[center]Task 1: A Dream of Thrones[/center]
You know what I look forward to every April? The new series of Game of Thrones! A Song of Ice and Fire is an epic-proportioned adventure written by George RR Martin. It’s got everything: Battles, magic, dragons, heroes, villains, political games, secret love affairs, assassinations. You don’t need to know anything about the books or the show to complete these tasks.
Apparently we do stories and roleplay type stuff in these challenges now… Gratuitous host-insert fiction below.
[spoiler]You find yourself lying on a cold stone floor. Pale sunlight pours into the room from several large stained glass windows. High overhead are stone archways and a painted ceiling that seems to shift and swirl with images too fleeting to comprehend. The large room is dominated by a raised section at one end of the hall. Up the three small steps your eyes fall upon an impressive looking chair. It’s form is hard to describe, like the ceiling it continually shifts and swirls, the memory of it slipping away like half remembered dreams.
You are not alone. There are others lying on the floor, looking around as confused as you.
“Where are we?” Someone asks.
One figure is already standing. Tall, slim, dressed in jeans and a black armored motorbike jacket. His face is obscured by a high-tech looking metal mask. Above the mask is a mop of short dark brown hair but no distinguishing features can be observed. He climbs the steps and with a shrug, takes a seat on the shifting dream throne. Slouching, one leg hooked over the arm of the chair, Obfusc8 proceeds to rest his head back in his hands as if preparing for a nap.
While you get to your feet the entire room starts to dematerialise. The walls phase in and out of existence, the floor alarmingly disappears, leaving you looking down over a large map. Towns and cities rise and fall as if made from clockwork. Dramatic instrumental music begins, drowning out the rhythmic sound of the figure now sleeping on the throne. The northern lands are locked in ice and snow. Great armies clash on the battlefields below.
You realise this is a dream and you are lucid. Welcome to a Dream of Thrones.[/spoiler]
SNOW: Play in the snow. Winter is coming! Find snow and throw a snowball or two, sledge or make snow angels. Have fun. Chill out for a while. If you can’t find a suitable snow covered land, then make it snow! Do you want to build a snowman? (Dancing across snowy mountain tops in a princess outfit while singing is entirely optional and not worth any additional points, just so you know, but feel free.) 20pts
BRAVE: Show your bravery in battle. Specifically; participate in a large battle, fight overwhelming odds (i.e. more than one opponent) or survive against an opponent much bigger than you. You don’t have to be big or strong to be brave. ‘Participate’ in this instance does not require any violence or killing on your part, but you cannot simply observe a battle: You must be in it and defend yourself as necessary. 30pts
CROWN: See a King/Queen/Ruler or a throne. You could explore a palace to find a throne room. Better yet, take your rightful place and sit on the dream throne! Rulers often have a crown or badge of office, so if you can’t find a king or queen, simply appoint a DC by giving them (or yourself) a crown. 30pts
TEAM TASKS
SKY RANGER
CLIMB: Climb something tall. At the start of the books, Bran Stark loves to climb the towers of Winterfell, and he inspired this task. Ideally I mean free climb a large tree, the outside of a building or mountain or other large structure. Climbing regular stairs doesn’t count… unless they are giant sized or you find yourself hanging off the side of a bizarre Escher-type impossible construct, or the wrong side of the safety handrail… you know, something out of the ordinary. 30pts
DRAGON: Ride a dragon/mythical beast. Daenerys is the called the mother of dragons, maybe you can command mighty beasts too? Dragons are obviously the most awesome, but any other large/impressive/mythical beast like a dinosaur, a pegasus, a griffon, a unicorn, will do. I may allow other beasts if they are exotic or magical in some way, so post your dream if you ride something extraordinary. 40pts
NIGHT DRUID
GROW: Grow in size. Have you heard of ‘The Mountain That Rides’? He’s a giant of a man. This task is about seeing life from a taller perspective. Transform yourself into a large human/giant or something greater… Dragon? Dinosaur? Anything big! The bigger the better, right?30pts
METAL: Shape or create metal. Lost your best sword-fightin’ hand? No problem: Get a new one made from gold. To complete this task you just need to find something made from metal and bend/shape it into something else. Alternatively you can change any item, object or person you wish into metal - and this being the transformation team then yes you could turn part (or all) of your body to metal. If you’re looking for inspiration, how about Colossus from the X-Men, or becoming a liquid metal Terminator. 40pts
SPACE MAGE
DISGUISE: Change your appearance. Using willpower to change your clothes is one way, or you could put on a mask/wig/disguise. You could cast a spell to change your appearance, whip up some polyjuice potion, do a full body swap or transformation (limited to standard human forms only to avoid task crossover with the Druid team tasks). Arya Stark often pretends to be a boy, so if you’re feeling experimental, try a dream disguised as someone of the opposite gender. (Combo restrictions: Wearing a crown, growing in size or turning yourself to metal doesn’t count as a disguise.) 30pts
SHADOW: Manipulate shadows with magic - make shadows grow or shrink, make them dance or attack people or defend you. For the truly powerful, how about turning night into day or vice versa? Take inspiration from the Red Priests and Shadowbinders of Asshai: They can send assassins made from shadow to hunt their enemies. 40pts
FAQs
SPOILER - Click to view
…hey, obfusc8, where are the bleep are the team designed tasks?
After participating in several of these challenges I’ve noted a high amount of interest in creating the DIY team tasks, but not many completions of said tasks. The ‘TEAM-UP’ weekly bonus is designed to replace the team tasks with an option of summoning other LC participants for additional points. You’ve got 9 tasks, a personal goal and monthly quests to do. Focus on them.
This time the team which completes the most tasks-per-member each week wins the team advantage and gets to create a task of their own, based around the current week’s theme. So essentially the winning team get to design a task with (hopefully) like-minded team mates that can fit their own lucid dreaming goals and desires. These DIY tasks cannot overlap existing tasks, but other than that are pretty open and are an opportunity to accomplish other personal goals… as long as the majority of the team agrees.
…hey, obfusc8, can I combo with ?
Sure. That’s the idea. If I haven’t stated specifically that it cannot be combined with something, then that’s either by design or it’s something I didn’t think of. Exploit any loopholes you spot, but as soon as you point them out, others will doubtless try the same thing.
…hey, obfusc8, can I combine with my personal goal?
Sure. That’s the idea. These tasks were dreamed up long before signups were even posted. If they happen to link nicely to your personal goal, feel free to combine task and goal attempts for big points! When you complete your personal goal, remember you can pick a second goal worth another 25pts.
…but obfusc8, wah! wah! Somebody’s personal goal is just like ! Favouritism! Conspiracy! You’re so unfair!
Personal goals can only be completed while lucid, the other tasks can be completed in normal dreams.
Most people’s personal goals are much more specific than these tasks. E.g. Letaali needs to travel to a specific planet from a previous dream and then play in the snow to complete both his goal and the SNOW task, and given that he’s been trying to go there for over two years, I think we can give him a little extra incentive to finally get there…
And just before you /ragequit, who knows, next week might have a task which assists your own goal. I want you all to complete your personal goals. If everyone manages their goal before the end of the challenge, I’ll be really really really really happy. Really. 
)
I’ll get something soon, though!