Feel free to skip the story and go to the next heading (Your Quest: Rules and Forms) if you want to get straight to the rules, quest, and eligible stories.
As you continue on the path, the vibrations in the ground intensify. That burning electric scent intensifies as well. A scent of ozone. It’s similar to what you smelled earlier when you were near to the wards that sealed off the abyss.
The air smelled of iron, blood, and sulfur now.
Is it possible that this is another place where the Abyss of All Consuming Evil and Enormous Inconveniences is trying to breach?
A sharp pain strikes your shin. Ow! You just stubbed your foot on a rock.
That hurts.
You rub the affected area, scowling. That’s annoying. You start forward again, following the path as the spindly trees thin out and the path becomes stonier.
Somehow as you get closer, you find yourself stumbling more. It’s like you’re becoming a klutz. How is this happening? You shake your head and try to shrug off the feeling of clumsiness. The last thing you need is to injure yourself in this desolate place.
Despite your care, somehow, you find yourself tripping and fumbling far more than usual. It’s getting annoying. You scowl and mutter angrily. All your senses are on high alert now.
You stumble again, this time almost falling to the ground. Your heart races in your chest as you try to steady yourself. What is happening to you?
As you push yourself up from the stony soil, you realize that the terrain to your right has transformed. There’s a dark lake there where there was once a forest.
A brilliant portal resounds and pulses on the other side on a small stone island. Neon pink light pulses from it. The very air pulses around you, magic apparent as it thrums and builds.
Here the terrain has changed into something almost alien. That neon pink light has transformed the rocks around it to purple and pink, neon and bright in their eerie glow. The ever-shifting mists catch that light and cast it about. And now…now that you are closer, there is another stranger scent…intoxicating like some sort of night bloom.
“Well, well. Are reinforcements here?”A husky female voice draws closer to you.
As you turn, you see two strangers approaching: a man and a woman, both dressed in all black leather and carrying guns. They regard you with curiosity, their weapons pointed at the ground as if they’re not sure if you can be trusted but they have decided you aren’t an immediate threat. At least not for now.
“Not reinforcements necessarily,” you say, straightening your clothing. “But not an enemy either. Who are you?”
“The name’s Bram.” The tall man steps forward, extending his black gloved hand. “This is Lyria.” He indicates the redhead behind him. She gives you smirking wink. “You might have met a couple of her sisters already.”
“Oh, let’s not get into my family tree,” Lyria says, chuckling. She steps closer and tips her head in your direction. “Pleasure to meet you. You here to help us with this portal situation?” She gestures toward the pulsing pink circle that hangs in the air beyond the lake.
“If I can help, I’m more than happy to.” You start to loop your fingers in your belt loops and miss. “What the…”
“Oh. You aren’t charmed,” Lyria says. “The impacts of the Abyss are much more apparent here. You’ll be much more clumsy and accident prone, sorry to say.”
“All the Inconveniences are leaking through at the moment here,” Bram says with a sage nod of his head. “It’s more focused on them here rather than the monsters of unspeakable evil. You probably shouldn’t come closer to the portal with it impacting you like that. You might get shot instead of doing the shooting.”
“Well, what do you need?” You ask, not able to disagree with his concern. You aren’t even wearing armor.
Bram chuckles, his chiseled features highlighted by the bright light. A bit of stubble emphasizes his square jaw. “You may laugh at this…but we need romances.”
Lyria swats his shoulder. “Come on. It’s not that ridiculous.”
“It’s a little ridiculous,” he says.
You chuckle. “Actually you wouldn’t be the first to ask me to gather up stories. What stories do you need? What tropes?
“See?” Lyria grins. She hands you a scanner. “You’ll find a complete list on this.” The green screen lights up. “Do you think you can help us?” She gives you an appraising look as if wondering whether the effects of the Abyss are going to make you utterly useless.
“I know I can.” You nearly drop the scanner. As her eyes widen, Bram chuckles. You straighten your shoulders, clearing your throat, embarrassed. “I’ve got this.”
“Good.” They both say simultaneously.
“Thanks for the help,” Bram says with a crooked grin.
Lyria winks at you and turns back toward the lake with the pulsing portal. It isn’t hard to see the family resemblance between her, Silver, and Opal.
Shaking your head, you take a quick look over the list of stories. Oh yes. You know precisely the stories that will help recharge this ward and keep all the problems and monsters from the Abyss inside. Perfect. As you start to walk away, you almost trip on your face.
Brilliant.
Yes.
You best hurry or else you might kill yourself with these freaking inconveniences and minor accidents.
Your Quest: Prize, Rules, and Forms
Prize
Once you complete this quest, you will be entered in a chance to win a $10 gift card.
This is open to anyone.
Rules
To complete the Quest, you can use stories from the list below.
You can only use a story for one element on the list in this quest. It is all right if you repeat a story from any other quest though.
This quest includes a custom curated list of all the stories in the event that include magic. You may use any of the ones on this page to solve this quest.
Be kind to your fellow readers and other authors.
The Forms
This one you will either fill out a Google Form or email us your discoveries. Refer to the form to find the list of required stories even if you choose to email.
Each answer is worth 1 token. Each token is an entry into the giveaway.
Bonus Tokens
In addition to the regular tokens, you can get bonus tokens by completing the following acts.
One extra token for every story you share in an individual social media post. (Yes, you can post on multiple platforms.)
Use #boostingthewards (and if you want to absolutely bless me, save off the links and paste them in the forms or an email to make sure we definitely see them. Screenshots also work.).
(We have graphics of all the stories here so you don’t have to make something separate. Just look look under the author’s last name to find the stories.)
Submitting Your Form
Once you’ve gathered up your collection of stories, you’ll need to turn them in so we can verify.
You can turn in your stories in two ways.
- Complete this form and directly post your answers (if you do this, you don’t need to turn in anything else. The form will allow you to return to it and edit your answers).
- Email your answers to faeornofae@farofeb.com. Make sure to include any of the bonus activities you have done as well. Use the title The Matchmaker or Ghosts and Spirits Quest or some similar identifier.
Make sure to submit your completed form or list by October 30 at 11:59 PM EST.
If you have any problems, please feel free to email faeornofae@farofeb.com.
Heat Levels
All stories are ranked on a romance scale of one to four chili peppers to indicate spice levels. We use the Heat Levels Guide depicted here.
This graphic has also been saved in the Graphics Folder for the event in case you want to share it as well.
Magic in Our World and Others
Conclusion to Boosting the Wards
Whatever magic is causing your clumsiness and resulting in the Abyss threatening to spill out, it makes you take almost three times as long to finish gathering the necessary stories and tropes. It’s annoying. Stupid magic making life more inconvenient rather than better.
Still, you are tenacious. You are ferocious. You are…a real klutz right now. You almost trip head long into Bram and Lyria.
“Hey there!” Bram catches you by the shoulder while Lyria steadies your arm. Bram helps to right you. “Looks like you’re back just in time. We’ve fought back three waves of monsters.”
Lyria looks at you expectantly. The portal rings hum and pulse out over the lake. That strong scent of ozone and sulfur is getting stronger too. It almost masks up the iron and the blood. “You got back here just in time,” she says.
You nod, trying to catch your breath. “I have the stories you need.” You hold out the scanner. “I was delayed a bit, but I got them all.” You take a deep breath before continuing, “These stories are going to help recharge the ward and keep the monsters from coming through the portal.
“Fantastic.” Lyria grins. “You’re incredible.” She accepts the scanner and flips through the entries.
Bram peers over his shoulder, whistling low. “Perfection.”
You fold your arms over your chest. “All right. What next?”
“For us? We’re going to start recharging the wards.” Bram indicates the portal with a crooked grin. “We’re going to be prepping the charge to close off this portal, strengthen the wards, and getting ready for the big dance so to speak. But if you want to help…”
Lyria sets her hand on her belted waist. “You can get messages out to my sisters and everyone else working to stop the wards from falling. Last fight’ll be here. And if you run into Karu, tell him we need him as well.”
You nod, determination and purpose flowing through you. “Consider it done.” You turn around and start to make your way back up the stony path. You almost trip over your own two feet, but you catch yourself and continue walking with your back straight like a cat who acts like she meant to fall. Hopefully once you get far enough away from this freaking portal and its weird magic, you won’t be so clumsy. Otherwise, protecting Halloween is going to be much trickier.
But you aren’t worried. You have handled every other challenge that has come your way. You will handle this one as well.