A Vexing Most Perplexing

Foggledonk's earliest childhood memories are fond ones. He remembers being brought up in a village of curious little gnomes surrounded by towering mushrooms. A mushroom forest with rolling hills, rocky outcroppings, and mushrooms as far as the eye could see. Unfortunately, the name and location of this fungal forest are lost to him. One day while out gathering roots and fizzlesticks, Foggledonk came across a small alcove under a particularly large mushroom. He heard a voice whisper to come nearer. Naturally, inquiring as a curious gnome will, he leaned in without second thought. He was greeted by the tiniest little thaddlewhack he had ever seen! Little did he know this was no thaddlewhack; this was a nasty little imp! The imp, grinning wickedly, whispered an incantation in Foggledonk's ear, poked a finger in his eye, and plucked a particularly long nose hair all in one fluid motion. He stumbled back, tripped on a fflewderdue, and landed on his back. The imp vanished in a wisp of smoke leaving Foggledonk dumbfounded. After collecting himself, he headed back to his village but found it empty. Abandoned. Everything looked untouched and exactly as it had been but life lacked. Silence. Foggledonk began to call out, hoping it might be some sort of ruse, but his tongue was not entirely his own. He felt compelled to rhyme, and rhyme he did! Rhyming brought him joy. But to be compelled to rhyme to his dying day? Not if this gnome has a say! That wily little thaddlewhack must be caught without delay! With villagers vanished, Foggledonk decided he must embark upon a sojourn to break his cursed tongue. Where would he wind up? He would let the Fates decide. Moments later he winked once, snorted twice, wiggled his bottom and uttered, "A curse I must reverse! Destination imprecise, Fates allowing, roll the dice!" He vanished without a trace.

A Curse-Reverse Earring of Gnomish Engineering

I write of a riveting research expedition I took as part of my mission to bring this curse reversal to fruition. It started with a conversation I had with Avenar at the Rest about the nature of my curse...the fungal forest, the thaddlewhack, the rhyming of my speech hence the need to magically trace my words in the air. Avenar nodded with a look of understanding and recounted his tales of traveling to the Ethereal Plane. During his travels to the Ethereal Plane, Avenar detected the faint essence of many other realms, including a fungal forest. The moment he said that I rocketed out of my seat, cracked my head on the ceiling, landed back where I was sitting, reeling. I couldn't believe it! After years of research this was the most promising lead I'd heard. Avenar continued that he was experimenting with ways to harness energy from these other realms. Trillian darted into the room at this point, having eavesdropped the entire discussion, and suggested we pay ourselves a visit to the Ethereal Plane. How could I complain? Could we find ourselves a thaddlewhack to detain? This adventure must not be in vain! I felt like a young gnome with a sweet poplolly cane! Outside the Rest, Avenar opened a portal to the Ethereal Plane and we followed his lead. It was like a dream state. There was an odd familiarity with the surroundings but too vague to put a finger on it. Without further ado, Avenar began channeling the essence of the fungal forest. My home. Lo and behold, he managed to find it again and called out to Trillian to open a gate at once! Trillian, without a moment's delay, opened a gate to the fungal forest. My heart ached at the sight of home but I couldn't lose focus on the task at hand. Avenar closed his eyes in deep concentration and suddenly...a nasty little thaddlewhack arrived! Trillian placed a glass door around us and closed his gate, trapping the thaddlewhack! I stunned it with a quick zap and bagged it with a sack. We had ourselves a thaddlewhack to bring back! Back in Serin, thaddlewhack in sack, I headed to my five-story laboratory to engineer an arcane device of creature-power-extract. I knew this little imp could reverse my curse but I also knew it could not be trusted. I gathered the gaskets, pipes, and gears of different types and began to fashion this contraption. Once completed it stood as tall as me! A height of three foot three. I popped open the lid, dumped the thaddlewhack in, and watched the gears begin to spin. It sparked, vibrated, and whirred with a low frequency. And then...my tongue was my own! I could speak freely! I wasn't compelled to rhyme, really! But it only worked within a small radius around the apparatus. Trillian, a crazed look in his eyes, darted around the machine with great zeal, shrinking it smaller than a baby cockatiel! It shrank quickly, nearly disappearing, to the perfect size for a stylish earring! I grabbed the gadget and clipped it to my ear, enveloping myself in the curse-reversing sphere. Avenar and Trillian gave me a cheer and we celebrated our achievements at the Rest with a beer.