"I can't wait to watch this unfold..." Avek's voice trailed off as he crossed his arms, watching the tributes transport to their new realms. 

"What did you come up with?" Zai glanced at him.

Avek grinned. "It's a mystery." 

*****

Welcome everyone to Task 5: Mystery!

For this task, you may choose between Criminal Minds, Beauty and the Beast, Hunger Games, Marco Polo, or Sons of Liberty.

CRIMINAL MINDS - Anyone who chooses Criminal Minds must have all their characters come through to modern Earth. The FBI BAU profiling team has received word about their arrival and they already know the fact that other realms exist. You're to work with them on this special assignment to figure out who's murdering people. The case itself and how it works, is entirely up to you. The person behind it, is your task five mandatory character. How you catch them, is up to you, but this is a mystery. Throughout your entry, the murderer - aka your task 5 mandatory character - MUST murder no less than seven of your own characters - more on that later. Remember who profilers are and how they catch the bad guys. I want this to feel like an episode of criminal minds and will take off points if it doesn't. Any law fandom people you created last task, is also working with the BAU during this case. If you have a lot of characters, remember that the BAU sometimes separates themselves so that even though they're working on the same case, they're doing different things to help. If you ended up creating a lot of law enforcement characters, then you may have your characters working with them more, but you must make it work JUST LIKE A BAU CASE and you must mention the regular Criminal Minds BAU at least once in your entry. If it does not, I will take off points.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST - Anyone who chooses Beauty and the Beast must have their characters team up with the NYPD - New York Police Department - on a series of mysterious maulings. They believe it's a bad guy who loves to cut up his victims, but in reality it's your task five main character and a beast. No one knows about beasts except for Katherine and Vincent, along with Vincent's best friend, so you'll be working with them on the actual beast part of the case, while keeping the specific details of it secret from the NYPD, while working with the NYPD altogether. Any law enforcement characters you created may be here to help you. Your task five antagonist you just made must kill at the very least seven of your own characters - more on that in a bit. This must feel like an episode of Beauty and the Beast and if it does not, I will take off points.

Hunger Games - Anyone who chooses Hunger Games must have your characters be thrown into a Hunger Games arena with other random tributes. You must invent a mystery surrounding the arena itself without copying from any Hunger Games books - it must be completely unique. Your task five mandatory character is a tribute who is one of the careers and they're targeting your characters. Your task five mandatory character must kill no less than seven of your own characters - more on that in a bit. This must feel like a Hunger Games movie, but it must be completely unique to you and your characters.

Normally, there is no limit to who can choose what Fandom, but because I have a feeling most of you are going to choose Hunger Games to try to take the easy way out, I'm limiting Hunger Games to no more than three people. Once all the Hunger Games spots are filled, I'll stop letting people choose it. And if one of the other Fandoms keeps getting chosen too much, then I'll force people to choose something different.

MARCO POLO - Anyone who chooses Marco Polo must have their characters become guests in Kublai Kahn's court. There, one of the court members is trying to assassinate Kublai Kahn and it's up to you to figure out who. The person who's doing it is your task five mandatory character, but this is a mystery, so your characters must find a way to figure out who's trying to kill him. You must have the task five mandatory character end up killing seven of your own characters for whatever reasons you wish - more on that in a bit. This must feel like the TV Show Marco Polo! You can research history if you'd like, but I'll be looking for characters from the TV show.

SONS OF LIBERTY - Anyone who chooses Sons of Liberty must have your characters join Sam Adams and his men in the Green Dragon and anywhere else they go as they're smuggling goods and firearms to the colonists to fight against the British. There is a British spy among you and it must be your task five mandatory character. They're spying, so their actions must lead to the death of no less than seven of your characters - more on that in a bit. This must feel like Sons of Liberty - I'll be watching for the characters from the show, not history and I want it to be accurate to the time periods they displayed in the show.

How these mysteries unfold is up to you. I want to see crime, I want to see mystery and suspense. Really build on the suspense and draw it out. Make your characters go through problems and really add to the drama. That's what I'll be looking for. I want them to feel the pressure, to feel terrified of what could happen. I'll be also looking to see how accurate to the Fandom you choose you are, as well as making it original without copying from it.

In the end, your task five mandatory character must be killed. Whether they commit suicide, are killed by your characters, or by something or someone else, is entirely up to you. Remember that only the Hunger Games has a limit of up to only THREE people. After that, you must choose something else. If another Fandom starts getting too full, I'll ask you to choose something else.

Comment HERE which Fandom you wish to choose. I'll confirm it in a reply.

Artifacts that you can find during this task:

- A box of scooby snacks - they may look disgusting but they will sustain your characters longer than any other food will. It also gives you extra courage for a short period of time (during this time period you won't feel fear).

- The blue Scooby Doo collar - This will summon Scooby Doo and Shaggy to your side, or at least a blue ethereal form of them anyway, to distract a bad guy.

- Sherlock Holme's trenchcoat that temporarily gives you powers of deduction.

- The deerstalker cap that Sherlock sometimes wears - This temporarily gives you access to a Mind Palace, which is a memory technique from Sherlock Holmes.

- A Texas Ranger star which will make any law enforcement officer believe you're supposed to be involved in the investigation - no matter USA jurisdictions

Remember that not only will you be able to use these artifacts to create characters from the Fandoms, but they will also come with their own special awards and bonuses this time.

Due date:

Thursday, January 26, 2018 at 6pm central

The first three people to hand in will receive details about Task 6 and an extra 0.5 added onto their overall score.

The last two people to hand in will have 0.5 taken off their overall score

Those of you who hand in before January 23rd 6pm central can make three characters from any fandom you choose, will receive an extra 0.5 added onto their task score, will receive a hint about Task 6, and will have a 24 hour extension to use for Task 6.

Anyone who hands in after January 23rd 6pm central, you will lose any sponsorship you have, not win any awards this round, not be able to create any characters next round, and will have to kill off one character.

Word count:

6,000 (For anyone who writes less than that, don't worry - you only have to have at least 1,000 words for your entry.

Awards:

The BAU - Anyone who wins this award will give me a scene with the BAU from Criminal Minds and you will nail their personalities.

Profiling 101 - Anyone who wins this award will SHOW me what Criminal Minds profiling is. I want to feel like it's a Criminal Minds episode and make the profiling legit.

Beast - Anyone who wins this award will give me a good beast fight between Vincent and other beasts from the TV show Beauty and the Beast. Make me feel it!

The Rose - Anyone who wins this award will give me an epic ship moment that's just as epic as Vincent and Katherine's - you don't have to have chosen the Beauty and the Beast Fandom to win this award - MAKE ME SHIP THEM.

Freedom! - Anyone who wins this award will really throw me into Sons of Liberty and the Revolutionary War. Show me the cause and give me feels!

Marco - POLO! Anyone who wins this award will really show me the characters from Marco Polo and characterize them perfectly.

Arena - Anyone who wins this award will have a unique arena idea!

Mystery - Anyone who wins this award will boggle my mind with a mystery! SURPRISE ME.

Suspense - Anyone who wins this award will take my breath away with the suspense. In the words of Scooby Doo - it's so thick you could cut it with a knife!

Each of these awards will have SPECIAL bonuses and awards both for making characters and special perks for you as a writer and yes I'm keeping them secret, but they're awesome, so go for these awards!

Deaths:

You may kill up to 10 other people's characters (you may also mention that these are the bad guy's previous victims) but none are required. Anyone that you kill off must either be one of your characters or another writer's.

Character Deaths:

You must kill off AT LEAST SEVEN of your own characters but you may kill up to TWELVE. For those of you who have less than seven characters, you must kill all of your characters except for three. You are required to fill the remaining kills with other people's characters.

tiffanyjane1997 and jaypvie because you both were the last ones to hand in, you must kill off an extra character. This means you must kill off eight characters. If you have less than eight total, then you are only allowed to leave two alive. Your mentors do not count.

Also, anyone who wishes to kill of a mentor, can do so for dramatic story purposes, but you have to leave at least one mentor alive if you have two. We will have the option to create another mentor next task.

Ballots:

Anyone who ballots someone will get a special award in the character creation task. You have five ballots

Sponsorship perks:

wordsmith- Ozrakh doesn't believe your strong enough. For this reason, he has sent dozens of orcs to team up with your antagonist. More opponents, he's hoping, will make you stronger. As a result, you have an extra 1,000 words to use as word count.

Several7s - The Unseelie King knows the truth will aid you in your mystery. He has given your mentors a device that will force everyone around it in several feet, to tell the truth for five minutes. As a result, I will tell you how to fix your entry before you hand it in for the final time.

animallover1321 - Zai has given your team a special waterbending scroll that will allow your team to figure out the case easier at night time. As a result, you will be able to ignore one aspect of the grading rubric on the syntax section aka making you think easier.

JesterheadJohnSnow - Avek has made special gauntlets with Sith alchemy that he has given only to Zymar. This will allow him to temporarily take someone's powers and wield them himself so long as he touches them. It only lasts for a few minutes before it will give those powers back. As a result, you can take someone else's perks and use them yourself (like another sponsorship perk, or a ballot punishment you want to use but you must only take one).

TARDIS_at_221B- - Kaellyr has given your characters a special small portal that will allow them to walk through walls. It lasts for a short time, but can quickly be reused when they need it to.As a result, this will allow you walk right through any punishments or character death requirements.

jesusfreak202 - Vaymix has given your team a dragon the size of a dog diguised as a dog, but its sense of smell is better than anything else. As a result, you may avoid one aspect of the grading rubric.

OliviaBinfield - Count Dooku has sent in battle droids to help protect anyone you might think is the antagonists next target. They will also help you stop the antagonist when your characters find him. As a result, you have an extra 1 point I will add onto your task score.

Ballot punishments:

wordsmith- because you were targeted the most, you must include a bomb explosion in your entry and it must kill an extra character of yours, along with two or three main characters. It must take up exactly 400 words of your word count.

jesusfreak202 and jaypvie because you both were targeted second, your antagonist bad guy must not be killed. Instead, the antagonist must escape at the end, leaving your entries on a cliff hanger and your characters in peril.

Several7s, TARDIS_at_221B_, ZSB2000, because you were targeted in the middle, you both must kill off one of your mentors and it must be the result of the antagonist. This mentor's death must be brutal.

Sara_R_Stark, JesterheadJohnSnow, because you both were targeted last, you both must have one of your favorite characters be suspected of being the bad guy when they're innocent and this results in them being mortally wounded.

animallover1321, OliviaBinfield, tiffanyjane1997, because you weren't targeted at all, your characters must at first catch the wrong suspect or bad guy and this results in one of your characters being killed.

If I have forgotten anything, please let me know. Good luck!