The Bladder Squirrel: FrontierSpace Star Probe Episode 1, Season 2

The Bladder Squirrel a new creature for FrontierSpace.

Somewhere else out in space two beings wander through the woods documenting life, one nearly hairless except for the hair on it's head and the other covered in fur both outfitted for a day of hiking and filming...

Talon and Stella noticed a large number of small creatures drifting between branches above then. The bushy tails oddly made them look like floating squirrels but with shinny bodies except for their tails and mohawk manes on them. Talon and Stella decided they were no threat and continued walking through the alien jungle. Suddenly without warning or provocation rocks were dropping from above. Stella and Talon tried dodging the barrage in vain, Stella took a direct hit collapsing. Talon managed to get his blaster out and began firing at the floating tree vermin...

The Bladder Squirrel

BP 6
STR 1
AGL 40
PER 60
INIT  1
MOV Floating 4, Jetting 10
Behavior Basic Herbivore

Bite 45% 1/2D
Puff Spines 75% 1D
Ballast Drop 20% 1/2D per rock or branch see below
Death Splatter 2D, 5 meter radius (AGL check for 1/2 damage)

This fascinating 15 centimeters long creature has a squirrel like face but with a prominent sagittal crest. It has a mouth of strong teeth designed for consuming vegetation. It has beady round glassy black eyes. These creatures have what appears to be a stiff upright mane which is made up of many actually very thin fine spines. Females have large such crests while males have short crests. The rest of its fat body is covered in fine almost fish like scales making it look deceptively unarmed. The Bladder Squirrel however can puff its self up causing spines to expand all over its body that normally appear as dots on their bodies this makes for a formable defensive weapon if captured in the mouth or paws of a predator this does 1D damage, while the body becomes very round making it hard for predators to put their mouths around. The tail of the Bladder Squirrel is covered in many fine spines similar to the ones on the head giving it a bushy hair look. The tail is also prehensile and they can hang from it if they choose or use it to carry items or latch around things. The Bladder Squirrel has an unique metabolism that produces hydrogen that it stores in a bladder allowing it to float or fly without wings. The back of the creature has three natural vents from which excess hydrogen can be vented. The creature has six grasping legs that it uses, often using two pairs to grip rocks or branches as ballast. Each limb ends in a three clawed foot. Specimens have been observed to use the excess gas vented for limited jet propulsion. They will drop ballast to rise or vent gas to drop or jet between tree. They often appear to be slow moving herbivores amongst the forest or jungle canopies they inhabit, however once threatened they will suddenly propel themselves at surprising speeds (when floating or climbing about in the trees this creature only moves 4 meters per turn but when emergency jetting it can move up to 10 meters per turn). Bladder Squirrel infested forests can pose a safety risk if the Bladder Squirrel drops ballast from above (1/2D damage per rock that hits a target). Some xenozoologists claim Bladder Squirrel colonies have been observed to bomb threats in what appears to be cooperative efforts to protect their nests. A nest usually contains 1D young animals, a small colony will have 2D adult animals, a medium sized colony 4D adult animals and a large colony 6D adult animals. If the Bladder Squirrel is threatened they will drop 1 to 4 ballast rocks at the threat and rise higher to put distance between themselves and beings below them. (To determine how many ballast rocks are being dropped multiply colony size by 1 to 4 determined by rolling 1D, 1-3=1, 3-6=2, 7-9=3, 10=4, example 12 animals x 3 = 36 rocks and branches.) The females give live birth to 1D pups. Shooting Bladder Squirrels causes them to explode like a grenade sending flaming Bladder Squirrel spine shrapnel in all directions doing 2D damage in the blast radius of 5 meters. Shooting a single Bladder Squirrel floating amongst a group of Bladder Squirrels can set off a very deadly chain reaction of exploding Bladder Squirrels. 

Special Note:

Spines can be nothing but spines or poisonous, radioactive, acidic, infectious bacteria, viruses or fungus, or posses other effects depending on the species of Bladder Squirrel. In addition depending on the species parts of it or all of it may be toxic to PC races. They may also be edible when properly prepared or not toxic at all depending on the species.

Creation and Play History Notes:

I was inspired from the Ghostbusters Cartoon 'Brat' to create an even more alien creature. I originally developed this creature for play in my Star Frontiers game where it was called the Bladder Rat but I now presenting it in its updated form for play in FrontierSpace. Special thanks to Tom Verreault for his suggestions during the original creation process of the Bladder Rat. This critter has been updated to better reflect how I want it to be in FrontierSpace, which means some major changes to stats and a name change.

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