Witching Court

There's a forest, dark and mysterious, filled with mists that get travellers easily lost and caught within its labyrinthine pathways. If you get beyond that though, a stark and domineering mountain range awaits, overwhelming the senses with the sheer mass of rock and vertigo you are immediately presented with. Step inside the caves within these peaks, and the alien, nearly lifeless mountainsides give way swiftly to a far more vibrant and comfortable environment than one might expect. Leafy vines and plantlife grow out of every crevice, leeching life painstakingly from the very rock of the mountains. Luminescent mushrooms give regular crystal formations an inner light of their own, and faeries flit around, so that the branching tunnels are always filled with the sound of echoing laughter - not always kind.
This network of tunnels is the Witching Court - home to all who would claim this as their profession. Alchemy, medicine, shapeshifting and the grand art of the Bargain are among the more common talents to be found in these colourfully lit halls. Turning a random corner is as likely to bring you face to face with a coven of hags as it is an elven silversmith, gently filling runes on a necklace with pixie dust.
It is said that in the Winter Court, you can be exactly who you were meant to be. In the Witching Court, you can become who you wish you could be. Many Fey across the Feywild trade in bargains, and concepts have always been a currency there, but in the Witching Court they take this to an art form. There is little that you could ever want that you cannot find someone willing to give you here - for a price.
At the centre of the highest peak is a grand cavern, lit by a colossal hunk of quartz refracting moonlight from the ceiling. This is where Queen Nicnevin holds court, the Giant Queen of Copper. One of the most powerful beings in the Feywild by every measure, it is only the very foolish or the very desperate who seek her power, for the price of her help is severe.
A visitor from the Material Plane is likely to fear the Witching Court at first - the reputation of witches is one to be feared, certainly. But for those who understand such things know a little better: good and evil are concepts the Fey pay little mind to, but what the Witching Court is, more than any other place in the Feywild, is a snare for fools. Many come to the door of a witch or other Bargain-maker in search of what they want, but precious few understand the costs involved.
It is the poor decisions of the unwise that create the stories of witches that people fear so much, not the actions of the witches themselves. Could they perhaps be a little more helpful in explaining the costs to the uninitiated? Well, that wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

Type

Court, Royal