I know that one is not supposed to talk about Fight Club or node about E2, but even though I missed joining during its heyday, I feel this is still a unique community that I would like to encourage and see thrive. With that in mind I am "putting my money where my mouth is" and hereby propose a writing challenge with not one, but two possible prizes.
The top-scoring node will win either a $25 Amazon Gift Card, or four mint condition Dark Horse Comic Books from the mid-1990s (Mask #1, #2, #3 and Ghost #1). The winner will be able to choose which of these two prizes they desire, and the runner-up will be awarded the other prize. Alas and alack, there may be an issue in awarding these prizes outside of the United States boundaries, since apparently you cannot spend USD Amazon cards in other countries, and shipping the comic books to our noders from, say, Timbuktu may be more costly than worthwhile. My low-tech plan for awarding the Amazon card is to just relay the numbers in a Private Message.
Although the prizes are rather USA-centric, I hope that noders from all over will take on this Quest. If a non-American wins first prize, they can, of course, "gift" their prize to someone within the USA.
There is another "boundary" for this Quest: I get to choose the subject for the story. It may just be my own whimsy, but when doing genealogical research it sometimes seems like certain long-dead relatives are trying to reach out to get some attention. One of these was my cousin Catharine Haggerty, the only record of her existence being the following notice:
Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer, No. 72, Sept 2, 1774
Whereas Catharine, the daughter of Hugh Haggerty, of Newtown, Sussex-county, East New-Jersey, left her parents in the month of November last, was then placed at Hackensack, where she learned the taylor’s business; but being afflicted with the rheumatism went from thence the middle of March, giving out that she was going to consult a Doctor on Staten Island, but not having been heard of since that time, this advertisement is published in hopes of obtaining some information of her. Therefore as her parents, inexpressibly unhappy on account of her absence, are exceedingly anxious for her return, they give her this public assurance of their readiness to receive her with the utmost tenderness; and they also intreat those who may know where she now is, to communicate some tidings of her to the said Hugh Haggerty, or to the Printer.
She is about 24 years of age, short and well set, with dark brown hair; a round face; on the right side of her head she has a remarkable lock of grey hair.
Did she run away to be with a lover? Was she killed by an early serial killer, or just perhaps fall victim to a clumsy accident like falling off the ferry on her trip to Staten Island? Did the zombies or aliens get her--or maybe it was the Jersey Devil? Did she grow another grey streak on the left side and move in with Frankenstein's monster? And just why did she become a "taylor" rather than a milliner or dressmaker? Was she a rogue feminist?
Scoring
I know the prizes are just chump change, so the true benefit of this Quest is to encourage some friendly competition, perhaps take some noders out of their comfort zone, and (of course!) to have fun. But since "haters gonna hate" negative votes will not be counted (just as they don't count towards XP) and C!s will not count either unless there is a tie.
The Rules
- Submissions for the quest shall run from server midnight on January 1, 2022, to server midnight on January 31, 2022.
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Voting will end at server midnight on February 7, 2022.
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Your node must be based (however loosely!) on the subject shown above, but there is no limit on length or genre for you submission. **UPDATE (because I didn't make this clear originally): you are NOT limited to submitting only one entry!**
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To be counted for the quest, you must message me, fool4luv, with the name of your node. Hard- and softlinking your node to this one is encouraged.
Update - The generosity of noder Rancid_Pickle has sweetened the deal!
Rancid_Pickle says re QUEST: TELL ME A STORY: For your quest, I will give 50GP and five eggs to everyone who submits an entry.
Entries
The following entries are included, but either did not wish to be qualified for the prizes or their entries were received after the deadline: