#mosqa

Thank you (for the tag)

Colored version of the Dryad Pirate I made for my art trade with Mosqa

“the idea is that the wood of a dryad’s tree is magic-conductive and can be used to make powerful magic items, so a pirate crew got the bright idea to use a whole grove of dryad’s wood to make themselves an awesome magically charged ship. ordinarily this would kill the dryads but the pirates don’t care ‘cause they’re pirates. but the unexpected side-effect of using all the magic wood was to bring the dryads back to life, all be it in a fractured state. most of the dryads were unable to fully separate themselves from the wood, only able to manifest a face or head and one or two limbs

only one dryad, Willowbranch, was able to regain most of her humanoid shape, though her left leg remained trapped. she severed it to free herself and led the ship in mutiny against the pirates. she killed the captain, a vicious brute named Bunion Bill, and used his femur to replace her lost leg, then declared herself captain of the ship and remaining crew.

as a living amalgamation of dryads, the ship, christened “Driftwood”, is capable of operating without much interaction from the human crew, steering itself and operating it’s rigging, which is composed of vines. trees which have sprouted from the deck grow fruit for the human crew members, and ship’s hold is now filled with barrels of rich soil rather than food provisions. The ship’s figurehead, Mapleheart, acts as both the first mate and voice of the ship.

As a dryad, Captain Willowbranch is unable to venture far from the remains of her tree, and as such cannot leave the ship. However, she can see and speak through the eyes of her woodpecker familiar, who accompanies the human crew on trips inland”