How do you narrate *any* contest?
First off, wagering an ability is *big* juju - you are literally wagering a portion of your self/soul/identity/call it what you will. If you lose, you lose the entire thing - you no longer know how to fight, or do magic, or whatever you wagered. Sometimes you can relearn it, sometimes it can *never* be recovered without another Quest challenge.
What, exactly, the AP bids represent are dependent on the skills used in the contest, who you are wagering with, and what the stakes are. A Quest Challenge with Humakt for the Black Sword of Death using Close Combat and wagering your Relationship: Clan is probably a much different thing than wagering your Farming for Childbirth Luck using Weaving against Ernalda.
Quest challenges are not something a player should casually suggest to his narrator - "oh yeah, I think I'll pop over to the Sword Hall and bet my Farming ability for the power of Death, and on the way I'll beat up Issaries and steal his Bargaining powers..." A Quest Challenge is normally the climax of a Heroquest, and the Players & Narrator need to think about what the entire quest means/is. It is never "casual". Every act, deed, word, and thought is full of mythic significance. You can literally lose yourself on the Other Side, or you can come back with immense powers. A Quest Challenge is a major life event, it should be treated as such.
Roderick
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