<div class="floatright">(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8073552/pirotess%20bath.jpg)</div><br/>The swamps were a vile, fetid place - Perpetually blighted, marsh-light flickering across the bog, the thick swamp-grass underfoot the only sign of solidity amid the thick sucking mire; It was a warped place, a place where the corruption of the last War had taken root. Few would venture this far into the Noss Fens; Strange creatures and stranger ruins lurked within the swamp, and it'd stayed virtually uncharted for<em>centuries</em>- After all, it simply wasn't *worth* the long, risky journey in...And the even more dangerous journey<em>out</em>.<br/><br/>Only the driven, the desperate, or the insane would risk the perils of the swamp...But as they say, it only takes one.<br/><br/>------------------------<br/><br/>"Haaaaaaa~" A long, shivery sigh purred from Nemissa Alicaviss's full lips, silver hair cascading down the sleek curve of her back as she lowered herself into the pool. Deep green eyes half-closed, her translucent robe clinging to her full curves...Her back arching, as she reveled in the simple bliss of being *clean* again-! The golden headband she wore chimed, in time with that slight motion...As she ran slim fingers through her hair, washing out the muck and the sweat from the past few days of her desperate flight!<br/><br/>Around her, the pure, clean waters - Formerly stagnant, foul - bubbled with the alchemical agents she'd emptied into the muck; the seething effervescence shedding tendrils of white cloud, as rivulets of water caressed her deep brown skin. Or rather, her<em>dark</em>skin - the one that lent the gorgeous elven maiden her new title...<br/><br/>-Dark Elf.<br/><br/>Her full lips curled in a pout, ripples trailing through the water, as Nemissa glanced down at her reflection - How had it all gone<em>so</em>wrong so *fast*? Less than a week ago, she'd been one of the top Wizards of the Cloister of Wisdom; the golden ornament she wore her only reminder of that time! She'd been lauded, respected, courted for her accomplishments...<br/><br/>And<em>then</em>they'd found out exactly what her experiments had entailed. It'd seemed so *reasonable* then - She'd been intrigued by the way an outpouring of magical energy could taint - warp -<em>improve</em>upon the flesh of creatures; How the most<em>powerful</em>creatures were spawned from the misbegotten union of equally powerful parents! Alicaviss had invented the simplest of spells - A spell that could let<em>anything</em>breed with<em>anything</em>-<br/><br/>...All right. In hindsight, mating a manticore (http://g.e-hentai.org/s/ef3ec3a271/621347-37) with an acolyte (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8073552/sorceress%20blue.jpg) to produce a chimera capable of using *magic* had been an obscene idea. But it'd been *working*...Until they realized that the mother had gone missing-! Nemissa had<em>just</em>enough time to flee through a Waygate before they'd hunted her down, and now...<br/><br/>-And now, she was *here*. Lost in the swamp. How the mighty had fallen.<br/><br/>Still - This was only the<em>beginning</em>, she told herself. There was an older magic here - A<em>potent</em>magic, here. All she had to do was to re-establish her laboratory, find a place to begin her workings again...And she'd show them. She'd show them<em>all</em>-<br/><br/>Assuming she survived the swamp!