'Cubi and Lucid Dreams

[Eboreg]

We all know how the DMFA 'Cubi are capable of hopping into and, to a limited extent, manipulating other peoples' dreams. What I want to know is what would happen if a 'Cubi hopped into a lucid dream. Lucid dreamers inevitably have a comparatively high amount of control over their dreams (which I know from personal experience) so how would a 'Cubi getting in trying to change things too play out? Would the 'Cubi dominate the struggle? Would the dreamer? Or would there be some sort of dream battle?

[xom]

I would envision a battle between the lucid dreamer and the cubi if the cubi chose to try and "take over" the dream. I highly doubt a cubi would try to do anything to aggressive,  if anything they more than likely just push a dream lightly to what they want it.

[Tezkat]

According to the Demonology page on the subject, Cubi dream surfing offers only limited control over the dream environment, so experienced lucid dreamers could very well hold their own in dream "combat". Whether or not such battles would actually be dangerous to either party without bringing other powers into play is questionable, however.

[Eboreg]

Just playing Devil's Advocate here Tezkat but there is the possibility that due to the fact that lucid dreams are less random and volatile than regular dreams, 'Cubi might actually find them easier to manipulate.

[Tezkat]

Hmm. I suppose that's possible. then But there's the question of what even enhanced dream control on the part of the invading Cubi would accomplish. The Demonology images suggest that physical access to the sleeper is necessary to enter their dreams. Thus, dream surfing would be a tool for tasks that couldn't be more easily accomplished simply by having a person in custody, such as situations that call for covert investigation.

The official applications of dream surfing are information gathering and recreation. I imagine the former would be accomplished by subtly altering the dream scenario and/or inserting oneself into it to extract the desired reactions from the subject. Or maybe even just poking around their subconscious landscapes in the hopes of uncovering secrets. Perhaps in the extreme case creating some kind of nightmare scenario to torture the information out of them.

But against a target who's lucid and aware of the dream state? Trying to wrest control from the dreamer would serve little purpose and give the game away. Unless, of course, you actually can hurt people in dreams. That's implied by the followup Demonology example but strikes me as being beyond the scope of vanilla dream surfing. And someone who understands what they're facing could even just wake up and gain first strike against the dream surfer's physical body.