I Certainly think it would be unusual for a group to decide to add support to a quest once it's under way. Possibly the only way to aid such a quest is to enact a quest of your own where you take the place of someone/thing who gives aid along the way.
The only example I can think of off the top of my head is "Crossing the Ocean" in the Lightbringers Quest. Greg has suggested a number of times that "on the back of a turtle" isn't the only way. If you know a myth where someone you have a connection to helped Orlanth cross the ocean then even though you were not present when the Heroquestor set off, you could try and join them on the shore to help them across the Ocean...
> Usually a small token of that support is given as a part of the
> ritual (I only allow one ritual to prep a group -- all the support
> groups participate -- armed but not expended as it were) such as a
> bag of wind with the breath of a warband or a rope braided from the
> hair of the women of the clan or pot of woad blessed by all the
> clan's goddi...
>
This is good, and would certainly allow you to call on the bonus when it seems most appropriate to you as the questor. Don't forget that what happens in the Hero Plane is also echoed back on the the "real" world (and vice versa). You are lost in the darkness, and try and find your way out using the glow of the gold ring your wife gave you - at the same time your wife's love for you is being tested, or she is facing some darkness related threat (an insect infestation in the larder, or a Dark Troll war party attacking your stead). If she wavers then your light will dim and you become more lost - conversly if you find your way out, or dispell the darkness, then the threat to her will diminish as well...
> Just a way of doing this that isn't too rules wanky and is somewhat
> more *story* intensive.
>
Normally of course you will be following one side or the other "in game", so what happens elsewhere can be fitted in "in story" later. If your PC's are the Heroquestors then you can describe what the effects of any failures/defeats on their part has been on their followers. If your players are providing support for someone of the stature of Argrath or the like then you can put them against related threats and give them dreams/visions of their hero struggling or triumphing as their results make themselves felt on the Heroplane
If you have some players supporting others it gets a bit more tricky - maybe two concurrant extended contests with some method of feeding back between them?
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