Henry Cargan has decided to create a zoo to entertain the people of Acryn, and maybe make a bit of money on the side. The zoo is all but set up; it’s just missing one important thing; some animals. Thus he has decided to hire an adventuring to journey to the wilderness outside of Acryn to find a collection of creatures with which to fill the zoo.

Henry has fortunately compiled a map with known locales of some of the animals he’s interested in, as a guide. In particular Henry is interested in capturing a “Great Bear”, rumoured to be found in the Blue Mountains to the south of Acryn.

Henry has also provided some sedatives to use on the animals to facilitate capturing the creatures. Each adventurer will be given 2 doses, which will need to be administered orally (mechanical effect: 10 seconds of medical roleplay on an unconscious animal and call a HEAL 0)

• Balthazar the Enchanter - Tom
• Vulcan Blacksteel - Zac
• Verro of the sleeping hills - Vicky
• 'Doctor' Theophilius Cargan - Seb
• Nice Lizard - Dave H
• Pig - Sally
• Sev (Unit 07) - Ellie H

After meeting with Henry, the party set out South towards the Blue Mountains, aided by Henry's map.The first few animals are relatively easy to overpower, and soon the party have quite a menagerie, having found Wolves, Clawfiends, Badgers, and a dog. The party soon realise that this task is much harder without a wayfinder, and as they leave the forest the badgers disappear.

As they head further into the mountains, the going gets tougher, with group of baby Tyrant Lizards almost killing the party. Around this time, a mysterious figure is spotted watching the group, but they are gone before the party can identify them. The party is finally able to capture one of the Tyrant lizards, and they continue onwards. Nice turns one of the dead lizards into a zombie, which follows the party.

Without a wayfinder, party blunder into a field of mushrooms, and are confronted by a snake. The mushrooms appear to emit some mind altering substance, and a number of the party begin seeing hallucinations. The snake is killed but not captured.

Eventually the party meet with a group of traders, who give warnings about the “Great” bear they seek. Some of the stories are clearly exaggerated (with tales of fire-breathing and flying) but the message is clear; stay away. The meal is interupted by Theophilius believing people are attacking, and instructing Pig to hit themselves. Once Theophilius has shaken off the hallucinations, the party continue onward, undeterred by the frightening tales.

They soon encounter a herd of sheep, being assaulted by a giant spider. The Spider is dispatched, and some of the sheep are rounded up, at least the ones not eaten by Nice Lizard.

As they reach the mouth of the cave, Pig is sent to scout to check the bear is to be found inside, while the rest of the party strap the remaining Sedatives to the zombie lizard, to be used as bait. The Great Bear, and cubs, come out of the cave, and start attacking the party, while some of the cubs nibble on the Zombie, knocking them out. Eventually the bear is brought down, and it and 5 of the Cubs are caged.

That night, the party meet up with the Traders, and find a wayfinder who offers to lead them back to Acryn, for a small fee. As everyone settles in for the night, a raucous is heard from the cages, and as various people go to investigate, they find the Bear has escapes, and broken the locks of several other cages, causing a stampede.

The party are able to recapture most of the animals, but Balthazar has led the bear away. The party, with the aid of the wayfinder, follow the trail of destruction towards Acryn. Outside the city, the group encounter some Bandits they had met on the way out, who were looking to take the animals the party still had to sell to Henry. A fight ensued, but eventually the party got away with all of their animals still with them.

When entering the city, the party quickly found the Bear and Balthazar, and Henry also met up with them, explaining that he had learned the original sedative was unlikely to be effective against the Great Bear, and had found something stronger. Various members of the party coated their weapons with the new sedative, and the bear was brought under control.

The bear and the other animals are moved into the Zoo, and Henry pays each adventurer 35 riel (5 each for the Baby Tyrant Lizard, Clawfiend, Dog, Sheep, impressive Wolf, and 10 Riel for the Bear and 5 cubs). There is a small argument over whether the cubs should be worth more, but Henry points to the initial advert which clearly stipulated that payment would be per species. Seemingly satisfied, the party go their separate ways.

Theophilius waits for the rest of the party to leave, before reporting how the adventure went. The only notable incident was the actions of Balthazar, although due to Balthazar's accusations towards Henry this was not particularly surprising.

With a slight vendetta against Henry, Balthazar visits Lena Terrec to talk about possibly sabotaging the zoo. Lena indicates she is interested but requests Balthazar find out a little more about the zoo defenses before staging an attack.

Verro approaches Penelope to inform her of the new Cargan in the city (Theophilius), and Penelope then takes this information to Walter Cargan. Upon hearing the good news, Walter suggests throwing a party for the newly returned family member, and sets about making plans.¹⁾

Pig requests permission from Theophilius to go on a playdate with Sev. Theophilius goes to Sev's house to check everything out, but mostly just sits around awkwardly making small talk.Upon returning, he gives permission for Pig to have Sev over (with a few instructions on how to behave), and the two of them have a great time (something something cogs and blood). Sev invites Pig over in return, and Theophilius reluctantly agrees. These playdates become a regular occurrence, alternating going between each house.

A while after the adventure, rumors spread that the Great Bear has disappeared from Henry's zoo. A quick visit to the attraction confirms the Bear is no longer on display there, although the cubs are. No explanation is given from Henry about this. Balthazar inquires if Lena was behind the disappearance, but she knows nothing about it.