Curse of Little Miss Flibbertigibbet

Rhyme of Little Miss Flibbertigibbet

"Poor, little Miss Flibbertigibbet,
All she did was rave and ribbet,
Til the day she spoke no more,
Her head went rollin' along the floor!

Tired of all the jib and jabber,
A lady cried and went to stab 'er,
A mighty slash, an arc of blade,
a headless corpse, the girl was made,

Then in the aftermath the head
Did speak as if it were not dead,
And Miss Flibbertigibbet hexed,
Whoever found her poor head next,

To gabber and jabber and scream and shout
without a sensible word about."

The Story 

Miss Flibbertigibber was a young lady who was unfortunately cursed by a witch. She was unable to stop talking, and ranted and raved until her tongue and gums bled. She was not able to tell anyone about the curse. The girl was thought by her fellow townsfolk to be a gossip and eventually they decided she was man or hysterical. In a fit of rage during a town meeting, when Miss Flibbertigibbet could not (not "would not", mind you) stop speaking, a lady seized a town guards sword and chopped her head off. 

Horrified, the townsfolk watched as Miss Flibbertigibbet's head rolled along the floor and continued to speak, shrieking hexes and curses with bulging eyes. The head was locked away in a heavy crate, placed onto an empty boat and sent out into the sea in hopes that it would die.

It is rumoured that the head is nearly indestructible and many a scholar, practitioner of dark magic or curious collector would pay handsome money to retrieve it and unlock the secrets of its curses.

The Head

 

The head, wherever it ends up, is a cursed object. It should not be displayed, something someone has tried to get rid of or hidden away in a tomb.

The head is that of a beautiful young woman and has been cleanly cut. At first it appears normal then as the players stare at it the head becomes more and more distorted. It does not decay; although the skin is pale and bloodless. The eyes bulge from the head with a milky white glaze over the iris and pupil. The hair is wild and dirty blonde. A great, long, slathering tongue protrudes from the head's wide open mouth where the jaw has been dislocated and the tongue moves of its own accord. From the head comes a vile monologue of gossip and nonsensical jabber. If you know secrets about the player character then the head will reveal them amongst the nonsense. The head may or may not tell the truth or distort it. Roll on the below to determine the nature of the heads curse:

1. The head will never tell the truth, it will concoct wild and fanciful stories that are entirely unbelievable and incredibly rude or harrowing.
2. The head will always tell tell the truth, the truth will include minute details which are usually irrelevant to what is being spoken about and the truth will do into detail.
3. The head will never tell the truth, but the lies will be believable and layered in fact making the lies believable. These lies are designed to turn the characters against each other or instill distrust.
4. The head will always tell the truth, harsh truths that the characters do not want to have to deal with. The truths may even be about events that have yet to occur.
5. The head spouts knowledge and useless facts. It is there to educate the players and does so in the form of commercial style jingles and lectures. If it is ignored, it will get louder and more obnoxious.
6. The head speaks in riddles and vagueness. It chooses if it wants to lie or tell the truth. This head is more interested in shit stirring and is easily amused by idle gossip. This head knows everyone and their sister and who their sister is shagging and will gladly tell this to the players.

The head knows it cannot be lifted without passing a curse on to the the character. The head will not willingly divulge this information. It will not shut up and appear to be sensible at first but the truth is the head is dead and it is the cursed tongue that has concious thought. The tongue acts as a parasite. The curse must inhabit a head, whether that be Miss Flibbertigibbet's or your players, and this depends on how stupid brave your players decide to be.

Attempts to mangle or destroy the head will not work. No matter how much the players attempt to mutilate it, the head will simply grow back and the thick, wagging, saliva coated tongue will continue to talk throughout its torture. The head does feel pain and will scream in agony if mutilated.

The head can be "killed" if it is dipped and left to dissolve in strong acids or burned over the course of several days. The tongue will escape to find a new host.

The Curse

The head can be gagged to silence it or the tongue can be cut out. If the tongue is cut out, the head will shrivel and die and the tongue will escape to find a new host.  The player will need to fight off the tongue or have it remove their own and be forced to speak nonsense forever. They will not be able to dispel this effect if they become the host of the tongue and they will take on the nature of the head as rolled above. They will also try to decapitate themselves in humorous ways on a daily basis, you can decide with the player how this is determined to ensure they still have fun playing.

If the tongue remains in Miss Flibbertigibbet, upon hearing the head speak the players will need to make a Save Vs Magic or Will save depending on your system. Anyone who fails will need to roll on the below table. They have been cursed by Miss Flibbertigibbet. The curse can be lifted with a Dispel Magic, or by a witch who examines the head. If you are feeling generous (but why would you want to be?), these curses can be temporary. Whenever the head is un-gagged, the characters or NPC's who hear it speak must roll a Save again, and continue to do so each time they hear the head.


1. The character can never tell a lie. The character will feel a compulsion to correct or tell the truth should another person they know is lying, lie in their presence. If asked a direct question, they cannot remain silent.
2. The character can never tell the truth. The character will feel a compulsion to tell a lie or cast doubt on the truth should the truth be told by a companion. If asked a direct question,they cannot remain silent.
3. The character's lips are sewn together by threads of bloody muscle and their teeth melt and fuse in their mouth. They are mute, able to make grunts and moans but unable to talk. Their lips can be cut apart and their teeth broken to allow them to speak, however, they will suffer facial mutilation.
4. The character's tongue and lips have a mind of their own. The mind of the tongue is incredibly perverted and enjoys wagging, licking and blowing raspberries at passersby, especially if they are important. The lips enjoy kissing, pursing and stretching into a grin during funerals. Overall, the character has no control over their lower facial expression.
5. The head of Miss Flibbertigibbet is the character heads, or so the character believes, and the head they are wearing is simply a place holder. Now they have found their true head, they simply need to find a way of putting it back on.
6. The character cannot stop talking. When they want to say something, it comes out clearly, however, between sensible conversation they will simply speak in gibberish. This might be what they are thinking about aloud or they will begin to talk about the weather or astrophysics. In order to stop the character from talking they will need to walk around with a gag which can then be removed when they have something relevant to say.
7.The character can now speak all languages except their own native tongue. They will be able to understand aliens, ancient Greek, Swedish, French,  English , Elvish, Dutch, Dwarven, etc. etc.. Although they can understand it when speaking, they cannot read it. They can still read and write their own mother tongue, they simply can't speak it.
8. The player characters head rots. The rest of their body is fine, their skin peels away and their tongue turns to ash in their mouth. Their eyes wither like dried grapes. This happens in a matter of minutes. The player is dead, their head having decayed alarmingly. Their skull occasionally, for no reason, laughs.

Make the head expensive, an item that has rumour surrounding it. If you want to entice your players to un-gag the head, have the rhyme of Little Miss Flibbertigibbet haunt their dreams. Give it a tune and hum it to them.