Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XXXV: DJ Callan Turns the Tables

[Penquin47]

...What happens if you add Acibek's Principle to a Chaos spell?

[mwchase]

...What happens if you add Acibek's Principle to a Chaos spell?

It becomes... the best chaos?

[Artevoi]

...What happens if you add Acibek's Principle to a Chaos spell?

You get Perfect Chaos.


It is a Sonic Adventure joke.

[M84]

I'm fine with Chaos following the rules it likes and disobeying the rest. Disobeying every rule regardless of whether or not it's to your advantage just for the sake of being "chaotic" isn't chaotic at all -- it's just stupid. It also means you're trying to obey a set of laws anyway, just the opposite of the normal law system.

The tradeoff to this huge advantage should be wildly unpredictable results of course. Kind of like "Wild Magic" in older editions of D&D: you get to avoid the restrictions that other wizards have to obey and can do things that traditional spellcasters can't perform -- the downside being that you never know if your "Summon Mordenkainen's Sword" spell will turn your party into chickens instead or something worse.

[rocketpony]

Chaotic means you can't predict what you'll get, with the advantages and disadvantages it implies.

So at some point I remember somebody describing this fifth Chaos god in Warhammer 40k (more like LOREhammer lolmirite) who was part of the pantheon until something something copyright issues and he just kind of vanished between versions?
Without going into too much detail, in Warhammer there are four god dudes who represent various aspects of Chaos. They have a bunch of cultists, and every so often the cultists militarize and try to conquer the universe for their gods, by which I mean tear down civilization. It never works.
The fifth guy's specific aspect of Chaos that he represented was treachery, and theoretically he was why the wars could never work, because after you destroy a whole lot of civilization and power up Chaos, if you're hanging out with the incarnation of backstabbing, you start to feel like maybe you should stab everyone in the back. So, inevitably, the ranks of Chaos would fall to infighting and collapse.
It doesn't help that one of the gods represents indiscriminate slaughter, so he's 100% okay with losing any given battle if that means that much more slaughter.
I thought this was a cool thing to do with Chaos - it's a self-limiting system. The dog you got to bite people eventually bites you. Chaos is nobody's friend &c.

The problem with DD's chaos magic is, I guess, why would you not want to be a chaos mage? It's like Law but you're harder to beat. But then we start down the tricky path of questions like "Why is there a Hell in a universe where there's cross-planar travel, and magic that is exceptionally good at killing demons," and "Why are there muggles at all," and that's a can of worms I don't feel like opening.

[BlackDragonKing]

...What happens if you add Acibek's Principle to a Chaos spell?

Given that Acibek's Principle applies theories of order to enhance the spell's power and Chaos is the opposite of order, probably nothing.

[mwchase]

Given that Acibek's Principle applies theories of order to enhance the spell's power and Chaos is the opposite of order, probably nothing.

See, that occurred to me, but then I remembered that Dominic got all kinds of flashiness and maybe magical prowess I guess, from getting all of the metaphysical planes dumped on him. So, the answer can't always be as simple as "they fizzle".

[Helanna]

What is this? Do I get to do the honors tonight? Or shall I be ninja'd?

Sneaky Gate

and

Future Link

I like the way Luna apparently has to explain that to us in the first panel. Just in case we were confused about what bubbles are made of.

Still, I kinda like this idea. Someone said earlier they liked the bubbles even though they were kind of silly, but I think that's why I like them. They're one of the few things recently to 'fit' DD - Serious subject in that they need a safe way to scry, but lighthearted and silly at the same time.

Now the rest of the comic . . .

[Seerow]

What is this? Do I get to do the honors tonight? Or shall I be ninja'd?

Sneaky Gate

and

Future Link

I like the way Luna apparently has to explain that to us in the first panel. Just in case we were confused about what bubbles are made of.

Still, I kinda like this idea. Someone said earlier they liked the bubbles even though they were kind of silly, but I think that's why I like them. They're one of the few things recently to 'fit' DD - Serious subject in that they need a safe way to scry, but lighthearted and silly at the same time.

Now the rest of the comic . . .

Man I literally just checked less than 5 minutes ago, you must have checked it just as mookie updated it.

[Palmer]

These bubbles may not be literally crystal.

NO.

It's like with every line she has Luna just keeps getting dumber.

[Trazoi]

Yes thank you Luna and Quilt I already got it.

Strips like these make me headdesk more than usual - what could be an interesting concept is ground into the dirt by endless pointless talking heads.

[M84]

Mookie just can't escape the talking heads format.

Also, while scry spamming is a viable tactic, how are they going to keep track of all of those bubbles? Do the two of them really think they can monitor that many viewpoints at once while popping the ones that might be spotted? It would be like watching a dozen televisions while flipping through the channels on each one trying to find a specific commercial and constantly turning them on and off every time at random times.

[TheArsenal]

Excuse me.

****************** ** and***** the ***** who **** *** *** ****** ****(

There Im back.....

How! How the hell did you get so ****ing smart! You cannot just SUDDENLY have a character a ****ing genuis! That makes me SO mad! Now he can scry from multiple angles, at the same time using a new technique developed by him! BS! In addition BUBBLES POP AFTER 10 SECONDS MAX! Unless you thought of introducing some new magic technique of prolonging bubbles!

And how do you destroy a scry link by destroying the focus! THE TRACE CAN STILL BE TRACED TO YOU YOU NIMROD!


GAAAAAAH! I HATE BUBBLES! HATE THEN SO MUCH!

[Rappy]

I am getting anxious for the day that the long-proposed "Let's Archive Trawl" thread gets started so I can have something to do this early in the morning...because I'm seriously starting to lose interest in DD snarking.

It's not that there's nothing to snark, it's just that Luna siphons the energy I have to snark.

There is no true amusement, only a void as bottomless as the one in Luna's head.

...Or maybe I'm just overtired and overthinking this. You decide.

[SiuiS]

I am getting anxious for the day that the long-proposed "Let's Archive Trawl" thread gets started so I can have something to do this early in the morning...because I'm seriously starting to lose interest in DD snarking.

It's not that there's nothing to snark, it's just that Luna siphons the energy I have to snark.

There is no true amusement, only a void as bottomless as the one in Luna's head.

...Or maybe I'm just overtired and overthinking this. You decide.

No, no, it really is getting worse. I made it through maltak ok. Started to finally have trouble with the stupid Facebath stuff. AND it's just all downhill from there. Mookie has lost his sense of dynamism, and it's all the same. What I said earlier, about yesterday, today and tomorrow fitting perfectly into a single comic? If thats true, I will cry.

But I'm willing to bet it IS true. Mookie just can't shake things up. Show not tell, requires NOT TELLING, Mookie. Work with me here!

[Welf]

Oh my brother Pacing, what happened to you?
Okay, bubbles are funny, the concept that chaos golem Quilt does chaos stuff is neat. Aside from the character derailment and the plot holes, but okay, rule of cool or whatever. But please just move on with the plot and don't let us think too much about it. Fridge Logic doesn't work when the plot dwells too long on something stupid and we're already bored while watching.

[2xMachina]

I think what Quilt is trying to do is scry from a bubble, pop it, use another, rinse repeat.

The target may know he's being scried, but by the time he tries to find it, it ended, and another started from another angle.

[TheArsenal]

The target may know he's being scried, but by the time he tries to find it, it ended, and another started from another angle.

And that destroys the arcane trail how?

In addition, its actually WORSE than simply a bunch of crystal balls: In order to scry you immerse yourself in the vision. Its not like a TV screen. If the Person spots you, you need to return to your body, and destroy the ball. In addition you need to be in CONTACT with the ball, yeah good luck with not destroying your scry material.

[rocketpony]

Given that Acibek's Principle applies theories of order to enhance the spell's power and Chaos is the opposite of order, probably nothing.

I dunno bro, "Chaos and Order are mutually incompatible" sounds like a rule to me. That's the trouble with rules - so predictable.

The target may know he's being scried, but by the time he tries to find it, it ended, and another started from another angle.

Not to nitpick (just kidding, I only ever nitpick), but has angle of attack ever been important before? Like, Dominic's tried a scry and at the end Luna says "What'd you see?" and Dominic says "Nothing, there was a lady in a tall hat in front of me for pretty much the whole thing."

Despite my whining, I like the punchline of this comic. Simple visual gag.

Also a hilarious idea just occurred to me - maybe the reason why Luna's going to Quilt to scry on the unscryable guy is that Dominic never actually told anyone that Celesto's unscryable now. Ha ha! Sorry Luna, he'll say, I feel really bad that Snuggly crawled inside Quilt's head and we had to destroy him, but look at it this way - it's not like he had any information he could have gotten for us. It was hopeless.

[Garland]

My problem whith this strip is that it could have been just one panel, AND an added punchline to the previous comic. It could have ended with this extra panel full of bubbles and Imbeciluna saying "OK, that's enough bubbles"... instead they have to explain the "scrying is hacking, good luck i'm behind seven proxies bubbles" system, when it was pretty obvious AND would be better explained with a reaction from the scryed person.

You explain these kind of things beforehand only if you plan to make them fail afterwards. Maybe there's still hope for this? Brace yourselves for disappointment.

[PhantomFox]

I am getting anxious for the day that the long-proposed "Let's Archive Trawl" thread gets started so I can have something to do this early in the morning...because I'm seriously starting to lose interest in DD snarking.

It's not that there's nothing to snark, it's just that Luna siphons the energy I have to snark.

There is no true amusement, only a void as bottomless as the one in Luna's head.

...Or maybe I'm just overtired and overthinking this. You decide.

Speaking of which, what ever happened to Curly?

[random11]

I don't get it...
Okay, I get the point that spam-scry can be faster and easier for this goal, already got it last time anyway.

But how does quilt has the ability to multi-scry like that? He doesn't look like a character that can even do one task at a time properly, so a hundred?!
Since when it's common knowledge that he developed such a skill anyway?

Also, Why is it safer? What's the security advantages of popping a bubble over disconnecting the regular crystal ball scry on time?

[Wraith]

And how do you destroy a scry link by destroying the focus! THE TRACE CAN STILL BE TRACED TO YOU YOU NIMROD!

It's from the Hollywood school of telephone tracing, where the kidnapper can cut off the efforts of the New York Police, the FBI and Verizon combined just by replacing the handset suddenly.

[SaintRidley]

It's from the Hollywood school of telephone tracing, where the kidnapper can cut off the efforts of the New York Police, the FBI and Verizon combined just by replacing the handset suddenly.

Of course, in the case of tracing a scry it may make sense considering tracing back to no source at all could be a problem.

I'll give Quilt the pass on being able to monitor it all. He's made from hundreds of people, so maybe splitting his magic up into hundreds of parts plays into that as an advantage for golems like Quilt. Probably why Jacob sucked at teaching him magic, too.

Also, I'm glad it's become canon that even Quilt can out think Luna.

[TheArsenal]

Of course, in the case of tracing a scry it may make sense considering tracing back to no source at all could be a problem.

No it doesn't. Just trace to where the signature ends. You'l find the person there.

I'll give Quilt the pass on being able to monitor it all. He's made from hundreds of people, so maybe splitting his magic up into hundreds of parts plays into that as an advantage for golems like Quilt.

Its great that this has always been, from the very beginning a established part of his charact-oh wait. No. No it hasn't.

[Welf]

Quilt was partly made from a drummer and thus could play the drums in BfB. All his parts were chaos wizards, so it's not totally out of the realm of the acceptable that he can do some magic multitasking. Some foreshadowing would have been nice. BYOB would have been the right place with something like "I'm okay with not being in your band, I'm working on my magic talents".

[TheArsenal]

Quilt was partly made from a drummer and thus could play the drums in BfB.

Again. Think about it. How does having an ass part sown as a cheek of your make you a better scryer?Especialy if the Wizard focused of CHAOS MAGIC AND NOT SCRYING!

Or how does having a sown in Middle finger make you a better drummer?

It makes no ****ing sense!

[rocketpony]

No it doesn't. Just trace to where the signature ends. You'l find the person there.

Arcane signatures have no personal identifiers encoded in them.

It's from the Hollywood school of telephone tracing, where the kidnapper can cut off the efforts of the New York Police, the FBI and Verizon combined just by replacing the handset suddenly.

The king's going to need to hack all spellbooks simultaneously.

[TheArsenal]

Arcane signatures have no personal identifiers encoded in them.

Again. That doesn't make sense. Its like being unable to trace a lazer from which direction it came from (And it leaves behind a yellow line). Just follow the line. who cares if the lazer is destroyed!

[Castel]

Magical ballistics aren't all that developed. They should try to expand on the whole capturing the trace arcane signature deal a little harder.