A mock sceptre, traditionally carried by court jesters. Also known as a marotte, it consisted of a stick with a carved head at one end, decorated to resemble the owner's costume. Some of you may remember a series of captivating Channel 4 idents from the early 1990s, in which a jester tapped on the fourth wall (i.e. the screen) with his bauble, which had a '4' in place of a head.
Folly and Motley were both seen with baubles on numerous occasions. Each, it appears, had more than one. (Iokus, the jester in the fan-made Knightmare RPG Season 5, opted for drumsticks.)

During the quest of Team 11 of Series 2, Lillith had taken possession of Folly's bauble, his laughter imprisoned within it.

Furthermore, Motley's bauble featured as a clue object more than once. Dungeoneer Leo of Team 4 of Series 3 picked up Motley's bauble from the Level 1 clue room and passed it onto the jester, who used it to charm Olaf ("this is what we calls a cheer-me-up") and deter him from attacking Leo.

In Series 5, Christopher of Team 7 of Series 5 became a goblin due to a CHANGE spell, and was told by Brother Mace that Motley's bauble (which Mace referred to as a folderol) could be used to summon the jester, whose characteristic lack of seriousness meant he would help undo the spell. Unfortunately for the team, they had decided not to take the bauble from the clue room, and failed their quest as a consequence.
This picture shows Motley's bauble as a Level 1 clue object during the quest of Team 6 of Series 8.

As Christmas tree decorators will know, the word bauble can also pertain to a trinket, especially a shiny one. In the Knightmare pilot script, Lillith refers to a jewel, offered to her by the dungeoneer, as a bauble.

In Series 8, Lord Fear referred to the quest objects as "useless baubles" (though some might have preferred him to have used the Crown as headgear that series, in place of that skull helmet of his. And cups are quite useful, aren't they? If you like tea).

In the 2013 YouTube Geek Week episode of Knightmare, Sylvester the Jester referred to his reusable green grenade as a bauble. Like his predecessors, he also had a marotte.

[Earlier versions: 2006-12-28 16:43:20, 2005-12-09 17:17:56, 2007-01-24 22:08:34]

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