Buzzjewel

Buzzjewels are mild-mannered insects of the void between worlds that fly in dazzling swarms of many colors and, like moths, are drawn to light. Ship crews always know a swarm is near from the loud drone of wings and the cloud of colored light glancing off their bodies. Their bodies are partly gemstone, opaquely colored anywhere from ruby red through emerald green to aquamarine blue. Like other insects they have head, thorax, and abdomen, multifaceted light-sensitive eyes, two pairs of clear dragonfly-like wings, and three pairs of legs tucked in during flight.

When one dies, its organic parts shrivel away and leave a small ornamental gem worth 5 gp, the residue of its mineral meals; one in a thousand leaves a fancy, precious, or gem/jewel stone instead.

For all their attraction to light, they are shy of living things and slow to anger. A swarm passively endures 1d4 rounds of attack, then, enraged, turns on the attacker and everyone else in view. Their tiny sharp teeth bite and release at once, since they dislike living flesh. They attack one target in groups of 10 or 20 (10 against halflings, dwarves, and other small foes), with a single attack roll for the group. Overwhelmed defenders lose any Dexterity bonus to AC.

Every 10 buzzjewels deal 1d8 damage, and each point of damage carries a 10% chance of injecting Type N poison, which takes effect in one round: 4d8 damage on a failed save vs. poison, 2d8 on a success. Their magic resistance can turn spells back: a spell that fails against their magic resistance rebounds on the caster, though one they merely save against does not.

Buzzjewels nest in tiny honeycombed tunnels just beneath the surface of gem-rich asteroids and instinctively avoid worlds with humanoid populations. They do not need air. Gems are their main food, though they can eat any rock or mineral in a pinch. Pearls poison them, turning them black and leaving no valuable gem.

They talk through body movements like bees; a swarm that finds new gems flies home and dances directions to the rest. Dwarven sages have long tried to decode these dances to find the gems, without success. Insect summoning spells can call them, and summoned buzzjewels act as ordinary insects, but if the caster means to kill them for their gems, control is lost and the furious swarm attacks immediately.

Buzzjewels add nothing to their environment, and gem-mining races loathe them. Gnomes call them 'gembane,' and the only polite dwarven name is 'baublebiters.' Given the unpredictable poison and the low value of a dead buzzjewel's gem, sensible folk avoid hunting them for profit. The penguin-like merchant folk of the void use live buzzjewels in cages as currency, which horrifies some other races, and are rumored to be testing whether buzzjewels fed fancy gems leave richer remains.