Improbable Gaze Spell – Chapter 18 of the novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Spell:Improbable_Gaze
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Quest:Something_Wicked_That_Way_Goes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L8lSwJ5imI&t=2s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPCYI6gcuWY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/198068-another-thing-that-got-forgotten-was-the-fact-that-against
With the formation of Novus, your wizard is tasked with the exploration of this surrealistic world made from “Nothing and Music”. After discussing things with Maulwurf von Trapp and Qyburn Stellargaze, your wizard is given a new spell. Each school specific spell blends the schools of magic and has a reality warping theme; Balance Spell: Scales of Destiny, Death Spell: Gravestorm, Fire Spell: Glimpse of Infinity (please note the use of the constellation Taurus in the animation), Ice Spell: Deathly Depths, Life Spell: Starspawn (a riff on the Star Child from 2001: A Space Odyssey), Storm Spell: Tree of Strife (a playful take on the cliche` “Tempest in a Teapot”) and finally the Myth Spell: Improbable Gaze.
The spell begins with the sudden appearance of a sperm whale and flower pot appearing high above the duel circle. Each fall towards the circle with the corpse of the whale inflicting damage. This is a direct reference to Chapter 18 of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
The Magrathean sperm whale was the co-product of the Infinite Improbability Drive and its reality-warping field interacting with two guided missiles above Magrathea, the other outcome being a bowl of petunias. The probability of this occurring was 8,767,128 to 1 against. Hence it is an “Improbable Gaze.”
Here is the complete record of the Whale’s existence.
“Another thing that got forgotten was the fact that against all probability a sperm whale had suddenly been called into existence several miles above the surface of an alien planet.
And since this is not a naturally tenable position for a whale, this poor innocent creature had very little time to come to terms with its identity as a whale before it then had to come to terms with not being a whale any more.
This is a complete record of its thoughts from the moment it began its life till the moment it ended it.
Ah … ! What’s happening? it thought.
Er, excuse me, who am I?
Hello?
Why am I here? What’s my purpose in life?
What do I mean by who am I?
Calm down, get a grip now … oh! this is an interesting sensation, what is it? It’s a sort of … yawning, tingling sensation in my … my … well I suppose I’d better start finding names for things if I want to make any headway in what for the sake of what I shall call an argument I shall call the world, so let’s call it my stomach.
Good. Ooooh, it’s getting quite strong. And hey, what’s about this whistling roaring sound going past what I’m suddenly going to call my head? Perhaps I can call that … wind! Is that a good name? It’ll do … perhaps I can find a better name for it later when I’ve found out what it’s for. It must be something very important because there certainly seems to be a hell of a lot of it. Hey! What’s this thing? This … let’s call it a tail – yeah, tail. Hey! I can can really thrash it about pretty good can’t I? Wow! Wow! That feels great! Doesn’t seem to achieve very much but I’ll probably find out what it’s for later on. Now – have I built up any coherent picture of things yet?
No.
Never mind, hey, this is really exciting, so much to find out about, so much to look forward to, I’m quite dizzy with anticipation …
Or is it the wind?
There really is a lot of that now isn’t it?
And wow! Hey! What’s this thing suddenly coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like … ow … ound … round … ground! That’s it! That’s a good name – ground!
I wonder if it will be friends with me?
And the rest, after a sudden wet thud, was silence.
Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again. Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now.”
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally, a radio sitcom broadcast over two series on BBC Radio 4 between 1978 and 1980. It was soon adapted to other formats, including print, as both novels and comic books; a 1981 BBC television series; later as a 1984 text adventure game; stage shows; and a 2005 feature film.
The broad narrative of Hitchhiker follows the misadventures of the last surviving man, Arthur Dent, following the demolition of the Earth by a Vogon constructor fleet to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Dent is rescued from Earth’s destruction by Ford Prefect—a human-like alien writer for the eccentric, electronic travel guide The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—by hitchhiking onto a passing Vogon spacecraft. Following his rescue, Dent explores the galaxy with Prefect and encounters Trillian, another human who had been taken from Earth (before its destruction) by the self-centered President of the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox and the depressed Marvin the Paranoid Android.
The current list of all the (known) Novus references are located here.
Although I am well versed in Pop Culture references but I do not claim to have caught them all. Let me know your favorites in the comments and if I’ve missed one you caught, let me know so I can add it to the list.
Text for this article is excerpted from the linked wiki pages
Improbable Gaze spell card image is from Wizard101, and is copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy cover is borrowed from Amzon.com and is copyright Del Rey Books.
Whale and petunia image is borrowed from Sergey Tsygalnitsky’s LinkedIn article. No attribution is given in the article. If this is your artwork, let us know so we can properly credit you.
Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.
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