweet Length Description: Stella, Wing, and Skirmish receive free tickets to the zoo atop beautiful Mt. Hokkaido! What starts as a pleasant day with animals becomes a series of mysteries as clues begin to unravel. Will our friends discover the source of their benefactor and find the truth?
Non Player Characters: 
* Sheggen Nibiru 
* Vylaran Achelous 
* Ralt Stonebreaker 
* Walter Tebow 
* Isla Yi 
* Ruby Safiosi 
* Ferris Horbiger 
* Malkonthent, Demon Lord of hedonists and prostitutes, Queen of succubi in the realm of Shendalavri, holder of the Razor Throne 
* Blitz Quispe 
* David Kahlon 
* Musa Slimani 
* Albrecht Popescu 
* Berholdt Popescu 
Parallel Episodes: Petting Zoos and Finding Clues & Dudu The Pudu At The Zoo Zoo
Plot Summary: Stella, Wing, and Skirmish receive free tickets to the Mount Hokkaido Zoo along with 50gp each. Upon their arrival, they are given a map and decided to first visit the Otterly fun Aquarium. 
The travel to the otter exhibit was rough as going from location to location incurs a penalty (DC 20 or their choice: lose 1 spell slot, 10 HP, or gain the first level of exhaustion). Once at the otter exhibit, a big crowd is seated to see the otters playing. On the ground was found a huge pile of receipts for various extravagant expenditures paid by someone named Ralt Stonebreaker.
All spectators were watching the otter show except for one, a stocky dwarf with red hair, amber eyes, and ruddy tan skin and was watching the crowd instead.  When approached by the group and asked what he was looking for, he claimed to be looking at the newly constructed Koala exhibit and lamented people were more interested in the otters over the Koalas.  After that, he started to leave quickly down the path.
Upon seeing the otters, Wing thought they were a source of food and went to climb into the tank to get one.  Skirmish agreed as he had never tasted otter before. However, once Wing and Nugget entered the tank, the otters turned on him and viciously bit at him all over his body. Upon seeing this, Skirmish (who does not know how to swim) advised Wing to get out of the water while throwing a spear at one of them in order to knock it out. As the crowd watched in horror as the events unfolded, Stella turned the food collecting debacle into a riveting performance capped by an impressively acrobatic leap from the water by Wing who landed in a 3 point stance. This pacified the crowd and actually garnered 30 gp total from the somewhat perplexed, but well entertained, visitors.
After this fortuitous turn of events, Wing tracked the Dwarf far down the path on all fours with his beak pressed to the ground to get the scent. As the dwarf’s trail went off the path, Stella tripped and fell onto some odd, glittery dust which was on the ground. Wing, while tracking inhaled some of the unusual dust. Upon further inspection, Stella determined that the dust was a mutagenic Ekenblim dust that was formerly shaped in a circle and formed a teleportation circle. Additionally, contact with the dust would cause transformation to undead upon the death of those who touched it. The group, with the help of an extra shirt Skirmish had as well as Stella’s mage hand reformed a slightly smaller circle. However, they were unable to reactivate the power of the circle.
Unsure what to do, Skirmish stepped out back to the path and asked if anybody knew how to use the teleportation circle made of glitter hidden behind the bush.  In response to this, a serious-looking gentlemen by the name of Walter Tebow showed up to help.  He was unaware of the presence of the teleportation circle, but he knew it to be a security breach.  Seeing as Walter looked official, the team then asked him about the receipts. After perusing the receipts , he knew it to be serious and would return the receipts to the administration building.  The group decided to follow him as Wing was not entirely sure about this man’s intentions.
Stella and Wing fail DC check as the traverse the Zoo.  Since Skirmish is mountain born he is unaffected by the high altitude issues and traversing from place to place. He also is able to carry Wing and Stella around so after that he carries them so that they are unaffected by the difficulties of traversing the zoo.
As they walked down the path and neared the administration building, a loud banging was heard by Skirmish just off the path.  As they all investigate, they meet a lady hammering a nail into a board. Her name is Isla Yi and it is revealed she was a competing contractor with Walter Tebow’s firm. She can’t help but fix the shoddy craftsmanship done by Walter and feels the need to repair it. As Walter approaches Isla, she gets obviously concerned and tries to edge her way out.  Skirmish asks if she can show them around the zoo since he had never been before. She enthusiastically accepts and starts walking to the Pudu and Giraffe exhibits. On the way the discuss some of the things the FBK have uncovered and she gets more and more cautious as she does not want to be involved in anything seedy or unusual.  Wing falls asleep on Skirmish’s back as they walk and he is place gently among the pudus which eventually gently awaken him. As Isla begins to leave, she is convinces to stay by saying she can take one of the magically appearing coins from above Wing’s head and use it to buy food for the pudus. Stella and Skirmish buy food also and start feeding the animals. While those two feed the pudus, Wing walks over and just misses noticing the first steps on baby Nesgrax, Jr. while Malkonthent cheers him on.
After feeding pudus, Skirmish goes to look at the giraffe enclosure and notices how sad it looks.  Determined to comfort the giraffe, Skirmish climbs over the paddock wall and walk toward it.  The giraffe becomes incensed and charges Skirmish, trampling Skirmish. Seeing her friend in trouble, Stella casts the suggestion spell and convinces the giraffe that Skirmish is friendly and not to hurt him. Skirmish hugs the giraffe in order to comfort him. Wing then casts Speak with Animals and talks to the giraffe, learning its name is Musa as well as the occasional sightings of the red haired dwarf. Knowing they need to proceed, Skirmish promises to revisit Musa.
Skirmish carried Wing and Stella while stella holds Nugget as they travel to the parrot and owl exhibit. Upon their arrival, they hear a yell. Upon closer inspection, the yell originated from one of the parrots.  Wing decided to mimic the part and the engage in an escalating yelling contest (which Wing eventually wins). Stella checks under a nearby tree and discovers 240 feathers and some papers slightly covered in bird droppings. Wing uses his Speak with Animals skill and asks the various birds questions about the dwarf and learn about some mysterious elements surrounding the koalas.
The group travels back to the otter and koala joint exhibit where Wing notices a Koala having a conversation with a Tabby cat. Upon the end of their exchange, the cat bows low and refers to the koala as “my lord”. Wing talks to the Koala until his sell runs out and finds that the one Koala being served by the rest is actually a genius koala, David Kahlon, and was the mysterious benefactor who sent the tickets, the gold, and placed all the incriminating evidence around the zoo with the express purpose to shut the zoo down.  He wants to have him and his servants released back into the wild and will expose the crimes of the CEO, Ralt Stonebreaker to do it. As Wing relays all the information to Stella and Skirmish, the come up with a plan to get the koalas freed but fear for the other animals if the zoo is shut down as they were all born in captivity.
They make their way back to the administration building and confront Ralt. On the plaque outside the building, it reads, “Mount Hokkaido Zoo is proudly accredited by the Guaso Zoo Association, sending stone number 555-5555.” Since we had no sending stone, we were unable to contact the GZA and expose Ralt. Stella uses suggestion again and convinces him to let the Koalas go. It is mentioned that the corruption at the zoo was real and it continues even now…
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Category:Episodes