Like a contract. Things happen that make contracts difficult to carry out or interpret and consequences both political and magical may ensue. And people try and interpret contracts in their favour all the time.
A community that backs a quest gets the negative consequences if there are any, but they certainly don't seem predictable and rigid. The very nature of heroquests is that you really don't know what the consequences will be, you have myth and if you are lucky, previous questers' experiences.
Besides, the negative consequences often happen while the quest is in progress, or reach their crux as the quester arrives back. Eringulf arrived back just in time to watch his clan being raided and his chieftain dying, he was 'successful', and got to keep his boons, what is only implied in the tale is that the death of his companions may have been related to the negative consequences. Try factoring that in beforehand.
It is in the questers interest to share his boon with supporters, they may aid him later on with greater wealth and power. But, there is no contract that could possibly account for all possibilities of the outcome of a heroquest.
Jamie
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