A mystical tree-like fey, the Golden Oak, or Fey Oak, is a dark malevolent creature that appears to be a gigantic, ancient gnarled oak tree, its branches covered with metallic, golden leaves. One oddity is that its branches also hold a weirdly-mixed selection of fruits and exotic flowers, all at once, and all year around.

Golden oaks are surrounded by many butterflies with mirror-like highly-reflective wings that flitter around the tree, swarming around any insects or small animals that approach the golden oak too closely, or around larger creatures the golden oak engages in combat, blinding them for 1d6 turns with the reflections of their wings unless a save vs. Petrify is made. Then the swarm will attack the blinded creatures by preference, each butterfly latching on with a set of tiny but razor-sharp teeth, the entire swarm doing 3d6 damage per round, not stopping until they have stripped their victim to nothing more than bare bones. Though it seems they are separate creatures, and the golden oak may promote this idea, the butterflies are actually part of the oak itself and completely under its control. It draws nourishment from whatever they devour as its primary means of feeding.

Naturally wicked and cruel, the golden oak is extremely intelligent, cunning, and devious. With typical cruelty of the darker fey, it revels in tricking mortals into eating its fruit and harvesting its flowers, also distributing knowledge, forbidden and dark in such a way as to always bring pain and death to the knowledge seekers. The golden oak speaks all languages, though it has no obvious mouth, its voice sounding like the wind through its branches. Golden oaks also have the ability to teach Magic-users spells, though will only do so for a very steep price.