Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XXXVIII: This Show Blew My Boogeyman

[Thrawn183]

So... is it now official that the King of Callan is the strongest magic user in the country?

[mwchase]

I thought that was assumed, except for whatever's going on with Miranda. He is a former archmage, who stepped down to stroke his beard evilly rule Callan.

[Trazoi]

So... are we assuming that this plan actually worked? That all the seers needed to do was attack someone with mindscape illusions and show a big picture of the king and everyone would be grabbing the nearest pitchfork and storming the castle?

Or is what Dominic saying that instead of tricking Callanians with illusions, Celesto should have directly brainwashed them with the "See the Truth" spell like a proper seer?

I'm so confused.

[Zaq]

So, to sum up:

• Dominic decides to seek out Celesto, since he has experience dealing with the wards at Castle Callan.
• After faffing about for a bit, Quilt and Luna find [gasp!] eeeevil battlecasters! Of whom Celesto is one! Kinda! (Note: This still hasn't been explained.)
• Dominic decides to go see his super-straight BFF Szark, who gives him the idea to swoooooord-scryyyyyy, which is special because Mookie likes drawing it.
• After getting a formal introduction to Chance Masters and Heliner, we see that sword-scrying is usable for communication, since it's so good at being undetected.
• A WILD SNUGGLY APPEARS! (Pop quiz: What was Dominic's objective at the start of this arc?)
• Oh noes! Snuggly will kill Chance Masters at the tournament! Szark responds by busting out the most adorable frowny face ever, then leaving the position of authority he's in that probably would have helped him more than just dueling.
• Dominic never scries on people without their permission! Chocolate rations are up!
• Edit: Never mind that last bit. It got, y'know, inconvenient.
• Celesto Morgan: Oracle. Hunter. Petty con artist. You know, because he's evil and stuff. (Pop quiz #2: What was Dominic's objective at the start of this arc?)
• Dominic and Szark spend some time to gang up on a young boy and make him feel guilty about something he did quite a while ago and has kind of regretted ever since. They do this because [ERROR: REASON NOT FOUND], which makes perfect sense when you consider everything that's going on.
• Scarlatti, owner of resistant swords (which make almost as good scrying foci as these normal swords) and lover of Elfelo, is there! Dominic decides to scry on his swords, even though they're not resistant. This is necessary because . . . battlecasters, I think? Look, even I don't know.
• I wasn't joking when I said that the super-undetectable sword-scry was good for talking to people.
• Whoops, the plot was almost moving there! Let me help you with that.
• After Yakety Sax is done playing (go cue it up; I'll wait), DOMINIC uses SWORD-SCRY on HELINER! It's not very effective.
• WAIT, NEVER MIND THAT, IT'S SUPER EFFECTIVE
• Celesto will use a fake Snuggly to kill Chance Masters and blame DJ Callan! Bonus points if you know why those two things are related, but hey, Celesto's pretty damn adamant about it. (Pop quiz #3: What was Dominic's objective at the start of this arc?)
• Dominic plays Ghost Trick with his mouth and eventually winds up inside Chance Masters's head. It's just his mouth, but he can see just fine. Which is why he needs Szark to narrate for him. After getting inside the mind of this young lad, he then takes off his clothes. Allegedly, this is so Mookie can make a pun. That's the GOOD explanation.
• Om nom, it's Lobster Dom! Szark summarily forgets how to actually use his words, ending up with dialogue even more laughably stilted and unnatural than usual.
• After a week of filler, Dominic gets forcibly penetrated by tentacles while naked and inside the mind of a young boy. I know we weren't playing a drinking game, but if you want to take a shot because I just said that, go ahead.
• After Chance Masters kills Bronto the Megabutlersaurus (whoops, nevermind, Mookie couldn't kill a character if his life depended on it), Dominic puts on a goddamn shirt after spending 13 strips naked. This shirt comes with hilarious shades and a wicked sword, because Dominic had fantasies about dueling for about, like, two minutes.
• Jump-slashing like Marth's up-B move is the same thing as dance training, and swords are useful for SEEING THE TRUTH.
• Suddenly, everyone can see the fake Snugglies, Just like Celesto wanted! This is important so that we can see the most heartwarming moment in Deegan history.
• ???
• Dominic no longer has to suffer any inconveniences, and Celesto is misguided. Again. But Dominic wants to help because he's such a gosh-darn stand-up guy.

Final exam: What was Dominic's objective at the start of this arc?

[Garland]

Final exam: What was Dominic's objective at the start of this arc?

I... don't know, something about cats? It's fine talking about cats inbetween updates?

Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XXXIX: A cat is fine too

[Trazoi]

Also: I don't know why this bugs me so much, but where the heck is Prontus in the background of these strips? Apparently the main tournament hall is in a field in the middle of nowhere.

Posting this again, because every single outside urban environment looks like this:

Spoiler

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[Thanqol]

Oh hey guys, what have I missed?

King still evil, no meaningful progress made towards defeating him of any kind, Celestio still misguided, no character growth whatsoever.

See you in six months.

[ragingrage]

6 months is a bit...optimistic, Thanqol.

[M84]

Oh hey guys, what have I missed?

King still evil, no meaningful progress made towards defeating him of any kind, Celestio still misguided, no character growth whatsoever.

See you in six months.

The only character growth seen in this arc was Chance's, and we'll probably never see him again after this arc.

[Lord Raziere]

Final exam: What was Dominic's objective at the start of this arc?

to find Celesto Morgan to so he could help get past the super-duper magical Wards around the King Callan's Castle.

He found Celesto Morgan.....but didn't get his help. also he technically already got past said wards...to search for Celesto Morgan.....I think....maybe....

but then again I don't think thats Callan's castle.....

errrgh.....even with the summary its confusing.....

[Helanna]

Yeah, dogs are better. They are very loyal and will protect your family, which they see as their pack.

Spoiler

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I'm, uh, a little ashamed of how long I spent watching that and laughing hysterically.

One of my cats used to be a great mouser. We found mice all over the house. But then last month when a family of mice decided to move into my bedroom, I brought her in. She sniffed the corner for a minute, then curled up on my bed and went to sleep. I got a live-catch mousetrap instead.

[Zaq]

Fifteen minutes of sneak. (Future.)

I really hope this doesn't mean what I think it does.

However, if you read this in Tommy Wiseau's voice (especially the "I did NOT" bit), it's a million times better. Even the nonsensical bolding makes sense, or at least fits.

I would watch a Dominic Deegan movie if Tommy Wiseau were involved. Oh hi, Szark!

[Johnny Blade]

Well, whaddaya know, looks like Dominic was right.

[Trazoi]

Dominic: Oh well, looks like Celesto is going to mindbreak after I left him battling extra-planar horrors for months while I holidayed in Maltak, potentially threatening the very fabric of our universe. I'm a little sorry for him. Back to more important things, like choosing the catering for our wedding.

I also like the implication that the only flaw in the plan was Celesto's desire to murder someone, and that this new plan will work brilliantly.

[Thark]

'It all worked out in the end'

...no it didnt you idiot. Dominic stopped you from killing the only witness who knew of YOUR connection with the beast. But hey i'm sure he wont mention it to his parents. And even if he did they wont believe him when he says that the same guy who conned them out of money before was now trying to kill him and frame it on the king. Right, right?

[Trazoi]

Celesto has the excuse that he's meant to be insane. I don't know what everyone else's excuse is.

[SiuiS]

So, I just deleted everything else I had here because Celesto Morgan, sitting naked in a room, is having a crisis of self.

And that actually comes across as a well-thought out, pre-planned and built-towards over a span of time.

I am impressed by this. I think Thanqol's dismissal mAy be slightly, slightly off-base. Even if only a little bit.

[rocketpony]

Gee, Dominic, you were right. There was absolutely no need to kill anyone, or really make any convoluted plots, when you can just run around talking about how the absolute political power in the country is aligned with some kind of goofball monster.
That must be why you're running around the country spreading the word, huh.

Huh.

Bonus question: the little pseudo-critters that Celesto made - what did they see when everyone in the house got hit with the TRUTH? Did they see that the only way that they were getting out of this was by being killed? When they fell upon Chance, was it just in a desperate struggle to do something, anything, before they were casually murdered to the man? Weren't there civilian contractors on the Death Star?

[Palmer]

Bonus question: the little pseudo-critters that Celesto made - what did they see when everyone in the house got hit with the TRUTH? Did they see that the only way that they were getting out of this was by being killed?

They saw everything.




I've got twenty on Dominic or Chance ruining Dominic's entire plan and then leaving the earth forever for no raison.

[M84]

If yesterday's strip was the cherry on the sundae of stupidity, today's strip was the decadent butterscotch syrup. I hate butterscotch.

[Traab]

Because we cant have celestro actually choose to be evil, he has to be a good guy working under the influence of chaos or whatever. Can you be just a LITTLE more ham fisted with the redemption foreshadowing mookie? I think the blind deaf and dumb kitten in siberia hasnt caught on yet. We dont want him to miss it.

[Coidzor]

I dunno, maybe he's going to finally kill Celesto off with the whole coughing up blood thing.

Well, one can hope.

[Mr. McGician]

I would watch a Dominic Deegan movie if Tommy Wiseau were involved. Oh hi, Szark!

I would watch a Dominic Deegan movie, period. It would be hilarious.

"Dominic Deegan... IN 3-D!"

[Palmer]

I would watch a Dominic Deegan movie, period. It would be hilarious.

"Dominic Deegan... IN 3-D!"

It'll be in 3-D, but the movie won't utilize the new equipment at all. We'll only see everything from 3/4th view. Directer Terracino will justify it by explaining how 3-D just didn't feel like Dominic Deegan.

[BlackDragonKing]

Spoiler

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VICTORY IS AT HAND. CELESTO MORGAN WALKS THE EIGHTFOLD PATH!

Sorry, I had to.

[rocketpony]

Because we cant have celestro actually choose to be evil, he has to be a good guy working under the influence of chaos or whatever. Can you be just a LITTLE more ham fisted with the redemption foreshadowing mookie? I think the blind deaf and dumb kitten in siberia hasnt caught on yet. We dont want him to miss it.

Celesto
a) hung around a deranged enchantress who he was also in love with.
b) joined a world-devouring cult who drew their strength from literal nonsense.
c) just bopped around off-dimension with an off-dimensional world-eating (??? maybe???) goofball.

You [Mookie] could probably make the argument that we've never actually seen the man Celesto - every time he shows up, he's the cat's paw of a lunatic. The real Celesto is probably actually a decent chappie, or he was before he lost control of his body, his magic, his very fate. The guy we're seeing right now isn't that Celesto, although this preoccupation with remembering who he is is very Celesto-like.

At some point in the future, Dominic might have to choose - he could make Celesto SEE THE TRUTH, but that would annihilate Celesto, as we know him, and just leave the gibbering wreck of a human that Celesto, the man, has been reduced to, a guy shot through with paranoia, anarchic hands, Stockholm syndrome, and a deep and abiding mistrust of all that flies in the air, creeps upon the earth, or swims in the seas.
Who is the real Celesto now, this cat's-paw whose exploits we've thrilled to, or the man who one day decided to look too deep in a scrying pool?

/fanfiction

[T-O-E]

He did used to scam people.

[Trazoi]

My problem with this development is that Celesto is the closest we'll get to Mookie showing the warping affects that being able to see the future would do to someone. It's completely believable a seer would be obsessed with fate and start judging people on their future actions. But now, it's suggested that it's all because Celesto has been selfishly hoarding the power of chaos (???) unlike that paragon Dominic (despite Dominic always trouncing Celesto every time they meet), with this chaos power being the reason Celesto is nuts rather than the itty bitty fact that he can see the future.

It's one of the prime reasons I wish I could punch a webcomic that it takes something as interesting as seers that should lead to interesting stories about what they would do to a mortal psyche, and doesn't use them for anything more than a cheap method to learn what to do next like a quest pop-up in a video game. Heck, I'm going to print out the latest comic and punch it right now.

[Arakune]

My problem with this development is that Celesto is the closest we'll get to Mookie showing the warping affects that being able to see the future would do to someone. It's completely believable a seer would be obsessed with fate and start judging people on their future actions. But now, it's suggested that it's all because Celesto has been selfishly hoarding the power of chaos (???) unlike that paragon Dominic (despite Dominic always trouncing Celesto every time they meet), with this chaos power being the reason Celesto is nuts rather than the itty bitty fact that he can see the future.

It's one of the prime reasons I wish I could punch a webcomic that it takes something as interesting as seers that should lead to interesting stories about what they would do to a mortal psyche, and doesn't use them for anything more than a cheap method to learn what to do next like a quest pop-up in a video game. Heck, I'm going to print out the latest comic and punch it right now.

take a photo of this event.

for SCIENCE!

[Rappy]

However, if you read this in Tommy Wiseau's voice (especially the "I did NOT" bit), it's a million times better. Even the nonsensical bolding makes sense, or at least fits.

I can see it. DD does usually (and I stress usually) has the same "so bad it's good" quality as The Room.