Bauble Beast

The reclusive and deceptive creatures called bauble beasts create false jewelry as a byproduct of their extremely bizarre magical digestive systems. Two natural skin conditions provide the raw materials for this process: scaly patches of thin layers of metal, and warts that resemble gemstones. By chewing loose these patches and swallowing them, a bauble beast magically constructs the jewelry in its guts. After passing the forgery, it polishes and reshapes the item to make it more convincing. The beast then sneaks into a settlement to place the jewelry somewhere it can be found. A creature who dons this false jewelry is compelled to fetch their real valuables and deliver them to the beast, which it happily collects. Some bauble beasts simply send the confused victim on their way, but other more evil bauble beasts slay them to avoid being found out.

This imitation jewelry fools laypeople, but it's infamous among merchants. Merchant training usually includes a brief course on detecting bauble beast jewelry's subtle but distinctive sweet odor.

Though largely solitary, bauble beasts occasionally socialize with others who share their limited interests, primarily merchants, jewelers, earth elementals, and other bauble beasts. Xorns have a particular fondness for bauble beasts-or at least their gems. Though these aren't as nourishing as real gems, xorns find the flavor decadent and eat them as a sort of junk food.