Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XLVI: A Tark of the Klones, Electric Boogaloo

[Bobikus]

I want to see a story where that's actually intentional and done well. It's an interesting premise.

The closest I can think offhand to this would be Bink from the first two books in the Xanth series. Every person born in Xanth had a magical talent, and he was originally exiled for not having one, but later discovered that his talent was immunity to magical harm, and he didn't know about it because the power functioned subconsciously by selectively giving him immunity, appearing as coincidence, manipulating others to assist him, effectively making sure that things just naturally fell in a way that benefited him long term.

[Mewtarthio]

Hmm….

Ever heard of the Alex Verus series? It's urban fantasy, starring a diviner in a world of beamspam-style wizards. The title character has no offensive or defensive magic whatsoever: He can only look into potential futures and see the possible results of his own actions. He exploits those powers to the fullest and pulls off a lot of feats that look like either extremely good luck or hypercompetence to an outsider observer. If you prefer outright probability manipulation, there's plenty of that, too. For instance, one secondary character has the power to essentially steal luck (her name is Luna, and her power comes from a curse).

[T-O-E]

I guess that's better than the curse of pointy teeth.

[Veridis Quo]

Unless I'm missing something, King DJ still hasn't acquired Celesto Morgan yet. And why would he need Rillian's command over death? Not a single person on King DJ's "side" has been hindered by death. TIM just keeps coming back, the cattleblasters are supposed to be mooks so their dying isn't of any consequence, and snuggly was defanged years ago so even if he did die it would just make room for a more intimidating boss.

Does King DJ intend to use Rillian as a focus as well, or maybe a proxy when trying to steal power from the heart of magic. I guess that would make sense since the heart of magic seems to be able to cause grevious and permanent damage to people just by them looking at it.

[Bomaz]

No it is nonesensicaly related to the prophet luana. Possibly they bring her back with rilians powers and by using the necklace or some such

[Mr. McGician]

Unless I'm missing something, King DJ still hasn't acquired Celesto Morgan yet. And why would he need Rillian's command over death? Not a single person on King DJ's "side" has been hindered by death. TIM just keeps coming back, the cattleblasters are supposed to be mooks so their dying isn't of any consequence, and snuggly was defanged years ago so even if he did die it would just make room for a more intimidating boss.

Does King DJ intend to use Rillian as a focus as well, or maybe a proxy when trying to steal power from the heart of magic. I guess that would make sense since the heart of magic seems to be able to cause grevious and permanent damage to people just by them looking at it.

What could be interesting is if the King were trying to turn himself into some sort of undead zombie thing that can access the Heart without dying.

[SaintRidley]

Sneaky
Future

That's some capital work there, Mookster. You betcha.

[random11]

It seems the use DJ is planning is much weirder than I expected.

I have no idea what he's talking about.

The key is to the chamber the Eldariat prepared, but since they failed to capture the heart of magic, and it obviously moved a couple of time since then, what's the point?
Why does he need specifically a chaos seer to find the door?
If the chamber exists, why move it to a different one?
If he catches the heart of magic, why count "feed the beast" as part of the plan? The beast didn't help him so far, and isn't one of the components he needs.

And why do I bother asking questions?

[Oracle_Hunter]

It seems the use DJ is planning is much weirder than I expected.

No kidding

None of this week has made a lick of sense. How is Luana's necklace also an ancient Eldariat artifact? Why isn't DJ -- a noted Seer -- using his own damn Second Sight to do the scrying? How is it that Rillian has the power to "rot the world" all of a sudden? What does that even mean?!

That's it. I'm revoking Mookie's plotting privileges for this one. Which is fine, since he never uses them anyways

[Ninjadeadbeard]

And why do I bother asking questions?

Don't worry. This indicates that you are still sane. Mookie, on the other hand...

[Rhapsh]

Is this a flashback or a vision? Who is the King talking to in panel 4? Is it Dominic? If it's Dominic, why is the narration box still happening!? What's even going on anymore!?

I think the flashback just ran into a brick wall.

[Mewtarthio]

When did DJ get Celesto? Last we heard, didn't Miranda get away with him? Why is Rillian so important all of a sudden? Why does the unspeakable eldritch horror need his food mashed up before he can eat it? Why does the King care one whit what the Beast wants out of this? Why is King DJ telling Ara all this? Why am I no longer able to tell the difference between Mookie's script and "I Love Dominique"? Why? Just... why?

[Trazoi]

"I love Dominique" might also border on gibberish, but it still manages to be more epic that whatever DD is.

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I like how Rilian is somehow now a key part of this whole nonsense rather than just the guy who was hiding the Lost Treasure of Luana™. Both he and the Lost Treasure of Luana™ weren't captured before Ara did her brain reader thing, so they're both integral parts of the plan.

[AgentofOdd]

It seems the use DJ is planning is much weirder than I expected.

So the reason for catching the first necromancer is to predigest Snuggly's din-din so he doesn't get a tummy ache? Well, it's so stupid it's funny I suppose.

[DoomHat]

"I love Dominique" might also border on gibberish, but it still manages to be more epic that whatever DD is.

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There's a particularly poignant line in there if you change the punctuation.

"However, what can be successful? He is David..."

[Zaq]

I'm not the first person to say this sort of thing, but the overwhelming impression I get when I see this is "GM writing his first campaign."

[T-O-E]

The truth is in the pudding.

Oh no, "the truth." Is Dominic going to see the truth in the treasure, literal bold pun teehee?

Since God is a comet, Deegan will have to sate his ego by talking to the prophet of the comet.

How is it that Rillian has the power to "rot the world" all of a sudden? What does that even mean?!

I'm guessing he's just going to use the Blight, amplified by a bunch of McGuffins and infused with Acibek's I Win. Necromancers can rot things in this world so only like half of this came out of Mookie's ass.

OH NO, again. Remember when someone said that scrying into Heaven makes you go blind? Heaven is the comet and it's sustained by the souls inside of it blowing up.

[Cavelcade]

I love the fact that this is all predicated on DJ having Celesto when we know that Miranda still has him. I can't wait to see what Mookie pulls out to explain that one.

Also: This comic is bad and makes me feel bad.

[Gez]

The truth is in the pudding.

The Lost Pudding of Zgarboflub.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Is this a flashback or a vision? Who is the King talking to in panel 4? Is it Dominic? If it's Dominic, why is the narration box still happening!? What's even going on anymore!?

I think the flashback just ran into a brick wall.

I think that's Mookie attempting to use a literary device of having the narration and the dialog it's narrating over conveniently syncing up. I'd look it up on TVTropes but I really don't want to.

Also this latest ridiculously circuitous plan could almost half make sense in a G. I. Joe sort of way except for the Rillian parts.

[Cavelcade]

This is how I imagine DJ is feeling right now:

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Ah, my ridiculously circuitous plan is one quarter complete!

[Mr. McGician]

What does David mean when he says that the necklace is "not a relic?" Does that means it's not an ancient artifact left over from something that's been mostly destroyed? Isn't that the definition of a relic? And then he says it's an "actual key?" Actual meaning literal?? And if it's a key, that means it can't possibly be a relic???

If it's a key, that implies some sort of lock. A key and lock are generally made at the same time, to prevent people from getting something. But here David asserts that the key was created to help people get something(?). That implies that the heart of magic was obtained before, but then sealed away so that nobody else could get it. Then the original key was destroyed, so they had to create a new key. Either that, or there just so happens to be a necklace-shaped hole somewhere, for no discernible reason.

[random11]

I'm sure it was done before, but I was so amused by this week, that I spent a few minutes to write a random Mookie explanation code.
It uses random words that Mookie commonly used to "explain" things, and turns a sentence like this:
DJ's plan was to use {0} so he can empower his {1} and finally control {2}

To:
DJ's plan was to use focus item so he can empower his Akibeck principle and finally control heart of magic

I currently only have a few words I used for testing, help me get some more, and maybe a story template or two?

Currently the words I use are:
"Akibeck principle", "heart of magic", "focus item", "chaos magic", "infernomancy", "sanctum", "seer powers", "necromancy".

[Gez]

What does David mean when he says that the necklace is "not a relic?"

I suppose Mookie operates on the "relic == religious remnant" model, and that since the Lost Treasure of Luana predates Luana, it's not one.

Heck, that even explains the stupid name. Luana wanders around in the desert, stumbles on the necklace, exclaims, "cool! a lost treasure, and I found it!" and the name stuck.

[T-O-E]

OH NO, again. Remember when someone said that scrying into Heaven makes you go blind? Heaven is the comet and it's sustained by the souls inside of it blowing up.

To expand, God being everyone means that it's a collective of souls which aren't really attached to anything, so they turn into a comet? I'm guessing the reason why it changes how many magicians are born in an area is because the energy of an exploded soul gets reincarnated.

Magic is definitely powered by souls because that's what Fullmetal Alchemist did. Maybe AngelTark will appear at the end to sacrifice himself for a Deegan again. Or maybe Dominic will die and take control of the hivemind and use it to kill Dave before going back into his own body because he's just that awesome.

[Bobikus]

From SA:

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[Ninjadeadbeard]

From SA:

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FLAWLESS VICTORY!

[Trazoi]

From SA:

Awesome.
Is it me, or is the Birdface getting stronger? It's crept into some of the angled poses too.

Not that I'm complaining: Black Belt Bird is my favourite character:


Edit: Or maybe it's a kung-fu hedgehog.

[random11]

Riddle for you:

What takes DJ his entire life to find, but Dominic just stumbles on it?

Answer

[Rhapsh]

You know, when we said everything just falls into Dominic's lap, I didn't think it would happen literally. The King has this massive multi-year, multi-dimension, multistep plan to get to this thing. Dominic just teleports to it randomly.

Also, how the hell would you expect this Dominic?!