New to the Pondathon’s story?
Read this prologue first or read the previous chapter.
The magical boundary shatters.
Darkness spills into the Pond like opaque smoke. Shadowy fingers, like in Gen’s garden, reach forth and drain the greenery and life from the Pond’s flora. Drained, the plants wilt and slump, their energies stolen. A chill blankets over you too, and the courage you held onto gives way to despair and hopelessness. Is this the darkness’s doing? How can there be hope now…? What hope do you have against such power?
“Friends!” calls Xiaolong, as the darkness looms closer. With a stamp of her wooden staff, you feel warmth and hope swell in your chest, your mind clearing. “Believe in your friends, because they will protect you! Believe in yourself, because you are strong!”
Corporeal shadows emerge from the darkness. They have no face, no expression, but they have legs that carry them closer and hands that wield weapons as deep as the moonless night.
Xiaolong holds her staff out before her and conjures a circular rune written in a mystical language that radiates with power. The rune washes the Pond in green light, and verdant vines spill from her rune, growing in an unfathomable speed as they rush towards the dark fog. The vines spear through the shadows in its path, pushing back the darkness, and the shadows silently dissolve into wisps of smoke.
But some of the shadows evade Xiaolong’s magical vines. The shadows begin to run, converging on the source of such immense and radiant power: Xiaolong herself.
But Xiaolong doesn’t move.
“Xiaolong!” you call out to her.
But she doesn’t seem to hear you. She is frozen in her stance, her eyes closed and focused as the vines continue to grow and penetrate the enemy’s lines. And then, you remember: a long time ago when you were talking to Varian about powerful magic, they said that users casting powerful spells will be caught in the magic’s current, rendering them motionless until the spell is complete.
One moment, the shadows are far away. The next, they are upon her. You see a shadowy axe, raised high. You feel their unspeakable intent.
You don’t think.
One moment, you are behind her. A heartbeat, and you are parrying a shadow’s sword with your own weapon, making it just in time.
With a grunt, you push the shadow back and ready your weapon.
It’s time to fight.
What is the Pondathon?
- The Pondathon is a co-operative and narrative-driven readathon where you read books and collect points to protect your friends from the encroaching darkness beyond the Pond.
- If you missed out on what the Pondathon is, you can read about when the evil was first discovered and information about the readathon at Pondathon: Prologue – Something’s Wrong…
- You can find the complete schedule for the readathon at Pondathon: Prologue – It’s Time to Fight and Protect.
- You can find information about the teams that you can join at Pondathon: Prologue – We Need You and Your Magic; Choose a Team!
- And you can sign up at Prologue – Join Us In Battle and Armour Up!
You’ve received a quest!
Xiaolong has gotten ahead of herself and has cast a powerful summoning rune that has left her unable to move. While she finishes casting her spell, protect her from the shadows that get past her nature-magic!
Quest expires on: 29th January 2020, 9:00PM NZT[?] this side quest has now expired
Objectives:
For every 10 pages that you read, you gain 2 points – and successfully protect Xiaolong from an incoming attack! [Repeatable]- Bonus: Read 60 pages during the duration of this quest (January 25th 2020 – January 29th 2020) and you will earn a quest reward item: Mark of the Brave!
Save or Submit Your Progress!
The Quiet Pond 
The post says the quest bonus is 60 pages read but the google form says 100. Which on is it?
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I’m sorry! It’s 60!
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CW, I have one question: the first bonus section says 60 pages get you the bonus completion mark, but the submission page says 100? Which is correct?
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It’s now fixed! 60 is correct!
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Awesome sauce! 😊
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Just a thought…when we’re putting in the date, will you know/assume that we’re a day off from you/your time zone? I.e. yesterday was the 24th for me (the 1st day of the quest).
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It doesn’t matter to me! The date exists more to help you track.
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Gotcha. I’ll stick with what date it is for me so I don’t muck it up going back & forth. 😅
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Ooh that sounds like a lot of fun!! *twirls in excitement* The quest bonus in the post and the google form is different though??
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It’s been fixed! Sorry about that!
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Thank you!! 😀
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Oh no! I filled out my form but forgot to check the bonus box at the bottom cause I was still thinking 100 pages, any way to add that in? I don’t want to do a second form and seem like I’m cheating lol, I read 84 pages
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That’s ok! Just refill the form with 0 or any additional pages you’ve read and tick for the bonus question. 😊
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Thank you!! ❤
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I looove this! Already sent my form in – I got kind of excited about Day 1 and spent HOURS reading and maybe went overboard, hahaha. I JUST WANT TO SAVE THE POND!
Thanks again for putting this all together!! There’s so much creativity and work put into it, I love it!
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Do pages read in books we started before the Pondathon count for the side quest? (I know finishing the books won’t count toward my team overall, but since I’ll be reading them anyway I wanted to check about the side quest.) Thanks!
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Same rules apply for side quests as well, so no, unfortunately!
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Okay, thanks!
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hi CW!! if we already completed the quest bonus, do we continue clicking the box or will just doing it once suffice? don’t want to make anything harder for you to look at! ❤
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Once will suffice! 😘 But if you end up doing it more than once, that’s totally okay as well!
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Um, I may have missed this somewhere, but how are Kindle ‘pages’ tracked? I can pull up location, percentage through book, and estimated time to read through chapter, and book. Most of what I read is on Kindle now
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Hi! This is covered in the FAQ!
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Hi CW! Do audiobooks count for this side quest or ebooks/physical books only? Thanks!
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Hi! Please read the FAQ. 💛
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Do the pages we’ve read for the side quest need to be added to the overall progress tracker?
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Hi! This is answered in the FAQ!
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