Draeope

Name	Draeope
Race	Spirit
Type	Dryad
Faction	Free Willed
Premiere	Desideratum: Blood Bonds
Relative(s)	Unknown

Draeope

"I am the forest itself. I am nature's daughter. I know no death, only rebirth."

Biography

Pre-Desideratum: Blood Bonds

Like all dryads, Draeope is a spirit of nature. Dryads are much rarer in today’s world, due to the cancerous consumption of humanity across the globe. As such, the few that still guard the sacred lands are fervent defenders. Draeope’s spirit coalesced in the Wilderlands dimension within the Inner Light. In that wild, natural spiritual landscape, she honed her skills, until one day, she felt herself drawn into a seed. There, in what would become known as Forest National Park, outside Portland, she grew thousands of years ago, sprouting into the physical world. Over time, she watched the spread of humanity and their destruction of the forest. Luckily, one day, the mortals stopped, and the tiny amount of land left still stands for her to guard and love. Refusing to give any evil a foothold, she has defended it well.

In recent weeks, however, Baba Yaga, an infamous plague witch, came to the area and set up a base in the forest. She began polluting the forest with her dark magicks and when confronted by Draeope, the witch chased her away. The local druids, wielders of light magic, often met in the forest. Draeope asked them to aid her, and together, they attacked the foul witch. However, Baba Yaga proved more than a match even for the entire assemblage, and many of the light witches were corrupted. The druids became plague witches and clones of Baba Yaga herself. Then, they chased their former friends through the forests to corrupt them as well. Draeope and the final remaining druid worked together to develop a magical seed that would be planted at the witch’s home and destroy her and the other plague witches, but just as victory seemed assured, the final druid’s previous friends held her down and forced the vile substance known as Baba Brew down her throat, making her one of them. She destroyed the seed and Baba Yaga’s victory drew nearer.

Desideratum: Blood Bonds

In Desideratum: Blood Bonds, Draeope is finally calling upon the forces of nature and the magical creatures of the wood to assemble in order to wage war on the witch. At this time The Night Stalkers, Sani Lightfoot and Katerina Mordova became involved. This piqued the interest of Absinthe Van Gothen, and she followed the others to Forest National Park. Baba Yaga had not been idle either, and had forced the local ogres to aid her in battle. She also called upon the Unseelie Court of Fairies and the battle lines were drawn along the Columbia River. Draeope blew the battle horn and the two sides met. The plague witches proved incredibly powerful, especially with hordes of ogres and dark fae and other creatures at their command. They pushed further across the river and destroyed a large swath of forestland, but with Sani and Kat’s help, the battle shifted, and the remnants of Baba Yaga’s army retreated across the river. Draeope’s own forces were diminished greatly, her remaining defenders fanning out in search of any more witches on their side of the river. These defenders discovered Absinthe and she was forced, several times, to fight and destroy these spirits of the forest, eventually making her way to Draeope, Lightfoot, and Mordova. Katerina could wait no longer for revenge for her sister Yulia Mordova, and she chased after the witch. Lightfoot stood against Absinthe, still believing the Blood Suit to be a threat, yet Absinthe defeated him.

Draeope then assaulted the Van Gothen woman, and the pair fought a vicious battle, but in the end, Draeope again found herself defeated. Expecting to be killed by Absinthe, the dryad was completely shocked when she was spared. She watched Absinthe hurry across the bridge onto the corrupted Baba Yaga side of the forest. When Abby returned later with Katerina, victorious, she felt compelled to gift the powerful artifact Gleipnir to the monster hunter. She had never seen a human this brave, courageous, and powerful. After that night, Draeope spent the next year regrowing the forest and healing its wounds, until the Infectulon invasion occurred and the Dryad and her woods became mutated slaves of the invaders.

Appearance

Draeope is a green dryad with sharp elven features. She has an athletic build.

Abilities

• Rejuvenating Touch
• Call Nature
• Powerful Physical Attacks
• Light Magic

Notes and Trivia

N/A