Goldbug

Goldbugs were parasitic beetles found in Zakhara, the Land of Fate.

Description
The body of a goldbug was circular and flat. As their name implied, their outer carapace was golden in color. Their bodies usually measured between 1-3 inches (2.5-7.5 cm) in diameter, making them easily mistaken for a gold coin. These eyes, legs, and antennae of the goldbug were hidden beneath its shell, lending to its appearance as a regular gold coin. When folded, these body parts made the underside of the "coin" appear like an intentional design. The ruse was so convincing that even a thorough visual examination of the goldbug failed to reveal its true nature half of the time. However, using arcane methods or actually biting the goldbug to determine its purity would reveal its falsehood.

Ecology
Goldbugs often nested with others of its kind, usually on a pile of genuine gold coins. Goldbugs waited patiently for an unsuspecting victim to pick them up. A gold bug would wait until the victim fell asleep before emerging to feed of their blood. Their bites were small and rarely woke the victim. Goldbugs feed until they consumed their own body weight in blood.

If disturbed while feeding, or threatened in general, a goldbug attempted to bite its attacker and inject a deadly poison that caused nausea, dizziness, and death in some cases.