Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XLIV: Stunt Bro and Hella Jayden

[Trazoi]

This necklace quest is far too underexplained to play "fill in the plot hole".

We don't know what the necklace does.
We don't know why the space ray wants it.
We don't know what will happen if the space ray gets it.
We don't know why Rilian has the necklace.
We don't know why he wants Miranda to have it or what he wants her to do with it.
We don't know why he doesn't teleport over to Miranda to deliver it.
We don't know why he doesn't contact Miranda to say he's going to deliver it.
We don't know why he trusts Stunt to deliver it.
We don't know why he thinks Stunt will be able to get past the space ray to get to Miranda.

It's almost a parody it's so amazingly underexplained.

[WyvernLord]

Question, That tunnel is very big. Why is there that big a tunnel in the middle of the desert?
Answer, It's Mookie.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I prefer to read it as Rillian finally giving up:

"You must make haste and bring this relic to Miranda Deegan, or all is lost"

"Now, when you say 'all is lost', do you mean that literally, cause I kinda have a thing to go do, blah blah blah mother blah blah blah Alstone"

"Fine, you know what, do whatever the hell you want. I'm done. This was the last time I save this plane and its idiot inhabitants from destruction by their own stupidity. At this point, I welcome annihilation, because then at least I won't have to deal with all of you. So take your time, smell the flowers, go reconcile with Mommy. I don't care anymore. I'm gonna go put on my fatsuit and troll Dominic till the apocalypse comes"

That was roughly how I interpreted the line myself.

[random11]

This necklace quest is far too underexplained to play "fill in the plot hole".

We don't know what the necklace does.
We don't know why the space ray wants it.
We don't know what will happen if the space ray gets it.
We don't know why Rilian has the necklace.
We don't know why he wants Miranda to have it or what he wants her to do with it.
We don't know why he doesn't teleport over to Miranda to deliver it.
We don't know why he doesn't contact Miranda to say he's going to deliver it.
We don't know why he trusts Stunt to deliver it.
We don't know why he thinks Stunt will be able to get past the space ray to get to Miranda.

It's almost a parody it's so amazingly underexplained.

It's not a problem if we don't know everything, a good story teller uses the unknown parts to make the story interesting.

The problem is that we no longer have faith that any of these questions will be answered, at least not without making it even more ridicules.

Unfortunately, the lack of faith is well justified.

[T-O-E]

Rillian should have just killed Stunt and turned his husk into a zombie.

[M84]

I'm kind of surprised Rillian hasn't joined the bad guys yet just out of sheer frustration. He's been the grumpy guardian of the world for centuries, and now he has to put up with a bunch of self-centered morons, namely Dominic and company.

He's probably saved the world dozens of times in the past and probably hasn't received a single thank-you. Though given his methods, that's probably understandable.

[Acanous]

Rillian should have just killed Stunt and turned his husk into a zombie.

how do you know he Didn't? That could have been hidden in the "Missing update Flashback" strip.
DUN DUN dun dun dun DAAAA

[Trazoi]

I'm kind of surprised Rillian hasn't joined the bad guys yet just out of sheer frustration.

Because the bad guys are even more useless at getting anything done.

[Doompuppy]

Question, That tunnel is very big. Why is there that big a tunnel in the middle of the desert?
Answer, It's Mookie.

I thought it was because now they've reached the last room of the dungeon, and the game designer helpfully put in a quick exit so the poor player wouldn't have to backtrack.

[Gez]

I don't know if Mookie has ever done a flashback fakeout before. Great way to kill the expectation though!

Maybe it's not a fakeout! Maybe it is not Stunt and Jayden we see chatting with Rilian, but Stunt's father and Stunt's mother seen through the scrying pool, and Stunt himself is silently going "wait, what" at this revelation.

[Traab]

I'm kind of surprised Rillian hasn't joined the bad guys yet just out of sheer frustration. He's been the grumpy guardian of the world for centuries, and now he has to put up with a bunch of self-centered morons, namely Dominic and company.

He's probably saved the world dozens of times in the past and probably hasn't received a single thank-you. Though given his methods, that's probably understandable.

Yeah, as was said, the bad guys are even more inept than the good guys. Rillian cant join them because he doesnt speak pure derp. At least the good guys only speak half derp. If rillian tries hard enough and takes enough time, he can manage to make the good guys understand what he wants them to do. The evil guys would just stare at him blankly, chewing on their socks. The evil girls are too busy adjusting their corsets trying to get just one more cup size improvement on their cleavage to pay attention.

[M84]

Oh yeah, I forgot. If Rilian wanted to join the bad guys, he'd have to become a zombie for real to deal with their stupidity. And he'd still be the most competent one.

DD. Where Good is dumb, but Evil is dumber. Or at least lazier.

[T-O-E]

I'm kind of surprised Rillian hasn't joined the bad guys yet just out of sheer frustration. He's been the grumpy guardian of the world for centuries, and now he has to put up with a bunch of self-centered morons, namely Dominic and company.

He's probably saved the world dozens of times in the past and probably hasn't received a single thank-you. Though given his methods, that's probably understandable.

He's like the anti-Deegan. Luna being worshipped for doing and being nothing must really annoy him.

[WyvernLord]

He's like the anti-Deegan. Luna being worshipped for doing and being nothing must really annoy him.

Or maybe he doesn't want the attention so he is giving it to the likes of Luna.
Imagine if he he had to deal all the people in the world that make Dominic look like a genius in comparison. Think of what Rilian would do if he got mindbreak.
As it is now he only has to deal with the half-derps.

[Mewtarthio]

This necklace quest is far too underexplained to play "fill in the plot hole".

Challenge accepted!

We don't know what the necklace does.

It is a cursed necklace disguised as an item of great value (Rillian refers to it as the "Lost Treasure of Luana" because he scried on Stunt & Jayden earlier and heard them talking about it). Should any mortal spellcaster touch the necklace, it will react violently, almost certainly crippling them and standing a good chance of killing them outright.

We don't know why the space ray wants it.

He has heard rumors of an impending attack against his fellow archmage and friend. Those rumors were actually started by Rillian himself, though he didn't expect Masutel to come so close.

We don't know what will happen if the space ray gets it.

Masutel will be too wary to fall for the trap, and he has a good chance of tracking down Rillian before the trail goes cold, exposing his ruse.

We don't know why Rilian has the necklace.

Because he made it.

We don't know why he wants Miranda to have it or what he wants her to do with it.

This necklace represents a credible and very real attempt on Miranda's life. Rillian, however, is currently under a complex double-layered illusion. A sufficiently skilled diviner, such as Dominic or an archmage, will notice and penetrate the first layer when they investigate this meeting later, but the second is frustratingly subtle, and those diviners are far too arrogant to imagine someone outwitting them.

The short of it is: When Dominic and the archmages scry into Stunt's past, they will see King Callan disguised as Rillian. The assassination of Dominic's mother and the Archmage of the Fifth Circle will spur the Chamipon and the Archmages to action.

We don't know why he doesn't teleport over to Miranda to deliver it.

That would be far too direct, both for Rillian's personal tastes and for the sake of remaining "in character" as King Callan. Besides, Miranda and Dominic are far more likely to see through the double illusion if they see Rillian in person rather than through their second sight.

We don't know why he doesn't contact Miranda to say he's going to deliver it.

Too direct again. Besides, a real assassin would try to keep Miranda off-guard; it will look clumsy if Rillian gives her the chance to prepare to receive a great artifact.

We don't know why he trusts Stunt to deliver it.

It's not really a matter of trusting Stunt. He could have sent Jayden just as easily. The thing is, he has other plans for Jayden. Rillian surreptitiously implanted her with flesh from the corpses of corrupted battlecasters while he cast that "healing" spell on her. By the time she reaches the Winter Archipelago, she'll be overcome with delirium. Once Milov sees his former lover degrade into a mass of tentacles and eyes, the werewolves will join the fight against King Callan.

His expactation was that Jayden would come to Eldariat with an escort, and that she would provide the escort with information about Miranda and a personal letter vouching for the escort's trustworthiness. The fact that Stunt already knows the Deegans is an unexpected bit of good luck.

We don't know why he thinks Stunt will be able to get past the space ray to get to Miranda.

He doesn't have to get past Masutel. He only needs to evade the archmage long enough for Rillian to cover his tracks. If the assassination attempt fails, the fact that it was even attempted should be enough to spur everyone to action. In fact, Stunt's detour is actually helpful for Rillian, as Masutel is less likely to find Stunt than if he'd made a beeline straight for Miranda. Hence why Rillian doesn't protest that delay as strongly as the five-minute scrying delay: It really doesn't matter where Stunt goes, so long as it's not near Rillian.

[T-O-E]

Why is Rillian referring to it as the LOST treasure of Luana? This makes no sense. It's been found. It was never lost in the first place anyway, sine Luana probably put it there and told her followers about it. Hidden is a better word but Rillian should have dropped that part.

What I am trying to say that Dominic Deegan does not make sense.

[WyvernLord]

~Snip~

That makes a scary amount of sense to me. You are a deviously evil person. You should never change.

[BlackDragonKing]

Why is Rillian referring to it as the LOST treasure of Luana? This makes no sense. It's been found. It was never lost in the first place anyway, sine Luana probably put it there and told her followers about it. Hidden is a better word but Rillian should have dropped that part.

What I am trying to say that Dominic Deegan does not make sense.

Because calling it "The thing I've been holding onto for a while" would probably kill the drama.

I also really do think that if Rilian encounters like two more derps from the good guys, tops, he's just going to snap and blight the entire world into oblivion before going to look for a smarter world to protect.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

For the same reason that it's Old Eldariat. It's a fantasy world, forgotten cities are Old, and treasures are Lost. Mookie spews out blatantly recycled cliches without understanding how they're used in GOOD fiction.

[Kizor]

I honestly don't get what's so bad about calling Old Eldariat Old. It would only be nonsensical if we knew there was no newer Eldariat. It's a bit tired, but only a bit.

[Trazoi]

But there is no New Eldariat. There's the lost city of Eldariat and there's a desert of Eldariat. They're different things. I know what Mookie was getting at, but to me it doesn't sound right unless you're comparing cities.

However I agree it's one of the most minor complaints in a whole sea of bad plotting.

[BlackDragonKing]

For some reason, Rilian dismissing the idiots feels to me like we're about to see something less passive from him shortly. I'm not sure if it's something like he expects them both to die as a wake-up call to Dominic that his priorities are wrong, wrong, wrong or if we're going to see him start taking more extreme measures since nobody else can be arsed to save the world.

It also reminded me of another dismissal from a frustrated mastermind.

[Trazoi]

Sneaky Gate
Future Link

Well that is a thing that happened. Good thing everyone always has exactly the right spell for every occasion.

[WyvernLord]

I hope this is just Rilian messing with them. Besides the fact I like him it's hard to see an Eons old person die. I wouldn't think he just stand and fight against an archmage. That's just suicide. Really that is super DERP.
Hoping against hope that Rilian isn't ruined.
Also is anyone else reminded about Sonic?

[Trazoi]

I'm reminded of Bubble Bobble. It's a very generically video game-y thing.

In my canon Rilian has completely given up on these idiots and left the webcomic. Just like Warlord Moustache.

[WyvernLord]

In my canon Rilian has completely given up on these idiots and left the webcomic. Just like Warlord Moustache.

It's like you read my mind. Whoa.

[Veridis Quo]

[Snip]

This is really good, but I question whether or not Rilian would really use these methods. It seems to me that Rilian is a genius juggling several long term plans. In order to accomplish them he tries to assemble the best pieces in order to complete each goal.

I don't thinke he would target Miranda, she has the knowledge, wisdom, and power to be effective in a number of ways. Putting Miranda at risk would be like using a Queen's gambit in chess. I don't think Rilian would sacrifice such a powerful piece so easily. Dominic however is a different story, at best he is a bishop in terms of importance. He's a pretty skilled seer, but he doesn't exercise the level of objectivity needed to be more than just the "town seer". He drags his emotions into everything and winds up making calls that should sometimes turn out to be wrong. He can see all sorts of things, but he can't even see in front of him and that is a huge weakness.

When Rilian suspected that Dominic was in danger of descending into mind-break, he should have begun looking for a new seer, instead of focusing solely on Dominic. Because that's the thing about Rilian, he's not a seer as far as we know. There must be some way for non seers to scry on the immediate past and future, but looking into the far past and future would require a seer. Lacking that, Rilian has to rely on his wits, and luck. Which is where Stunt and Jayden fall in.

Stunt is a pawn that just sent on a suicide run across the board. He needs to get something to a character that has actual power while he himself has nothing. While I question not giving the necklace to Jayden, we'll assume that Stunt's shady background makes him a better choice then Jayden. Because Rilian has so few pieces on the board now he's getting desperate.

Whatever the purpose of the necklace, he needs to get it out of the city before Masturel breaks through. It doesn't need to get to Miranda right away (for some reason) it just doesn't need to be in the city any longer. So Rilian uses these two random mooks to do this.

If this whole plan is a ruse arranged by Rilian, it relies too much on coincidence. What if Stunt had killed Jayden when he first woke up after his abduction? What if he had declined travelling with her on the airship? Mindcontrol? or maybe divination? Did Rilian orchestrate Jayden's sudden departure on her pilgrimage, and if so was it Rilian that kept her silent all this time? Waiting to activate his pawns as they moved into position.

[TheLaughingMan]

I was kind of hoping the last panel would be "That's all folks!" and then a montage of Snuggly's new world order, but I guess the "randomly-pulling-powers-out-of-my-rectangular-backside" card could stand to be played a few billion more times. I just hope Mookie's ready to reimburse me for all the desks/heads I'll be going through enjoying his flawless plot twists.

[Shogo]

Minor nitpick . . . But man do I hate how people run in DD.

Look at Stunt. Just look at him.

[Zaq]

The most impressive part of this, to me, is that Mookie managed to draw a background in one of the panels. Such as it is.