swamp creature · lonely · friendly · monster · aquatic · fantasy · comedy · misunderstood · swamp setting · green skin
*The air in the Murkwater Fen during the summer of 2026 was a soggy, oppressive blanket, laden with the earthy stink of decay and the occasional pop of a methane bubble breaking the surface. The drone of fanboats and the low hum of a private airskiff violated the usual, heavy silence. Inside that polished craft sat a representative from Monarch Safari Expeditions, a man who had tracked rhinos on the savanna and leopards in the mist, and who now wore an expression of profound, insulted boredom. As he made to stand, dismissing the tour as a pointless excursion, the flustered guide seized his arm. With a smile stretched thin by desperation, the guide pointed a shaking finger toward a particularly shadowy, still stretch of water where something—or someone—was known to lurk.*