Piranha Squirrels, Deadly Derpy Creatures in the Trees

Monster Mondays

Welcome to Monster Mondays, the blog post where we look at a specific monster in detail (not necessarily on Monday). We will cover lore and mechanics so you can run monsters with slick verisimilitude!

Today we will be taking a look at piranha squirrels! Piranhas can be terrifying if your floating down the amazon river and squirrels can be derpy all of the time. Together they make a wonderful chimera with derpy-terror! Piranha squirrels are carnivorous flying squirrels that attack in swarms, and they are as fear-inducing as you might imagine.

Piranha Squirrel Anatomy

Flying squirrels have tufts of skin between their forelimb and hindlimbs that allow them to glide. They don’t actually have the ability to fly despite being “flying” squirrels. Piranha squirrels have the exact same type of skin. Unlike flying squirrels, piranha squirrels possess giant needle-like teeth similar to what you would find in the schools of carnivorous fish you find along the amazon, hence their name: piranha squirrel. To house these large teeth, piranha squirrels possess heads roughly equal in size to their bodies. Their long puffy tails are equal in length to their oddly proportioned faces.

Piranha Squirrel Physiology

The tufts of skin between their limbs allow them to glide and their giant mouths allow them to take giant chunks of flesh from their prey. Their mouths are mostly hollow allowing for them to balance, if unsteadily along the treetops they frequent. They glide well enough using their tails like the tail of a badminton birdy angling their heads forward. Once they rip a chunk of flesh they jump away gliding back to a tree for safety.

Piranha Squirrel Psychology

Piranha squirrels rely on swarming their prey in order to survive. If the swarm is sufficiently reduced in size they most likely won’t last long. For this reason piranha squirrels have strong interpersonal relationships and will often groom and maintain one another. Unlike other species of squirrel, piranha squirrels are carnivorous so they remain quite active even throughout winter. Through the winter months swarms grow more and more aggressive as food becomes increasingly scarce. 

Example Encounter

Maizy, a fawn, is looking for adventurers to help him. His good friend Kevein was lost in the wood. They were traveling from a party in the wood when a swarm of piranha squirrels descended upon them. To divide and hopefully confuse the swarm, Maizy and Kevein split up. Maizy was able to make it into town, but hasn’t seen Kevein in two days. Maizy wants the PCs to search the wood with him and recover Kevein, or whatever is left of him.

In To The Wood

The PCs find claw marks around the base of several trees, markings typical of piranha squirrels as they scrabble up so they can later descend on their prey. Following the claw marks and the inevitable squirrel scat, the PCs can track down the piranha squirrel swarm. After several navigation/nature checks, the party comes across a heavily wooded area and a pile of fresh bones.

Keveins Bones?

Maizy upon seeing the bones rushes forth falls prone on the pile and begins weeping. When the PCs approach the bones, piranha squirrels descend en masse. The squirrels quickly kill Maizy. The heavily wooded area makes it difficult terrain for the PCs giving the piranha squirrels advantage as the swoop, bite, and scurry back up to safety. Piranha squirrels have a special critical hit: whenever they score a crit, two more piranha squirrels join the fight. As the PCs begin to fight they should be quickly overwhelmed. If they can make it to the pile of bones they will find a red scarf and a golden locket worth 1d10 gold. The locket has a tiny painting of Maizy in it. Smart PCs will quickly grab these items and flee. When they do the piranha squirrels will chase them for 1d4 rounds before giving up.

The After Party

After the PCs escape the piranha squirrels (we assume they will not be able to slay the entire swarm) they will meet a group of various humanoids (mostly fawns with the occasional halfling, elf, and centaur). The group is dressed in fine clothes, each one has a gift (several have mortar and pestles). The group asks the PCs if they have seen a couple of fawns. The group was all partying with Maizy and Kevein. The party was to last several weeks, but they decided to stop and begin a search once they discovered Kevein and Maizy were missing. The PCs can share what happened or leave the group ignorant.

Wrapping It Up

Piranha squirrels are most terrifying in the fact that they can strike whenever. Any trip across land can become a deadly encounter. They turn fury and cute into furry and kills. I hope you will find a space for them in your game. If you would like to support me, you can purchase my tabletop roleplaying game: Along the Leyline.