Comment by Artificer-Urza

I wonder what it is that the dagger isdetecting? What is it about Sev that sets that gets a reaction out of it?

Reply by Glew

I've got a malicious/cynical theory on that:
they are Daggers of Plot Advancement +1
Though it very well could be a "detect messed up magic" or detect some sort of "taint". So Sev may actually be tainted somehow, just not knowing, or he is not tainted but something has happened to him that sets the spell off. We can only wonder.

Btw: How is Sev getting on the roof in the last panel? He is morfing up to the roof? Is he levitating? I would guess he's jumping, but he lacks those motiony line-things about him.

Reply by Nziz

I figure it's one of two possibilities -- either they're right and a miscast of aberrant shape is actually a dangerous taint and Sev doesn't know it yet, or otherwise the fact that aberrants are by nature "wrong" somehow means that the dagger can also detect regular shapeshifty miscasts, since they're a different kind of wrong. But if that's the case, you'd think they would have figured that out by now, encountering some other miscast. But maybe they killed them before asking questions. (Can anyone say "witch hunt"?)

And I think Sev is run/jumping up the wall in the manner of cats -- the way a 10-inch-tall housecat can go from ground level to the top of a fence in the blink of an eye.

Reply by Lear

So basically you're suggesting that Aberrants exist somewhere on the miscast scale.
Obviously they would be the 10 or 11 on the scale. A 1 would have to be something minor like numbing your tongue for a few hours. inconvenient but probably not life threatening. Which I guess would make Jonan's like a 3 since it could be bad but you have time to go fix it. Probably starting somewhere around a 6 you would start moving toward being an Abberant and being picked up by glow daggers. Which probably sticks Sev at like a 7 or 8, just given how many changes there are to him.

Reply by Nerrin

Well we've had hints already with both Sev and Iavin that the aberrant-detecting magic is also set off by certain kinds of miscasts. Iavin was caught due to a false positive, and this is the second time the same has happened to Sev. I think it's also already been suggested in dialogue that there may be a more definite connection between miscasts and aberrants? I wouldn't be at all surprised if in some cases aberrants come from miscasting runewriters.

Reply by Johndoe

It seems equally likely that Sev actually has some aberrant in him. If you look at his initial miscast, he turns into in aberrant while still tainted with aberrant, which is what resulted in him being stuck with the tentacle hands and...creature feet. Sev would then be setting off the detectors because he is actually tainted with aberrant magic. Assuming I followed his transformation correctly.

Reply by Shazzbaa

Aw man, you guys are the coolest!! I'm loving the theories! *o*