So, not sure if anyone will want to do this, but i started a similar story thread way back on a Everquest messageboard and never saw how it ended, so gonna start this story off in a similar fashion. Basically as the title says, i will start writing a story and find a stopping point, and if anyone else wants to continue it, please do so, and i will be adding to it as i feel inspired to.
As the gnome walked down the deserted road he could see a lump ahead in the road. "Lump" was what he thought of it at first, and as gnomes tend to do, he thought in his head about what the lump could be. From this distance it was hard to tell, but he thought maybe it was a huge sack of gold, dropped by a giant as it ran from a dragon. Or maybe it was the skin of an enormous snake, that crawled into the earth and was even now devouring the planet from within. As he got closer more and more possibilities filled his head, each more bizarre then the last.
The closer he got to the lump, the more it started to look like the corpse of a dead animal, and more specifically, the corpse of a horse. As he walked up next to it, he saw that the horse seemed to be in pretty good shape, other then the fact that it was laying on the ground not moving, or even breathing. Circling around the horse he did not see any visible wounds, until he got to the head of the horse. In the center of the horses head, between its ears was a bloody wound. The gnome realized then that the corpse was not that of a horse, but a Unicorn.
As the gnome stood looking down at the dead unicorn, a muffled snort behind him made him spin around, thinking that maybe whatever killed the unicorn was behind him. Instead he saw another unicorn, although this one had its horn ... and it was also transparent! As he looked back and forth between them he noticed that other then the horn and transparency the both looked identical. No leap of imagination for him to come to the conclusion that the transparent one was the ghost of the dead one.
As he made this connection the ghost of the unicorn spoke.
"Greetings little one, I am Caflexos, last of a breed of Unicorns that were once common around here. As I was wondering this road, on a mission of great importance, i was attacked by some brigands, who killed me with a spell, and ripped off my horn. I normally would be able to resurrect myself, but without my horn it will not work. My killers took my horn with them, to a cemetery further down this road. Would you be so kind as to retrieve it for me? My mission must be completed or the world will face a massive catastrophe. Will you assist me?"
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The gnome asked, "What is your mission? How would there be a catastrophe if you didn't complete it? How can you resurrect yourself? How did bandits manage to kill a unicorn?"
The unicorn said, fading away, "Bring back my horn and I will explain more . . ."
The gnome, disappointed at the unicorn's crypticness, began to stump down the road. His mind played with the possibilities. There could be a prophesy about a demi-lich that will be born soon if not prevented. It could be a giant shark that can fly that will terrorise the coasts. It could be a plague that turns people into cabbage . . .
Before he could finish thinking about the implications of a cabbage-plague, he tripped, sending his knitting flying. A tripwire was extended between two trees. Looking up, he saw two humans in leathers on the road a few feet ahead. The man on the right (the gnome's right - though he soon figured out that it was the man's left) held a falchion with the end in the dust.
Just wanted to mention that if anyone wants to name the gnome in this story as part of their addition to it, please feel free to do so. Also sorry for the misspelled words. Had a house full of people distracting me while i wrote.
The human with the falchion walked forward slowly and said, "We have the horn, but we also need a sacrifice for Dandorlus to complete his ritual. Is that not so?"
At first the gnome thought he was talking to him, and he was opening his mouth to tell the human he did not know what he was talking about, or who Dandorlus was, when a deeper voice spoke behind him.
"This one will do." A hand descended upon the gnome's shoulder, although as he looked he could see no hand, but he could feel it. "We will take him to the cemetery though, and Dandorlus can decide if he will be an appropriate sacrifice."
The deep voice started to speak strange words and the gnome recognized the words of magic. Trying to break the hold of the invisible hand, he reached around trying to grab anything on the body of the speaker to interrupt the spellcasting. His hand landed on a bag that seemed to be about where the speakers waist would be. Before he could decide what else to do, the spell was completed and suddenly the gnome found himself somewhere else.
Looking around he saw he was near a cemetery, which he assumed was the one the magic user and the two humans mentioned. The two humans were not with him, and he was not sure if the magic user was, but he did not feel the hand on his shoulder so he started to run away from the cemetery.
As he ran, he noticed two things. The first was that the bag he had grabbed from the magic users waist was still in his hand, and the second was that the magic user was indeed here, and starting to cast another spell. The gnome looked in the bag to see if anything inside could help him, and he saw a jumble of things inside. The outside of the bag would seem to indicate that it would not hold such an amount of things, but he assumed it was some form of magic bag. Among the gems, coins and various other items, was a curious looking object.
Continuing to run the gnome pulled out the top object and as he held it before his eyes he thought that it did indeed look like a unicorns horn.
He did not have much time to rejoice or ponder what to do with it though, for at that moment the magic user completed his spell. Roots and tendrils of grass whipped out and tangled themselves around the gnomes legs. Falling face first on the ground the gnome felt a sharp intense pain in his chest. As he pushed himself up, he saw the unicorn horn had stabbed him in the chest.
More intense pain flared through him and he tried to grab the horn to pull it out, but to his amazement the horn slipped through his fingers, and sank further into his chest. Within moments the horn had disappeared into his chest and the wound it created sealed over as if it had never been. Immediately the gnome heard the voice of the dead unicorn in his head say, "Well now, this is interesting."
The gnome had no time to respond before he heard the voice of the magic user say, " Did you really think to escape that easily little one?"
The gnome opened his mouth to respond, but then a pain shot through his head, in the middle of his forehead. Reaching up he felt a small protrusion in the center of his forehead ...
The magic user that had brought him to this place advanced slowly towards the gnome. As he walked he was speaking to him, but the gnome could not hear him, since the voice of the Unicorn was so loud in his head, as it said, "Little one, i am sorry for the intrusion into your privacy, but i must know with whom i am dealing with, since apparently my spirit is now trapped in your body."
With an intense feeling of vertigo, the gnome saw his whole life flash before him in less time than it took to draw a breath, and he knew the spirit of the unicorn was viewing his entire life with him.
The gnome had been through considerable pain in his life, and having to relive it even briefly brought all the pain back ...