An hour passed as they all carefully examined the area. The complete lack of movement left everyone on edge... Except for Oliver, as he was quickly developing a theory: either everyone that lived in the village had packed up and moved, which would imply there was some cause for the mass migration...

Or everyone had died.

He couldn't come up with any other reasonable explanation for three buildings being left in such a state of collapse. Surely someone would have at least cleaned them up, if not repaired them. Right?

Worse yet, there were no indications as to which scenario had taken place... Though the lack of life signs in any other location was a troubling sign of its own. If the people here had moved on, where did they go?

“Good news and bad news, friend Silk.” Vadrin spoke up suddenly. “The good news is that we have found a suitable landing sight. The bad news... We still have not found any life signs that indicate that there are inhabitants. Unless they are exceptionally small creatures... Or perhaps they have found some manner of masking their presence?”

“We are not sure...”

Oliver shrugged indifferently. “That's fine, Vadrin. I'll figure it out once we get down there. Just make sure everyone stays focused while I'm out scouting.”

----------------------------------------

The ship settled slowly on the stretch of stable ground that Vadrin had found, and the exit ramp lowered. Helmet firmly in place, Oliver led the security people down for their first look.

“Ok. You three stay here and keep an eye out for trouble. Aside from the regular check-ins, I want everyone to stay off the radio unless there is an emergency.” Oliver said, eyes steadily scanning the mushroom filled marshland ahead of him in the direction of the village. A small smile tugged at his lips. “I'm just gonna take a little stroll around the swamp.”

Despite his casual comment, Oliver moved forward carefully. Once he was far enough in among the towering fungi that he could barely see the shuttle, he paused next to one of the mushrooms. Pulling a knife from his warehouse, he carefully carved a large arrow pointing back the way he came into the broad stalk- big enough that it he would be able to spot it from a distance. Especially since the flesh of the mushroom was a pale white beneath its muddy exterior.

He damn sure didn't want to get lost on an alien planet.

With his simple trail marker in place, he turned and started to circle their landing site. Keeping the shuttle just in sight as he moved clockwise around, he wanted to be sure there wasn't anything dangerous or threatening nearby.

While he had no desire to get into any sort of confrontation, he knew that he was much better prepared for that than the others were.

Slowly he spiraled out away from the shuttle, leaving more markers behind him as he investigated a larger area, his tension grew and he encounter... Nothing. Mushrooms, grass, even strange looking flowers and a few odd growths that he couldn't identify... Even some insects, though he had to search a bit to find them hidden among the brush or under rocks... But no animals.

At least not at first...

Oliver paused near another mushroom stalk, prepared to leave another marker... When he noticed small indentations trailing down it. Squatting down, he ran his eyes, then his hands, over the marks as he pondered what they were. The marks were smaller than his little finger and, leaning in close, he saw the edges were actually torn.

“Not indentations... Punctures...” He muttered to himself as it clicked.

Standing slowly, he turned his head up toward the mushroom cap looming high above... And saw...

A squirrel?

A bright green squirrel?

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With scales instead of fur...

And six legs...

The creature scurried down the stalk to investigate the stranger in its domain, cautious, but with no real fear... And Oliver got a closer look at it in return.

His first impression had been a bit off, he noticed. While the scales on the squirrel's back were more of a blue-green, the skin on its underbelly was actually a light purple color – lavender, he thought. The nose, and inside the ears, were pink... And its eyes were pools of inky blackness that stood out from its otherwise colorful body. It was only about six inches long, not counting the tail- though the tail was longer than the rest of its body. And, he noticed as it got closer, the tail had a bit of downy pink fur running down its length.

“You're kinda cute, aren't you little -FUCKER!” Oliver screeched in alarm as, with a hiss, the squirrel lunged at him... And he noticed the sharp, pink claws on each of its toes.

Even as he flinched back from the sudden attack, his hand shot up and snatched the squirrel out of the air... Only for him to curse at it began to viciously scratch and bite at his arm. Without think, Oliver tossed it into the system warehouse, feeling only a moment's resistance before the squirrel disappeared.

He nearly jumped again when Vadrin spoke over the radio.

“Friend Silk, the small life signs we detected earlier... Near your position-” Oliver grimaced, already having an idea of what he was about to hear. “-there appear to be a large number of them gathering. Is everything all right?”

Turning his gaze back up to the caps above, he saw more squirrels leaping from cap to cap and descending the stalks... All heading right towards him. A couple dozen of them, at least.

And none of them looked particularly friendly anymore.

Keying his radio, he spoke slowly. “I'll let you know after I deal with it, but I should be fine.”

Oliver didn't think trying to scrap it out with a couple dozen angry squirrels was a good idea... But he had an idea, and wanted to test it before he beat a strategic retreat- which is certainly how he would phrase it, as 'running the hell away from a bunch of squirrels' just sounded like a bad joke... Even if it was the smart move.

As the first of the squirrels came within range, he cast the only spell he currently possessed and waited to see the effect.

And he was not disappointed.

Blood Aura: An aura of blood surrounds the caster, draining health from all living creatures hostile to the caster within fifteen feet to heal the caster. Minor damage. Minor healing. Mana cost – 10/second while active. Note – Blood aura is invisible to those unable to perceive mana flows. May still be detected by individuals sensitive to natural auras.

The scent of blood wafted off of his body as the surrounding air became tinged with the red aura... And, screeching in pain, the nearby squirrels all lost their grips and plummeted to the muddy ground. Several others, either ignoring what happened to their brethren or too stupid to even consider it, continue their charge. The moment they entered the aura, more screeches rang out as they too fell.

Scaled squirrels rained down around Oliver, one of them even bouncing off his shoulder, as the remaining group chattered angrily at him and each other before turning and retreating just as quickly as they had arrived.

Not wanting to waste mana, Oliver immediately cut off the spell. “That worked out better than I had hoped.”

Turning his eyes away from the fleeing group of squirrels- he chuckled softly as he remember that a group of squirrels was called a 'Scurry', and they certainly did scurry away- he looked down at all the fallen squirrels, his laughter cutting off. He felt a momentary pang at having to kill the adorable critters, but he wasn't willing to get clawed and bit by all of them in an attempt to spare the cute little things.

Though his smile returned when he saw that some of them were still moving, trying to weakly crawl away.

Moving carefully through the fallen squirrels, he checked each for signs of life. The ones he found that were still alive he quickly placed in the system warehouse- though he made sure to keep them separate from the first one he had caught.

That squirrel he had a plan for. The rest he could sell.

After a moments thought, he collect all but one of the dead as well and stored them, figuring that someone would be interested... Maybe that 'Mad Scientist' that was at the last auction? He would have to wait and see...

Picking up the last dead squirrel, he started back towards the shuttle even as he spoke over the radio again. “I'm good Vadrin, though warn everyone to keep their eyes open for brightly colored squirrels. The damn things are aggressive.”

“Friend Silk... What is a 'squirrel'.”

Oliver just shook his head, suppressing a laugh. “I'm bringing one back for you to check out. Don't worry, it's dead. So it should be safe... Well, safe as in it can't attack anyone. You'll have to figure out if it is actually safe... You know what I mean.”

“I do indeed, friend Silk. We shall prepare to receive the sample.”

Oliver silently nodded, expecting that sort of response from the tech... Though he couldn't help but wonder... While things hadn't been that bad so far, he was still sweeping the marsh area and hadn't reached the village yet.

What was waiting for him there?