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

[Fawkes]

...I really want to see where the goes next, and I don't know why.

When does the sneaky gate usually come up? Around ten-ish?

Varies. It's up whenever Mookie finishes it.

[Saint Nil]

How does someone find the Sneaky Gate anyway? I often see it posted, but have no clue how to access it outside of this thread.

[T-O-E]

Right click on latest comic image -> View image info or copy image location
You'll get something like: " http://dominic-deegan.com/comics/20110429.gif "
Adjust the date in the url by how many days. So Monday's comic will be " http://dominic-deegan.com/comics/20110502.gif "

<snip>

I meant to quote Saint Nil. That was mostly just me talking to myself anyway

[Saint Nil]

Thank you!

[Thufir]

I haven't been reading Dominic Deegan for months, I think I stopped near the beginning of the year. Has it gotten better, worse, or about stayed the same in the meantime?

Yes.
I don't think I can give a more helpful answer than that.

I will agree on the point that the current arc is looking to be hilariously ridiculous/bad. Which could be seen as getting better. At least it's entertaining.

[mwchase]

I just had a thought about magical interaction in DD, aside from LAW MAEK EVERYTHING BETTAR and CHAOS IGNORE BORING RUELZ. How do illusions and scrying interact? (Also: WHIET FIER HURT INFERNAMANCER UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED)

I'm actually kind of amazed this hasn't come up before, considering that the protagonists are a seer and a mage who prefers illusions. Anyway, my point is, suppose Dominic scried on a man being incited to murder-suicide, by an illusion of someone else. Would Dominic see the scene as it 'truly was' (so he can't see who's supposed to be there), or as it looked (in which case, say, a sufficiently powerful illusion mage, such as one who personally trained the six strongest mages across all the planes, could fake his own death, for reasons of his own), or would he see 'this appears to be there, but is not'? (In which case, bah, that's kind of cheap, and makes me wonder what he'd see if someone spammed multiple layers of 'what this room actually looks like', thereby making the scry look totally clouded by illusion.)

Also, I think this has come up before, but why don't the archmages do their own scrying, instead of sub-contracting it to... this guy (EDIT: I meant Quilt, but I can see how I didn't get that across.)? I know this has been said before: they are the archmages, which means that they have mastered every school of magic, and, as such, they, the archmages, have mastered every school of magic, because they are the archmages, and... dammit, the fate of the universe is at stake, what's so important for the archmages to do that they can't do a few basic scries, through the impenetrable wards on the castle that Dominic's students have penetrated? Why is the fate of every plane of reality in Quilt's hands?

[Palmer]

Wasn't it stated somewhere to Dominic is immune to illusions? So I imagine he SEES THE TRUTH while all those lesser seers are duped into believing lies. I could swear there was at least one case of illusions affecting his visions though.

As for the archmage think, I personally believe that Mookie just desperately wants Dominic to appear important in the grand scheme of things when really he's a massive load. In canon, it's probably because Archmages average out in everything while Dom excels in seering.

[mwchase]

Wasn't it stated somewhere to Dominic is immune to illusions?

I'm not sure if things have changed since Erossus, but at that point, he was able to notice that something was off with Miranda, because she was actually an illusion wrapped around a trap spell.

So, anyway, he has some kind of anti-illusion powers that presumably derive from second sight or scrying, since Luna, an illusionist, apparently didn't notice anything. Pleh.

[Trazoi]

Wasn't it stated somewhere to Dominic is immune to illusions? So I imagine he SEES THE TRUTH while all those lesser seers are duped into believing lies.

"I'm the only one who can save this village." "Wow boss, it is cool to be you!"

As for the archmage think, I personally believe that Mookie just desperately wants Dominic to appear important in the grand scheme of things when really he's a massive load. In canon, it's probably because Archmages average out in everything while Dom excels in seering.

I think the Archmage learning all schools of magic was something thrown in to give a reason for Prento to be attending the Most Awesome Class in All Deeganwarts. Then promptly forgotten.

[mwchase]

Okay, so, VoD came before EaE, so not seeing straight through Miranda's illusion is down to... she's really powerful, from a distance, before her powerboost from... something.

Honestly, if she can cast illusions that powerful while being held back, and from Quiral to Erossus, why don't the other archmages question whether she implanted the evidence in Dominic's mind? Would have been an actual reason for them to be so hesitant to help. "We think you might have gone crazy, and implanted this in the scry to try to get us to go along with your plan, regardless of the cost."

[Trazoi]

Honestly, if she can cast illusions that powerful while being held back, and from Quiral to Erossus, why don't the other archmages question whether she implanted the evidence in Dominic's mind? Would have been an actual reason for them to be so hesitant to help. "We think you might have gone crazy, and implanted this in the scry to try to get us to go along with your plan, regardless of the cost."

Honestly at this point the theory that would make the most sense to me (if there wasn't such as thing as Deegan immunity) is that Miranda murdered Murray and is secretly manipulating everyone to become Ruler of the Multiverse.

[Ghill]

Honestly at this point the theory that would make the most sense to me (if there wasn't such as thing as Deegan immunity) is that Miranda murdered Murray and is secretly manipulating everyone to become Ruler of the Multiverse.

Really? I don't see it, but I am intrigued.

[mwchase]

It seems like Miranda is holding back her power, now that she's had it unleashed for some reason. This might be from investing it in artifacts, but it seems possible that she's managed to be more subtle with it ever since that "beam spell" incident, and she's been using it to plant evidence and influence the other archmagi.

The whole "have M'ur'i be dead in a timeline that makes no logical sense" could be because he actually wasn't killed then, but later, and she hoped that Ara would pick up on this discrepancy, discrediting Dominic with the archmagi. Once she's in charge, she can have things however she wants, so this is just a temporary sacrifice.

I think that's the basic reasoning. The fun part comes in when you consider that Dominic has apparently scried the future before (so he had some idea of how many people would be in his class), and so, if Miranda can conceal something properly for herself in future, she can know to scry it from the present, thereby giving herself information for free. Basically, lots of DD's magic appears highly abusable, and Miranda should know all of it.

[SaintRidley]

Odds Mookie will take recent events as an excuse to do just a splash page or a day off?

[Trazoi]

Really? I don't see it, but I am intrigued.

The only evidence is from Miranda or from Dominic's visions. And as Dominic's mother, Miranda could have complete control over what he sees. She's had access to his house, keeps running magical scans over all her sons, and lately tends to be present whenever he scries on recent events. It was Miranda who took Dom to the "special scrying room" so he could see it was the king.

And her voice sounds like Emperor Palpatine.

[mwchase]

The only evidence is from Miranda or from Dominic's visions. And as Dominic's mother, Miranda could have complete control over what he sees. She's had access to his house, keeps running magical scans over all her sons, and lately tends to be present whenever he scries on recent events. It was Miranda who took Dom to the "special scrying room" so he could see it was the king.

And her voice sounds like Emperor Palpatine.

"Under any other set of circumstances, the archmages' being such a bunch of pompous asses would have doomed the planes. This time it was nearly their salvation: while they believed you, neither did they strike against the one man who held hope for standing against me. But I was able to recover soon enough. Thank you for that, Celesto. In gratitude for your service, I'll reward you as you desire." *Celes-plode*

Guys. Guys. THIS IS THE BEST FANFIC EVER.

[Rappy]

Sneaky Gate's up.

Link slippin' into the future.

So Quilt was quite literally thinking (or at least scrying) with his...yeah.

[Voice of Reason]

Sneaky Gate

Spoiler

Show

I begin to wonder if in this arc we might see Quilt remember (apparently he didn't know...) that he's made up of the magical body parts of some very powerful people. He could become a powerful force in the Deegan arsenal.

[SaintRidley]

And this strip does not move us anywhere because the whole thing could have been part of one panel of Luna explaining why she wanted to have Quilt help.

[Zaq]

So, um, what's that piece of paper that Luna's reading in p.2? Is it a printout of the magic scan she just did on Quilt to determine that he's "fixated"? (I don't know why that's bolded, but Luna bolded it, and she's great, so I bolded it too!) Is it an informational leaflet about "fixation" that she just happened to have lying around? Is it a Magic Eye that she's trying to see? The world may never know.

[Palmer]

Yeah, this isn't Six Degrees to Celesto Morgan, guys. Just go get a competent seer to scry on Rachel like Dominic did. Are they just so utterly uninterested in Celesto that they're getting sidetracked in-between panels now?

The Dominion is doomed, isn't it?

Edit: What's with Luna's goofy Jane Jetson shoulder pads?

[Castel]

The same few Chosen who died before they even knew Celesto existed...? Yeah, I guess I see how that could work.

[Welf]

Seriously, Luna just now remembered that there is a direct link between Quilt and Celesto? Quilt is made up from dead human bodies, and just by looking in his face you can see that. heck, when Jakob collected these bodies she was there, it was one of the turning points in her live, when she had to face her uselessness. And she forgot that.

[Darkmyst]

Huh? I thought all the parts used in the construction of Quilt were gathered well before Celesto was tapped to become the champion of chaos.

(Edit: Damn, a little slow on the draw with that post :P)

[Bobikus]

DD continues to just get worse every page.

EDIT: ^ yeah, pretty sure Quilt was made long before Celesto was ever mentioned. This is sort of just bad retconning in a sense to try to make Quilt useful somehow.

[Seerow]

Huh? I thought all the parts used in the construction of Quilt were gathered well before Celesto was tapped to become the champion of chaos.

Never let logic get in the way of plot!

[Trazoi]

If Luna is going to very slowly remember incredibly obvious things, how many strips will it take before she remembers Dominic has a scrying ball permanently fixed on Celesto? Fifty?

[Rappy]

If Luna is going to very slowly remember incredibly obvious things, how many strips will it take before she remembers Dominic has a scrying ball permanently fixed on Celesto? Fifty?

You expect Luna to remember the Illegitimate Child Watch?

Silly Trazoi, logic's for kids other webcomics.

[Zaq]

So wait a minute, if we think about what Quilt and Luna are actually saying in p.6 . . . all of the people in Barthis who were creepy at all were part of the Chosen.

That, in itself, is creepy.

[Voice of Reason]

The 6 chosen who died and were harvested to make Quilt were, presumably, also present in the horde of Chosen Souls in the Storm of Souls arc, in which Celestro was made their champion, and could feasibly have had contact with him. It is not retconning, but it is stretching the truth considerably.