Task of the Year 2014

The Challenge:
This year the theme is Fairy Tales! We'll be visiting 8 different fictional tales. Your challenge is to complete all 8 tasks before 2015.


The Rules:
You must complete each task in a separate lucid dream; you can't do more than one in the same dream.


The Tasks, in no particular order are:
Beauty and the Beast - Your dad screws you over and drops you off at a palace, owned by a frightening, cursed beast. You have to tell this beast that you love him, then kiss him, whereby breaking the curse. Report what he looks like after the curse is lifted.

Hansel and Gretel - You and your sibling are imprisoned in a witch's cottage. Using any means necessary, escape imprisonment, rescue your sibling, and shove the witch into a hot oven. Once the witch is "al dente," take a bite.

Jack and the Beanstalk - As Jack, acquire some magic beans, and plant them. Once they grow into a giant, sky-piercing stalk, climb to the top and find the giant. Defeat him using any means necessary.

Sleeping Beauty* - As Prince Charming, find and defeat The Dragon (an evil, transfigured fairy). In the nearby castle sleeps the charmed princess. Hack your way through overgrown briars, and release the princess from her slumber with a kiss.

The Wizard of OZ - Your house is transported by a tornado, with you still in it, to a magical land. Whilst there, grab the red ruby slippers from the feet of the witch upon whom your house has landed. Click your heels 3 times, and wake up.

The Little Mermaid - As a being who is human on the top and fish on the bottom, seek out an attractive landlubber by transforming your fins into legs. Do what you want with the object of your affection, then grab your gills and return to the briny blue.

Aladdin - As Aladdin, you need to find a magic lamp to grant you 3 wishes. The first wish must be to possess a magic flying carpet, that you take for a spin. The remaining 2 wishes are for you to decide on your own, but you must have the addition of the remaining two wishes to complete this penultimate task of the year.

The Lord of the Rings - Be any character from LOTR (a hobbit, wizard, dwarf, elf, ent, etc), and travel to Erebor, The Lonely Mountain. Find Smaug the Dragon, and run a spear through the one place on his breast where there is a missing scale, destroying at last, the final fiery descendant of Morgoth's cruel creations.

* Since Oreo came up with this year's theme, and I know he happens to like dragons, I thought it would be nice to include one or two.


Good luck:
Feel free to post any attempts and accomplishments in this thread. Good luck and have fun!

Hmmm... I might have to possess a woman to do some of these. :P kissing guys isn't really my style, but I am gonna do these this year. I like LOTR added in! Especially Erebor! The Hobbit is one of the best books that I have ever read.

Gonna save that one for last I believe, so I can keep my spirits up. Sleeping beauty as well. I think it is gonna be Aladdin for me! I have some good ideas for wishes! :3

Wasn't excited about last year, bit this years seem awesome. :)

Great tasks! Having spent all of 2013 on Task of the Year only to complete 2, I can raise the bar just by finishing 3 of these. :chuckle:

These are really story-driven, so they could make for a nice way to practice a very visualization-heavy form of MILD to get the imagination rolling in the right direction.

Are we permitted to adjust the genders on any of these? (A female Beast, for example?)

Good luck, all, in 2014!! :goodjob:

Oh hell yeah, adjust genders as necessary.

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Originally Posted by BrandonBoss

Hmmm... I might have to possess a woman to do some of these. :P kissing guys isn't really my style, but I am gonna do these this year. I like LOTR added in! Especially Erebor! The Hobbit is one of the best books that I have ever read.

Gonna save that one for last I believe, so I can keep my spirits up. Sleeping beauty as well. I think it is gonna be Aladdin for me! I have some good ideas for wishes! :3

Wasn't excited about last year, bit this years seem awesome. :)

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Who's to say Ariel doesn't....uh... "like to experiment?" :D

Hmm...some of these seem somewhat interesting. I was hoping the next yearly task would be based off of fairy tales. I might try to do these, though I do not know if I will have the time to, since I have a busy schedule coming up. I will probably have to do these pretty fast.

Not the most excited (some) but I work on them!

I did last year in a month and a half, lets see how these go.

Is it okay to destroy Smaugh by other ways, or only with the spear?

Ohhhh there's no pleasing you Percy

Which ones do you like and not like Percy?

@fryingman
You and your dirty mind. :P Ariel is supposed to be like 16! (I think)

Question about the beauty and the beast one, are we allowed imagine the beast as a female if we are so inclined? Like BrandonBoss said earlier, I'm not into kissing guys myself :P

Also, I totally wanted to visit Erebor before seeing the Lord of the Rings task! I even attempted in my LD last night:
"I then remembered that I wanted to visit Erebor from the Hobbit. I decide to phase through the wall and think that's where I want to show up. I push through it remembering an old dream that's how I did it. When I go through, I come out in a fancy hotel. I thought about trying again, but I decided to just explore a bit and see if I could just "stumble upon" Erebor. I find a hallway, and then a door. I open the door and realize I found it. But it was extremely dark and hard to see. So I thought maybe I just need to help my subconscious out, so I'm walking down the stone stairs from the movie trying to think of what it looked like. It doesn't really work because I end up back at the hotel."

Yes, go ahead and be a dude and make the beast a cursed female. Or be Jaqueline and the Beanstalk, or Aladdina :P

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Originally Posted by BrandonBoss

Which ones do you like and not like Percy?

@fryingman
You and your dirty mind. :P Ariel is supposed to be like 16! (I think)

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Yeah but what's that in fish years?
And hey, *I* didn't write the story and/or choose the TOTY :P. And just who said anything about "dirty" experimentation? :P

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

Ohhhh there's no pleasing you Percy

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Well, I said, "some." This is too fairy tale themed... too Disney! Some months you pleased me, and last ToTY were excellent, but this revolves too much around TV.

Also, you need to tell me if it is okay to kill Smaugh by any means or only with the Spear thing.

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Originally Posted by BrandonBoss

Which ones do you like and not like Percy?

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love
- Aladdin.
- Lord of the Rings.

Like
- Hansel and Gretel.
- Jack and the Beanstalk

Neutral
- The Wizard of OZ

Dislike
- Beauty and the Beast
- Sleeping Beauty.
- The Little Mermaid

Just too kissy-kissy girly fairy tale themed task... some horror movies could have been thrown in there or some a little more attractive to other than kids! 7 out of 8 are cartoons! Oh well, what you gonna do, LOL.

Time to go to bed and kill some dragon (and no, I am saving no prince, the other dragon :P)

Well you can kill Smaug in another way if you like... of course I completely understand if it's too difficult to hit the target with the missing scale. I mean after all, it took 2 generations of Laketowners to get it right, so I won't hold it against you :teeth:

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

Well you can kill Smaug in another way if you like... of course I completely understand if it's too difficult to hit the target with the missing scale. I mean after all, it took 2 generations of Laketowners to get it right, so I won't hold it against you :teeth:

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Oh...ooookaaaaaaaaaay,,, I see... It's that so??? :D :D

You dare to challenge me? Mhuahahaha. Worry not then, I will kill your dragon, your way... I'll hit the missing scale for you :D Wait and see....

1-15-14 shall be my deadline, mark my words, will come sooner but no later than this date :D

Haha. I like those two best as well. Gonna see if I can use some of those wishes to my advantage and see if I can use them to enhance my dreaming. I like the other ones as well though, just not as much as those two.

So you'd rather have a Grimm task and cut off some toes. :P

I am giving myself until the end of February and if I haven't at least gotten close to finishing all of them, I will give up. If I get too distracted by a goal I will lose lucidity frequency.

Damn, you know what, I was thinking of Cinderella, but couldn't think of anything cool to do with her. I totally forgot about the sisters cutting off their toes. And usually I get in trouble for being TOO gory with tasks. I thought of Snow White too, but couldn't think outside the poison apple. I think this year I'm really going to hound the crap out of the lucid task club for more ideas.

I like the beanstalk thing especially - and the dragons!

Yeah and avoiding gore/horror is A-OK in my book.

Aladdin fail

Spoiler for LD:

Hmmm... Strange house. I am in a dream. Third tonight... i should try a task. Aladdin! i try to think if the task had me actually go to the cave of wonders. I dont think so, seems way too straight forward, lamp, wishes, first wish is for magic carpet. So... Find a lamp. I walk around the back of the building. I see a small piece of clay in the yard. I grab it and imagine it is the lamp and rub it, it doesn't transform or anything. Hmmm... I drop it and lean down. I start digging and reach a lamp broken in 3 parts. I pick it up and try imagining them together, but nothing happens. I close my eyes and imagine them molding together. I look in my hands and I have a lamp shaped like fat Buddha. One arm being the handle and the other the spout side (imagine "little tea pot") I rub the statue (kind of strange since people rub him). No genie comes out. I try closing my eyes and rubbing. When I open the lamp is gone. Grrr... Guess I'll try another time then. I look around and see a boom box. I play it with my mind (I think imagine dragons). I hear a voice before the music.
"Brandon." It is my wife " it is time to get up. Pastor wants you to help get him in the Santa costume for Christmas. It is 6:57"
About to wake myself up. I realize that my pastor would never wear a Santa costume. I listen to the music and realize that the last time I closed my eyes it became dark outside. I fly into the night sky and am entranced by the stars and music for the remaining time. I woke up at 2:15 by the way, only 3 hours after I went to sleep.

Imagine Dragons - Demons (Official) - YouTube

Wow Brandon, you got a lot done after only a few hours sleep. Sorry that the lamp was being such a butt.

I like the creative ways and persistence to get that lamp all in one piece haha.

@ophelia,
I might have to go into the cave of wonders. I know that there is a lamp there, and it works pretty good. :P

Thanks imrossed. :) I shall try to get everything to work next time.

I like this better than last year's. And it wasn't even 100% Grimm, but a little Hans Christian Andersen thrown in there too. I'm going to have to do that one, for patriotic reasons. ;)

BTW, you guys crack me up. You're going to attempt to kiss a hideous monster, and what you are worried about is its gender? Fangs! Claws! Halitosis! Oh my! :panic:

Hey who said anything about "hideous" ;)? Some "frightening beasts" are smoking hot (and I don't mean as in the balrog) ;).

In Disney's beauty and the beast I always thought the beast was better looking as a beast :P

I wasn't going by the Disney film, which I haven't seen, but the pictures of it look like a big lion or something. I was thinking of the original story, and as I recall it, the Beast was really horrible. Luckily, we can all choose our own Beast, so go for it! :D

Oh goodness, I'm terrible at lucid dreaming but these sound wonderful, I just have to try them. vuv

Since I'm not one into fairytales (at all) and I haven't seen/read most of these, I think I'm going to have more trouble recalling the tasks in the dream than actually doing said tasks. :P

Still worth giving it a shot though, why not?

These all sound great, I'm going to have to try my hand at these this year. I'm particularly looking forward to the Sleeping Beauty and Jack and the Beanstalk tasks. I like having a darker spin on fairy tales myself, so maybe I'll re-read the Grimm versions for inspiration. ^^

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Originally Posted by Mismagius

In Disney's beauty and the beast I always thought the beast was better looking as a beast :P

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Haha, glad I'm not the only one who thinks this!

I had a non-lucid the night before last which was the perfect setup for the Sleeping Beauty task. Now I feel almost obligated to go save her.

Spoiler for Dream:

I've already missed my first class of the day because I can't find my way out of the college's main building. I'm getting desperate since it's not much longer until my second class is supposed to start.

While wandering, I come upon a party being held in one of the upstairs rooms. I had forgotten that there were supposed to be several parties up here today. This one looks extremely high-class and fancy--- aside from the strippers pole dancing at the corners of the room! My boss and coworker are running the sound system for this party. They seem to be focusing more on the strippers than on their job.

I'm not supposed to be here, so I try to leave without drawing attention to myself. I go out a door, thinking I've finally found the exit. Instead, I come out on the roof. It is a very nice view, but now I am beyond frustrated. "WHY!?" I scream. "Why am I on the roof!?" I hear a girl laughing behind me.

I turn around to see a girl dressed as Sleeping Beauty. She is one of the staff of another party that the school is hosting, which involves fairy tale princesses. "Took a wrong turn?" she asks.

I grin sheepishly. "Yeah. I'm kinda lost."

"Want me to show you the way?"

I think about it, but I'm pretty embarrassed about the situation already. "Nah, I'll find my way out eventually. I should really know my way around by now anyway, since it's my second year here."

She giggles. "Yeah, you really should."

I go back inside and wander into a room that appears to be an occultist bookstore. I never knew this was here! I am about to look around, when I hear the Sleeping Beauty girl behind me. "You're going entirely the wrong way," she teases. "You should go to the north-west wing."

I admit that I have an atrocious sense of direction and have no idea which way northwest is from where we are. "Just follow me!" she insists. I relent, following her though the door that FINALLY takes me outside. We seem to be on the street rather than on campus, however.

Sleeping Beauty is very enthusiastic as we walk, bursting into song and twirling around the sidewalk. I smile, unable to help being smitten by her liveliness.

Suddenly, the scene changes as the dream begins to deteriorate. Sleeping Beauty is narrating a story from her childhood, in which she wants to catch a phoenix to bring an end to the harsh winter. I am shown flashes of a phoenix, then the terrible scene of the girl's frozen corpse nailed to a wooden stake, alone in a blizzard. The last image before I awaken is the face of an evil dragon, mocking the girl's death.

Well, things turned a bit violent at the end but there it is:

Beauty and the Beast (with a mini gender bender twist)

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It is a beautiful view of green plains, with a weird building with one-two statues in the distance and a very large gray palace next to it.

At this time it clicks this could so well be the palace I wanted to summon. I'm still skeptic that will be able to make it and complete the entire task but give it a go. Don't remember flying for a long distance, it's like the palace became closer as I started to focus on the steps of the task. I go in what looks like museum palace lobby, there's some thematic furniture, long red carpet or velvet curtains, don't pay too much attention to them. I immediately think dad. That's actually quite easy and there he stands in one of the side corridors. I say a few words to him, to mentally confirm this is going the way it has to be. Then start looking for the beast but there is no one in sight.

The room I'm in is pretty small and there are stairs going down and I go to the lower floor, looking for the beast. I run into an old Chinese man that I try to make look scary but no matter how much effort I put into this, he stays the same. I obviously start making scary faces and roar in an attempt to distort his features into evil ones, but he looks scared as hell and is shivering. I can't believe my DC is afraid of me and where is that beast? A couple of DCs that I don't pay much attention to appear and there it is - a disgusting beast. It looks like one H. Bosch's animals - a mixture of different animals, like a large pink pig and echidna, strange fur and the nose of a mole. It also is spitting something poisonous from its month and hissing. I so much regret not being able to summon my much now friendly looking lion man at this point.

Disgusted, I approach the wild creature, tell him I love it him (it?) and kiss it near what looks like its mouth. I remain with my eyes closed and wait a bit, but can still feel this thing aggressively making breathing noises and moving around. I know the curse has to be broken but nothing happens, and I can't take the little bugger any more. It's somewhat smaller now - the size of a cat maybe and I throw it away where it gets under some furniture. That thing keeps making the sounds, but looks wounded and in the next moment I see that it gives existence to a DC that comes out from under the furniture. To my amusement, it is a female classmate. Good enough I suppose. The dream soon fades.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by NyxCC

Well, things turned a bit violent at the end but there it is:

Beauty and the Beast (with a mini gender bender twist)

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That was awesome. Nice work!

Thanks, imrossed! :)

Hmmm... Another Aladin fail (I haven't forgot about these). I really have issues thinking of a specific task in a LD. Been doing all sorts of tasks, but going for a specific task is hard for me.

Spoiler for lucid:

DEILD, back to sleep. Hmmm... I guess I could go for a goal. I look at the computer. Ah, I could see if I can get some "government secret" answers to questions hack into government computers (I don't know how to hack or anything, but I can fake it in a dream. :P) I have two monitors, and moves around like it is on an arm going out from the desk, after a minute or so of no answers (and being a little scared about getting caught even though in a dream) the computer disappears. I need to do the Aladdin task anyways. I try a new way of teleporting and I am in the outskirts of Agrobah. I figure if I go through parts of the movie I can remember the rest of the task. I look at the sand hill that I am on and at the top Jasmine is fighting two guards (I get a little confused, but I figure that this is how the movie starts). One guard jumps me from behind and i swat away his sword and stab him. I run up the hill to the other two guards and stab one in the back. I realize that those were easy fights and I want a harder one I wave Jasmine off the last guard. I jump at him and he is the leader man. Blocking really isntntoo hard since I have been working with reflexes lately. I am getting the feel of swordplay. I keep my speed at "feel" speed. He is pretty big, so I use my speed and jump on top of him and leave my sword in him (think finishing moves). I stood up and Jasmine is still worried. I grab the sword and look at the three men lying down. This doesn't seem to be like the actual movie. I remember something else about the movie and dodge to the side. A tiger flies by where I was just standing and then looks at me. The bloody remains of its last victim in its mouth still. I jump at it and chop off a paw. I think of David fighting a lion without a sword... Yikes. It limps at me and scratches toward me. I block with my sword and push the paw away. I stab upward into the bottom of its mouth through the top of his head. There is something i need to remember about this movie... What was it? Wake up.

Still a cool dream, BrandonBoss!

Thanks sibyline! I just remembered part that I forgot (this happened like 3 days ago).

Right when I teleported and fought the dude behind me, Jasmine died and I used rewind on the whole thing in order to get it right the second time. :)

"Rewind" in your LD? That's totally boss.

Haha. Thanks Ophelia. It is really strange, because it thought of it in dream and have just kept doing it every time I mess something up. I think that video games and restarting from last checkpoint made me feel like every time I fail I can just try again.

The dry spell has ended, and I am back in the swing of things! :D Got the Aladdin done last night, and I think it's quite amusing to read :) DJ LINK

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"Anyway, you need a carpet, right?" That's true, I did have to take a magic carpet for a spin. "Uh yeah, you got one?" I asked. He nodded his head behind him and, sure enough, there it was. It wasn't magnificent looking at all like it was in the movie. It looked like a standard rug you would put a coffee table on over hardwood. But hey, if it's "magic" then I don't really care what it looked like. "Thanks," I said halfheartedly. I walked past him and hopped on the carpet. I floated up above the floor a couple inches... lean forward, and start flying quickly towards the wall on the other side. I put my arms up in front of me and break through the wall, nearly losing my balance and being blinded by the sun.

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"Well then, Mr. Sarcasm, how about that pool over there becomes filled with chocolate pudding?" I pointed my finger at the pool. Why pudding? I don't know, I couldn't think of anything. Why chocolate? Because chocolate pudding is best pudding. Period. "Uh, sure, whatever," he spoke lazily. I watched intently as a small portion of the pool in the middle began to turn thick and chocolatey. It slowly expanded across the water and down to the bottom, just like supercooled water freezing. 'Damn, that's a lot of pudding' I thought, and I walked over towards it. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a spoon (sometimes things are just where they need to be in dreams) and bent over. I scooped some up and right as I'm about to taste it (Go read it to find out ;P)

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"How about you let me kick you in the head!" I shouted. I figured I could kill two birds with one stone, part of the TotY and a little revenge . "Well..." he pondered, "I suppose I am playing the role of the genie, so I guess I kinda have to." He rubbed his chin while he spoke. "Alright then!" I yelled, jumping out of the pudding pool. No clue how I jumped, but I also didn't have any pudding on me anymore. Yay dreams! He turned his back to me, "Have fun!" He shouted. Right as he finished I sung my right leg around and roundhoused him right in the head, just like he had done to me.

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Excellent dream, Burke, except one thing:

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Because chocolate pudding is best pudding. Period.

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Ah I forgive you that lapse, clearly butterscotch pudding is THE BEST :P.

I think it would be way easier if you just used VILD or any incubated dream technique to do this task, since you know...
its kinda hard to start adventures like that

I had a pretty decent failure on the Little Mermaid task. Managed the fish transformation, more or less, but got all panicky underwater. Had a false awakening next to my lovely landlubber Wife, too, but certainly never figured out my way back to the ocean. I am trying though!

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I fly west for a bit, slowly turning southward and expecting to see water until… I see the ocean just ahead of me! :happy:

I pop up into the air and then plunge straight downward into the water, happily swimming about beneath the waves. The water’s darker than I’d like, but I try not to get too nervous or worked about this. I imagine my lower body turning into that of a fish, swim around that way for a bit, then look down to check my handiwork. It’s close, but not quite right… each leg is still there but all scaly like a fish’s body with a fin on the end.

I look away again, swim around a bit more, trying to make it all feel natural. I check again and it’s looking better, just about right, but now I’m feeling paranoid about my breathing. I feel like I can’t breathe underwater and need to surface. Panicked that something is wrong with my breathing in waking life, I push for the surface and fall into the void.

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Full DJ entry: The Hybrid - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Good try, CL! I want to do the Mermaid soon too. I'm trying to prepare myself mentally for the making legs bit. I mean, I know it can't hurt me, but I really don't want to chicken out if the opportunity presents itself. I really have to believe deep down that I'm safe. Not quite there yet. We should have a chickenshit emoticon.

Oh here is one: http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...hickenshit.gif

You can totally do it Sibyline!! I'm looking forward to your Little Mermaid entry!

And LOL at the "chickenshit" emoticon. That isn't going to be you. Wish I had a mermaid icon to throw here for you instead, but I do not.

I agree with Canis, both about being able to do it and the LOL.

Also, here's one ;)

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...acters/851.gif

Sort of...

Guys, c'mon... really sweet of you, and I internet-love you both, but please. Did you see the flag icon below my avatar? That's not the little mermaid, that's Ariel.

This is the little mermaid:

http://eatingfastfood.files.wordpres.../11/statue.jpg

I know this because I have sat next to her and held her hand. :hug:

It's an entirely different story for me, and I highly recommend that you read it - but only after you have completed the TOTY. Ariel is super cute, and she - or your own image of a mermaid/merman - will do just fine for this task. But once you have completed it, if you like a beautiful and sad story, I'd be happy to find a link to a good translation of it. It just might bring you to tears.

I had a very close failure on the Jack and the Beanstalk task!

Gah!! I've got to learn to close the deal! Really fun dream though.

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I’m filled with confidence after this, so I just start knocking out Task of the Year steps as quickly as I can.

I need bare earth, so I scoop the roadway aside, leaving a bowl-shaped hollow for my seed. I close and then open my hand, expecting the seed to be there. It is! (Looks like a pine nut.) I stuff the seed in the hole, cover it over with dirt and pat it down. A stalk immediately starts growing out of the ground and I jump onto it as it goes by. The stalk’s growing fast and since I hitched a ride so early, the plant’s doing the climbing for me.

I streak past the nearby buildings and head into the clouds. Immediately a shirtless, ape-like giant with a long beard comes loping toward me, about 100 feet away. I’m preparing to do something violent and decisive to make absolutely certain that I nail Task of the Year, but excitement gets the best of me. The scene collapses into a false awakening back in my bedroom.

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Full dream: CL and the Beanstalk - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

I think I managed to get the Aladdin one during a mid-morning nap, though my magic carpet came out kind of weird.

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I wish for a magic carpet. The genii points to an endcap where there are plush purple toilet lid covers on display. He takes one and tosses it in the air. It seems to get larger and thinner as it spins until landing on the floor, now large enough to hold a person. I make sure to hang onto the lamp as I get on the rug. The rug flies through the air, heading for the front of the store where I magically pass through the plate-glass window.

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To my surprise, I got stumped when trying to decide on a second and third wish. For the second one, I wished to be somewhere warm and found myself wearing a raincoat in the middle of a tropical thunderstorm, which was a bit unexpected. But my third wish was a lot more satisfying.

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I wish that I could speak to my (dead) grandmother. I see my Nana, my mom's mother, appear on my left hand side. She reminds me that this used to be her sewing room. I look on my right and see my dad's mother, who passed away before I was born. I really want to hear what she has to say, but she remains silent at first. I realize that I have no idea what she even sounds like because I have no memories to build on. Trying to draw her out, I ask, "What should I do with my life? I could really use some guidance." She remains silent, but this time she leans forward and kisses me on the forehead, then she gives me a hug. Then she tells me, "I want you to live. I have two beautiful granddaughters that I am so proud of and I want you to live your lives."

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When I decided to try the Aladdin task, I was a bit worried that I'd basically live out the plot of the movie. I'm very happy with how the dream actually turned out with a lack of princesses and evil sorcerers.

Well done, Thena! Your genie was a bit playful with the first two wishes, but the third one must have been really special for you. Congratulations!

I NL'd half the B&B task, exept a spider attacked me instead of the whole 'beast' thing

Hold on. In the task for The Lord of The Rings (which I love no matter what the answer is), do you have to be a character from the canon of the novel or can you be your own character, from one of Middle Earth's races? For example, I definitely want to be a wizard; but can I be my own wizard or do I have to be Gandalf or another of the five Istari?

sounds like that is up to you to decide Dr. :P

I think that it is race, not a specific person.

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Originally Posted by BrandonBoss

sounds like that is up to you to decide Dr. :P

I think that it is race, not a specific person.

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Well, I wouldn't want to do the task as a character of my own conception and then find out that it wasn't within the rules of the task. But I guess my entry probably won't be invalid then, so. Setting character designs for the raddest Istar of all. :cooler: :wizard: :shadewink:

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Originally Posted by AstralVagabond

Hold on. In the task for The Lord of The Rings (which I love no matter what the answer is), do you have to be a character from the canon of the novel or can you be your own character, from one of Middle Earth's races? For example, I definitely want to be a wizard; but can I be my own wizard or do I have to be Gandalf or another of the five Istari?

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Yes, what Brandon said. You could be a random wizard and win with a staff, or some random hobbit and throw a mug of ale at him, or be an Orc and kill smaug to death with your ugliness :P

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

Yes, what Brandon said. You could be a random wizard and win with a staff, or some random hobbit and throw a mug of ale at him, or be an Orc and kill smaug to death with your ugliness :P

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Cool. :D I'll do that, then. Although boy, that would have to be one deadly mug of ale...

I had another close call failure valiant attempt! I've really got to work on managing my excitement. (This one was on the Aladdin task.)

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Immediately I start attempting the lamp summon by “finding” it behind my back, but my hand just keeps coming back empty. After three failures, I’m really frustrated by this. On the last attempt my hand comes back with some little piece of dirty, wooden-looking junk about the size of a sugar cube. This time I pretend that this is the lamp but it’s just way too small. “Bigger… bigger…” and do a little magician-esque gesture. It plumps up nicely into a real magic lamp! It’s way too light to be realistic, but who cares, next step!

I rub the lamp, wishing for the magic carpet. I decide to be really specific, saying, “A magic carpet. Make it rolled up.” A simple little rolled-up rug appears on the ground. I immediately think, Why’d you ask for it rolled up? That’s just a pain in the ass. I expect the magic carpet to unroll and it does, so I quickly sit down. As I do, it lifts me up into the air and starts flying leisurely forward.

For my second wish, I quickly say “Delicious cookie!” and a tiny little sliver of cookie appears in my hand, like someone had already eaten most of it. I find this awfully stingy for a magic lamp but I stuff it in my mouth. It’s chocolate chip, not bad at all.

I think about how close I am to completing the task and the excitement gets the best of me. I get one last look at the roof of a one-story building as I float over it before the dream ends.

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Full dream: Magic Carpet School - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

^^ That was awesome, you are amazing! :D I think it's completely unnecessary to bold or even write down the world failure too (your subcon's watching).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NyxCC

^^ That was awesome, you are amazing! :D I think it's completely unnecessary to bold or even write down the world failure too (your subcon's watching).

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Ha ha, thanks! And that's a good suggestion. Let me just fix that right up! :D

Awesome dream CL!

A mini-try for Jack and the beanstalk :):

Quote:

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There's a small black hound-like dog running around that distracts me and I try to ignore it as much as possible, while thinking about the beanstalk. I see some sort of bean-like seeds on the ground and take them, looking for a good place to plant them. I open my palm and see them undergoing many changes - all sorts of colors and shapes and try to make them a particular sort of beans again. After some struggle they look like dark red beans and I place them on the steps where there is a lot of muddy soil and cover them with it. One stone's hanging above and I think it will mess up how they grow, because of my thoughts. Anyways, I start to think about them growing and they grow into small shoots. The dream fades.

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Here is valiant attempt #2 at the Jack and the Beanstalk task. I'm trying! I'm really trying! One of these days...

Quote:

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The [movie] theater is large but there are only five seats right next to each other... I start going for Jack and the Beanstalk Task of the Year. I perform a behind-the-back summon of seeds, and my hand comes back with little nuggets attached to long wisps of cotton. I just go ahead like this is good enough and start digging into the floor. The concrete floor scoops easily aside, leaving a nice, shallow hole for the seeds. I stuff them into the dirt, cover it back over, and start looking for my beanstalk to grow.

The shoots start emerging, but when they get to be about 4-5 inches long, they flop over onto their side on the floor. I tug at them a bit but they just feel like limp, frayed green carpet. I give them a tug and try to imagine them shooting skyward, but I’m not able to get tons of energy behind this thought.

Now I see Wife walking in through the doors of the theater. There’s a sensation that’s sort of like waking up and then I find myself in my in-laws’ house. I “realize” that all of what I just experienced took place inside Unreal Engine 4 and I’ve now returned to the real world. :roll:

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Full dream: Indoor Gardening - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Toty fail... Should have used my phone instead of asking a DC to remind me of my goals.

I WILD and am trying to decide what to do. An old dude in a van pulls up and asks if I want to do a toty. He pulls some stuff out of the back of the van starts connecting it up. We were standing in the back of a car and I couldn't remember a task like this. He set his phone up
old man: record a John Mayer song.
Me: That isn't a task
old man: It is, just do it.
I couldn't remember any John Mayer songs anyways. I get frustrated and tell him to forget about it. I decide to walk away and he keeps bothering me. I am getting ready to fly off and he jumps me and stops me from flying. That makes me angry.
"You don't even exist!" My voice echoes through the whole world and he gets angry, his body disappears going from toe to head, and the last thing I can see is his face in anger. I walk slowly down the sidewalk and look at the park and the sky, pretty beautiful, I walk down for like ten minutes. Not thinking of any goals, I fly off and wake up a few seconds later.

I was close. I need a lot more practice on dream control.
Jack and the Beanstalk FAIL - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

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After about 20 seconds of flying I find a hole that had been refilled that is next to a house. I figure it's probably easier to use that than dig a brand new hole. I took off my gloves and dug in. I tried to summon a shovel or something, and then I realized: how was I suppose to dispose of the giant if I didn't have any weapons? I closed my eyes and tried to visualize a bazooka, beside me, and I immediately realized my mistake. DO NOT CLOSE YOUR EYES IN A LD. I struggled to open my eyes; I did open them, but it was too late. The dream went into a FA.

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I do realize now that closing my eyes doesn't have to end the dream but I'm still pretty n00b :P

Finally!! Success on the Jack and the Beanstalk task! :boogie: I'm so psyched to get one of these at last.

Quote:

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I dig a quick hole and everything’s feeling very vivid now. I do a behind-the-back summon of a seed which feels very half-hearted but fortunately still does yield a tiny seed. I quickly cover it over with dirt.

For water I move my hands in a little sprinkling motion over the little mound and a few drops of “rain” fall. The plant immediately springs up through the ground and stretches skyward. It looks like a normal vine at first but as it continues up it looks more like a twisting rope bridge that goes all the way up into the clouds.
...
“So you’re the giant?” I ask leadingly.

“That’s right,” he says and immediately takes a swing at me. His punch catches me square in the face but I decide that it will have no effect. I wind up not feeling anything or even falling back and it kind of feels like cheating. I strike at the man, trying what I for some reason think is a “kidney punch” but actually hit him in the side of the gut. He winces a bit but doesn’t move much.

I follow this up with a kick to the body and the giant clutches at his chest. I feel like this is working but I become paranoid about losing the dream, so I leap up and grab onto the giant’s face. I try to do this thing where I burn him with my hands but it completely fails. The failure makes me kind of vicious and desperate, so I gouge at his left eye with my right thumb and then strike him on the neck with my forearm. He collapses hard to the ground and I go with him. As I’m picking myself up to see what’s next, the dream ends.

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Full dream: The Giant Killer - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

I managed to have the longest LD I've ever had today. The stabalization techniques from the Dream Views podcast helped out a lot. I managed a couple tasks so I'm pretty exited. Bonus Task and Jack and the Beanstalk TOTY - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Congratulations, CL! You got it! :rockon:

Yeah CL!!

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/20...by_Mirz123.gif

Took on the Beauty and the Beast task with interesting results:

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I find myself in a dark room where the only light is from the fireplace. There are bookshelves lining the walls and two armchairs in front of the fire. Someone comes from behind and guides me towards one of the chairs, murmuring something about how I must be cold. This must be the beast. I turn so I can see his face, except he doesn't seem to have a head. Wrong story -- this isn't supposed to be Sleepy Hollow.

The beast sits down in one of the chairs and pulls me into his lap. This time when I look, he really is a proper beast with a head and everything. To my surprise, he looks like the one from the Disney movie (I had hoped my subconscious would be a bit more original than that). But he has very soft fur and I spend a lot of time stroking it before whispering, "I love you." He's a bit too tall for me to kiss while I'm sitting, so I have to shift around so that I'm straddling his lap. But I do manage to kiss him, even managing to slip in a little bit of tongue even though there was no French kissing in the movie. I break off the kiss and pull away to see what the beast has turned into now that the curse is broken, and I find that I've just kissed Fabio.

My gut reaction is, "EW!" because I really don't find Fabio all that attractive. He's more like a caricature of the type of guy I do not like. I'm so shocked that I somehow find myself standing in front of the linen closet in the upstairs hallway. I reach for a towel, then notice that there's an odd light at the back of the closet. Something tells me that it's a portal and that I should take it, so I slide between the shelves to get to the back of the closet. I find myself face-down in mud. Someone picks me up and guides me towards a waterfall cascading into a pool of water. Fabio is waiting there with a bottle of shampoo. I immediately think, "No way." The scene shifts and I'm back into the room with the fireplace. This time, Sherlock Holmes (the Cumberbatch version) is sitting in the chair opposite me. He starts trying to psychoanalyze my unusual reaction to finding out that Fabio was my un-cursed prince and he seems amused that I'd rather talk to him than play in the waterfall with Fabio.

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lmao ^^

Fabio and a waterfall and shampoo, should be a dream come true :lol:

Hahaha, you're welcome to take Fabio for your own dreams if you'd like! He's not exactly my dream guy.

How is the year already 1/3 over, what is this witchcraft.
Eh, whatever, I'll just rush it all in the last 3 months of the year like I do with everything else because I'm the best procrastinator ever.
(To be fair, though, I have been busy with school lately, which isn't quite the best thing for lucid dreaming.)

Failed the Hansel and Gretel task when I lost lucidity.

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I know I have to go in search on the witch who is holding Hansel hostage. I start out in my kitchen, trying to figure out how to get to the witch's cottage, and the easiest way seems to be to search by air. I fly up through the ceiling, crash through the roof, and flew Superman-style through the air until I spot the cottage.

Once I got inside, the witch chases me around a large table, trying to get me close enough to the oven to push me in. My clothes have changed at this point. I am wearing some kind of blue and white peasant dress that is really low-cut. This seems to get the witch to change tactics; before cooking me, she is going to pimp me out to make some extra cash. Now that's really evil. She brings in the first "customer" and I run away from them. Somehow find myself running past two coworkers. They are hiding merchandise in a locker, and I am curious about what they are doing. I find a larger group of coworkers and notice that one of them has changed her hair color. I tell her how much nicer it looks.

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^^Lol, Thena, your subcon's interpretation of the tasks is hilarious! :D

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

or be an Orc and kill smaug to death with your ugliness :P

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Now that is the best idea I've heard for this one. If I manage to get to it, that's my plan lmao.

^^ Well the task unfortunately is very specific:

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travel to Erebor, The Lonely Mountain. Find Smaug the Dragon, and run a spear through the one place on his breast where there is a missing scale

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The only freedom apparently allowed is what your character is. A much more interesting task would be "kill Smaug by any means necessary".

That's right, I forgot. But I think that somehow managing to accomplish the same results, by means of extreme ugliness, should be the wildcard method for any task. Like being so ugly in Beauty and the Beast, that the beast kisses you! Or finding the magic lamp, and having the Genie feel so bad for your ugliness that he gives you three wishes, etc.

I've succeeded at the Aladdin Task! :happy:

Once I was flying on the magic carpet, I spent all of my other precious wishes summoning dream food like cookies and hot chocolate, which I promptly shoved down my pie hole. I regret nothing. :chuckle:

Full dream: Aladdin - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Successfully completed the Hansel and Gretel task.

I've noticed that sometimes my lucid dreams incorporate stuff that happens in previous lucid dreams, as if the very concept of lucidity attaches itself to the image of a place or person. And apparently Benedict Cumberbactch has become one of those people. However, this time it was Benedict Cumberbatch playing the role of Sherlock Holmes while he was undercover as Shezza who was taking the place of Hansel since I don't have any brothers. Got it?

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I decide to try flying since I haven't done it for a while. That reminds me that the last time I flew in a dream, it was when I was trying the Hansel and Gretel task. I wonder if I should try finishing it now…

And just like that, I'm in the witch's house. This time around, she looks just like Snow White's evil stepmother (the animated version, not the Once Upon A Time one). She's complaining that it's taking forever to fatten up Hansel. I get a glimpse of him outside in his cage, except it's actually Shezza from that season 3 episode of "Sherlock." (No wonder the witch is having trouble fattening him up, with Benedict Cumberbatch being so long and lean for the role.) The witch pinches me and comments on how at least I'll be nice and plump enough for a snack, then tells me to go take care of the baby. Wait, baby? Yes, there's a nice chubby baby that the witch is saving for dessert. There's this strange interlude where I'm trying to change the baby's diaper and trying to remember how to fold and pin a cloth diaper.

There is a huge oven in the witch's house, and I complain that the oven door is too big for me to open by myself. The witch grumbles, but she does open the oven door. She's maneuvered herself so that she's between me and the oven. I don't hesitate before kicking the witch's behind and shoving her headfirst into the oven, then slamming the door shut. I grab the baby and run outside to release Shezza from his cage. While we're outside, we can hear the oven timer go off. Shezza says we should go back inside and see how the cooked witch turned out. I'm pretty reluctant to do it (this was the part of the task that I was least comfortable with) but eventually I'm persuaded to go back into the house. Inside, Shezza is pulling a large tray out of the oven with a gingerbread woman on it. We break off a few pieces and, yes, it takes just like a gingerbread cookie. The Baby, The Witch And The Beach (Task of the Year) - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

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Wow congrats Thena, that's awesome!! I love the addition of a dessert baby, and the poetic justice of the witch becoming a cookie. I think I remember a version of the story where the witch actually turned kids into gingerbread cookies and set them in her front lawn? Idk. Anyway, awesome dream!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Thena

However, this time it was Benedict Cumberbatch playing the role of Sherlock Holmes while he was undercover as Shezza who was taking the place of Hansel since I don't have any brothers. Got it?

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Lol I think I got it :chuckle:

Hammer tasking Thena!!
No wishes open - I also love the little additions!

I think this is my first ever task of the year attempt.
I tried Aladdin, and I did everything except flying on the carpet... I hovered, though! Does that count? If not, I'll try again sometime.

My inspiration for this task came from CanisLucidus' two attempts at asking his lamp for a delicious cookie:
- Magic Carpet School
- Aladdin

Here's the task in my DJ:
- The Perfect Cookie for Canis

Spoiler for Aladdin Excerpt:

I was flying high above the ground, and I looked down for a patch of orange that was going to be an Arabian setting. I saw an orange block and descended.
I found myself in a small village, surrounded by a few market stalls, but there weren't many people around.

http://i.imgur.com/H8RtIMW.jpg

I walked into a small hut. An old Chinese sage was standing inside. He was holding something that looked like a mini creamer from a tea set. He placed it down on a shelf and nodded at me as he left the building. I looked at the creamer. It was really old and rusty, and smaller than I'd expected the lamp to be, so I wasn't sure if this was it. I scanned the room to see if there was anything else that looked like a lamp, but there wasn't. I picked up the creamer and had a closer look. It was glowing slightly, and the lid was askew. Some kind of green vapour was coming from the gap, so I took off the lid and inhaled the vapour. I realised that these were magic fumes that would make my wishes come true. I put the lid back on to trap in the rest of the magic.

http://i.imgur.com/rUCkbbm.jpg

I made my first wish:
"I wish for a magic carpet."
The lamp seemed too small to rub, so instead, I put my mouth on the spout and blew my wish into it.
I looked behind me, and saw a really old, grubby, brown coir door-mat had appeared on the floor. Like this except filthy and worn:

http://i.imgur.com/DWs1Fof.jpg

I thought the mat looked way too heavy to fly, but I tried not to doubt it.
I picked it up and shook it off a bit. I held it in front of me and let go, and it continued hovering in mid-air. I didn't want to distract myself with a big fly until I'd made my other wishes, so I just sat on the carpet while it was levitating. The carpet was having trouble holding my weight - it kept dipping down and skimming the floor every few seconds, but it eventually stabilised about a metre above the ground.

I held the lamp as I sat on the carpet, and made my second wish:
"I wish for CanisLucidus to appear."
I wasn't sure whether he was going to appear before my eyes, or somewhere close by, but I blew my wish into the lamp expectantly.
I was instantly granted the knowledge that CanisLucidus was standing outside the hut.
I raced outside, and saw him standing there with a really cheeky smile on his face. He seemed happy and excited that I'd summoned him. It felt like he'd been waiting patiently for me call on him, like he'd been hanging out elsewhere in the dream while I followed my TOTY play.
I said, "You know you're dreaming, right?"
He seemed more present than his usual DC, but perhaps that just because the whole dream was super vivid and alive.
He said, "Yeah, let's do this! What's the plan?"
He put his arms around me from behind and rested himself into a hug. I was still holding the lamp in my hands in front of me.
I said, "Just wait 'til you see what I've got for you! I'm halfway through a task, come with me!"
I grabbed his hand and excitedly led him back into the hut, where I'd found the lamp. It felt like the magic was tied to that area, so I had to be there to make the final wish.
I looked at Canis and said, "I'm doing the Aladdin task. I'm up to my last wish, and this one's for you."
He looked like he half-knew what was going on, but he wasn't certain.
I held the lamp up and said, "I wish for the PERFECT cookie for Canis."
I looked behind me on the shelf where the lamp had been. There was a big cookie with good sized chocolate chips. It looked fresh and warm, so I picked it up delicately, trying not to squish the shape.
I handed it to Canis, who grinned and asked, "For me?"
I said, "Yeah, eat it! It's going to be perfect, trust me!"
Canis stuffed the cookie into his mouth and made groaning noises like he was really enjoying it... Something like this, haha:

http://youtu.be/FvSoeJfvMh8

He managed to exclaim, "This IS the perfect cookie!" in amongst all the munching.
He licked his fingers after he finished, and I was happy to see that he enjoyed it. :)

I thought we should take the magic carpet for a proper fly, so we started walking outside.
Before we got to the door, I saw some more cookies on a counter. These ones looked like the double choc chip cookies from Subway, which I haven't eaten since I gave up dairy/eggs. I was excited to have a cruelty-free version on offer, so I grabbed one and gobbled it up as I headed out the door. It was delicious!

When we got outside, I started looking around in awe again at how detailed the environment was. I felt like the dream was still really stable, and I was sure that I could keep it going for a lot longer. I decided that I was up for a second chapter this time - I felt like the dream was vivid enough that I would remember the previous part, even if I moved on to a different activity.
While I was having these thoughts, I forgot about the magic carpet.

Wondering how am i going to do the beauty and the beast thing! Probably using a female dream body...never done that before hehe

I've tried the "Hansel and Gretel" TOTY several times since coming back to DV about a month ago, but haven't had much luck with it so far. In my most recent attempt last night I at least managed to summon a "Hans" to match my role as Gretel--though Hans turned out to be a dog. We even made it to the edge of the forest, dropping our trail of breadcrumbs, before naughty Hans woke me up. Maybe he was afraid to encounter the witch! Although the dream ended before I could get anywhere near completing the task, at least I got far enough this time that I won't be embarrassed to describe the attempt.

Here's the relevant excerpt from my DJ entry:

Spoiler for Hansel and Gretel:

After going back to sleep, once again I was doing stuff around the house under the impression that I was awake when I noticed once again: am I dreaming? Yep, pretty sure I am. Okay, well, back to work then. I remembered that I had taken the bread from the counter in the last dream, briefly worried that I might not find any more, but casually "expected" to find another loaf and sure enough it was there. I started dropping crumbs while I was still inside the house again, then went out the door to the back patio. I was still anxious about destabilization (I have tried this task several times before and haven't gotten very far, and tonight's previous episodes demonstrated that waking up abruptly was indeed a hazard) I so thought, okay, I'll just walk around the pool in circles and continue dropping crumbs until the dream shows some receptivity.

So I began circling the pool counterclockwise, dropping crumbs as I walked. When I reached the area just behind the pool I noticed the place where I had encountered "Boneface" in a previous dream and wondered if anyone would be waiting there, but no DCs were visible. However, the dream was starting to respond: already I was no longer circling the pool but on a path, walking through an environment that no longer resembled any place I know in waking life. The path led me through a dense suburban neighborhood, but I saw trees in the distance and figured a forest must be out there somewhere. I needed to reach the forest to proceed with the "Hansel and Gretel" plot.

I continued dropping breadcrumbs as I walked along the path, but then I remembered—hang on, if I'm doing "Hansel and Gretel," then obviously I can be Gretel, but I'll need a Hansel! I tried to summon him, calling out "Hans! Hans!" and "Little brother!" The dream responded promptly but unexpectedly: a little dog showed up, with long wavy fur in brown and white patches, and started trotting along with me. It looked just like a toy spaniel, but smaller, about the size of a chihuahua. I shrugged and figured, "Okay, good enough." Maybe he would turn into a boy later on, or if not, whatever. (I've always been able to summon animals easily, but have less success with human DCs, so the results weren't that surprising.)

To get more into the spirit of things, as we continued to walk along the path I started singing a song about our journey—how we had left our parents' house because there wasn't enough food, and hoped to find some in the forest. (I just realized a discrepancy in the story: if food is so scarce that they have to leave home lest the family starve, why are they wasting bread by dropping it on the ground? Or is that why mom wants to kick them out, the flagrant bread wasters!)

The dream felt very stable but I knew I couldn't be in very deep because I was having trouble with the song: rhymes weren't coming easily, like they do in deeper dream, and my melody was very simple (The Hobbit was on TV last night, and my song ended up with a similar tune and rhythm to the "goblin town" song from the movie, though naturally with very different words). When I got to the end of a line and couldn't find a rhyme, or even a suitable word, I just sort of hummed over the blank spot and kept going. Improvise! So I sang a number of stanzas in this haphazard way, dropping the bread in smaller and smaller crumbs since I was getting near the end of the loaf, while little Hans the dog trotted beside me on his tiny legs.

Finally we made it to the edge of town, and there it was ahead of us! The forest! Would we go in and find a gingerbread house, a threatening witch? I was looking forward to what we might discover. But I felt sorry for Hans and wondered if he might prefer to be carried. I picked him up and put him on my right shoulder (he was so small). No sooner had I perched him there then at once I clearly and distinctly heard a voice saying my name in my right ear—it was my RL name, and it woke me up. This happened immediately after I put the dog on my shoulder so I had the impression that he had been the one speaking, but the voice was clearly a woman's and, as far as I could make out, it sounded like my own voice.

These TOTY challenges are quite extensive. I like how you just let Hans be a dog in the short term.

Another elaborate but ultimately unsuccessful attempt at a TOTY. I'm enjoying the complexity of these tasks even if I'm not getting very far yet. My dreaming mind can be nearly as fussy and overanalytical as my waking mind, so I'm probably making these harder than they need to be!
:hrm:

Full dream entry here. Excerpt relevant to TOTY:

Spoiler for Jack and the Beanstalk:

I had actually come across a sandwich bag containing a handful of Giant White Beans in my RL kitchen the other day, and thought that these would be ideal to plant outside to grow the beanstalks. So after getting lucid, I headed straight for the kitchen and grabbed the bag, then went outside to plant them in the little plots of soil that abut the wall of the house. I felt like I was rushing, but the dreamstate felt shallow and unstable so I was motivated to act quickly.

In the dream it was drizzling lightly, so the soil was soft and easy to work. I planted the beans by hand, three in the first plot, and then went to the next plot to plant three more. But by the fourth bean I realized that they might take a long time to germinate if I didn't hurry things along. Fortunately I had a plan for this. I had been meaning to work with the Ars Magica Form "Herbam" for a while anyway, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Would "Creo" or "Rego" be the proper technique for this case? I decided to go with "Creo" since I was growing the beanstalks from seed.

I held my hand over the soil where I had just planted the fourth bean and intoned, "Creo herbam." After a little concentration it readily responded, a thick sprout emerging from the earth. It didn't look so much like a beanstalk as a huge stalk of asparagus, at least six inches in diameter. I figured that would be okay, as it would turn out sturdier this way... and I like asparagus. I quickly planted the other two beans in the second plot, but the stalk was growing rapidly and was already a few feet tall. There were still two more beans in the bag but I decided to save them... what if I needed to plant another stalk to get back down? Jack probably saved a few beans if he was smart.

Remembering how much trouble I had experienced attempting to climb in the previous NLD, I came up with a better idea. While the stalk was growing past chest height, I grabbed onto it and let it lift me as it grew. I wondered if this would still count for the TOTY, but figured probably, in terms of altitude I was certainly climbing, even if the stalk was doing all the work!

We went up and up. I was waiting to reach some kind of surface or platform that I could step off onto. How did this go in the story? I don't think I've ever actually read the original, and started to regret that I hadn't done a bit more research, because it was hard to imagine what kind of solid ground Jack could have encountered at the top of the stalk. Did he step onto the upper surface of the clouds? Or was there some kind of floating island? I may have been overrationalizing, but it annoyed me that I couldn't remember how this was supposed to work.

The dream seems to have responded to my confusion, because the space around me became ambiguous. I had started outdoors but now felt like I was indoors again, still on the beanstalk, which was still growing. However, it was now "growing" through what was effectively a visual loop: I noticed the same attic space passing by again and again in front of my eyes, like a skip in a record. I attempted to wait it out but it just kept repeating, so finally I figured, okay, I'll take the hint, I'll get off here.

Around this point the dreamstate was feeling very thin and shallow, and my senses felt poorly integrated. I had to focus my attention for a moment on just on staying engaged in the dream. When this awkward passage resolved, I was back in a room that somewhat resembled my RL bedroom, only now the beanstalk seemed to be growing from the middle of the bed and burst right through the ceiling. I didn't have the impression that any giant was in the vicinity. Maybe I needed to climb it again? But the hole in the ceiling was only big enough to accommodate the beanstalk. I would have to widen it if I wanted to crawl through.

This reminded me of my separate and fallback intention to work on Hansel and Gretel if the beanstalk idea went awry. My new strategy involved breaking off pieces of a house and eating it, to encourage it to turn into the gingerbread cottage of the story. I reached up with my hand to tear a piece from the edge of the hole in the ceiling. It broke off easily in my hand like rotten wood. I took a bite: it has the texture of a dry crumbly cookie but not much flavor. I tried to conjure the taste of gingerbread but I don't notice much change. I went wandering through the house looking for a witch but there's no one else home.

There's a vague section here. I can't remember if I actually ended up climbing the first stalk to end up outside on the roof, or if I just walked outside to check on the other beanstalks, but at some point I am outdoors again, and I observe that the other beanstalks I planted also grew at some point but are now brown and withered. I can't remember what became of the first one, but evidently it couldn't get me any farther than the roof. Still no giants, but I see what looks like a higher platform on top of a neighboring building. I break off a length of one of the dead stalks and try to use it to pole vault myself up onto the platform. It gets me almost to the top but not quite.

Occupying the center of the wall leading up to this platform is a very tall bookshelf, only about three or four feet in width but running all the way up to the top of the thirty or forty foot wall. After my second or third attempt to pole vault up, I realize that I can't make it all the way to the top using this method, so I get off on one of the uppermost shelves. I don't think I can finish the climb directly from here, but I have another idea. My weight is already destabilizing the bookshelf, pulling it down and me along with it, so I realize that I might be able to use the rebound effect to launch myself onto the platform. As the top of the bookshelf sinks all the way down to ground level, I climb over the top and position myself on the back of the shelf (which is level with the ground and facing up after the bookshelf has fallen all the way down). I anticipate that the whole shelf is going to rebound back into its original place, and sure enough it does. Using the force of its rebound, I jump off when I'm near the top and finally make it up onto the platform... when the dream ended.

I like how you added even more magic to the beans to make them grow faster. I never thought to try that. That particular task sounds like a lot of fun. I like the freedom to defeat the giant using any means necessary! I'm going to try to defeat him in a funny way instead of a more serious way in this case :-)