Housepets!

In this case, Hell DOES have a fury of one scorned.

Shame on you Keene. You made Breel cry.

Also, welcome to hell everyone!

Keene be like:

Holy crap. This feels like it came from left field, but the signs were there. Way to go, Rick.

Also, totally Norfair.

Xane wrote:Well maybe if some of these celestial or celestial-wannabes would EXPLAIN things once in awhile...

I don't think Keene was going to listen in this case.


A star dies in the dark, cut down by words;
they punctured the skin like a knife of ice.
A diamond dagger trickled down over dead flesh,
reflecting and expelling the loves’ inner light.
Breel got his wish; what he was thinking at the moment,
releasing Keene from his heart to his inner torment,
from his right hand to his bitterest memories
the portal is open and its intentions are clear.
Now comes the test of teams Nerd, Sandwich and Tarot.
Now they may have to fight to save the Earth.
But, at a time when love is all we can hope for
every team has strained to snap in this arc bar one.
Are Joey and Squeak all our hopes have become?

Welp, we've already seen heaven, so I guess it was just a matter of time!

(Don't go Jack on us)

Mmmrf.

*Sad bunny* Poor Breel.

So technically, Breel should be worried now, but he probably didn't intend to hurt the way he thought it would ~ emotionally:

http://www.housepetscomic.com/comic/201 ... -be-merry/

Well, I guess that answers my previous query on whether the mana can respond to a celestial.

It's the crowning irony really. Breel and the other celestials were there to make sure the mortals use the mana responsibly, and it ends up being Breel that opens a Warp Portal and unleashes the Daemons of Chaos. I'll admit, I did not see that coming.

I'm gonna be completely honest this feels like a shocking cliffhanger just to be a shocking cliffhanger. If Breel could use the mana pool how was he standing in it? Why does only him crying activate it? Why does it open a portal to Hell?

That......looks bad.

Angel tears, powerful.

On another note: That glimpse of .... The fires below, is visually very similar to Charlie's nightmare from ADGtH.

IceKitsune wrote:I'm gonna be completely honest this feels like a shocking cliffhanger just to be a shocking cliffhanger. If Breel could use the mana pool how was he standing in it? Why does only him crying activate it? Why does it open a portal to Hell?

My guess is (and I'm 100% spitballing here) that a mortal soul turned celestial has the spiritual fortitude to normally resist things like mana, but emotional turmoil can crack that and leave their mortal souls and thoughts unprotected and unfiltered, which the mana then reacts to.

IceKitsune wrote:I'm gonna be completely honest this feels like a shocking cliffhanger just to be a shocking cliffhanger. If Breel could use the mana pool how was he standing in it? Why does only him crying activate it? Why does it open a portal to Hell?

The celestials are of heavenly origin and so is the mana. The general idea i get is heaven is suppose to be perfect and that noone experiences painful memories in heaven. If angels cry on earth, it can cause things like mana to reflect what their soul is feeling ~ in this case, Breel feels like hell.

IceKitsune wrote:I'm gonna be completely honest this feels like a shocking cliffhanger just to be a shocking cliffhanger.

That is quite literally the point. But it's only a cliffhanger because you're caught up. It's how all serialized works do their magic

Plus it allows us time to make strange and interesting speculations like the above

IceKitsune wrote:I'm gonna be completely honest this feels like a shocking cliffhanger just to be a shocking cliffhanger. If Breel could use the mana pool how was he standing in it? Why does only him crying activate it? Why does it open a portal to Hell?

I thought I did pretty good at setting it up . . .

Poor Breel. But don't judge Keene too harshly. He doesn't really mean what he just said. It's just, he thinks he's two inches from achieving his dreams and fixing the world and suddenly all his friends are trying to stop him. Mind you, had he slowed down and actually *listened* to what Breel was trying to say, he'd realize that this wasn't quite the case, but after being lectured by/fighting Tarot, it seemed like Breel was just doing the "you can't Keene, it's too dangerous" line as well.

And now all hell's breaking loose. Apparently quite literally this time. Oh bother.

Greedy Keene only caring what he wants and hurts the one he loves

Don't tell me they're breaking up-

THEY ARE NOT BREAKING UP-

Also, angel tears are incredibly powerful and volatile so make sure that angels never cry.

rickgriffin wrote:

IceKitsune wrote:I'm gonna be completely honest this feels like a shocking cliffhanger just to be a shocking cliffhanger. If Breel could use the mana pool how was he standing in it? Why does only him crying activate it? Why does it open a portal to Hell?

I thought I did pretty good at setting it up . . .

Obbl wrote:That is quite literally the point. But it's only a cliffhanger because you're caught up. It's how all serialized works do their magic

Plus it allows us time to make strange and interesting speculations like the above

Look I think a lot of my issue with this is I think I'm starting to get Arc Fatigued here. This arc, while split up into parts, has been running since May IIRC and I don't see how this ends anytime soon.

Good going Keene.

Meanwhile, off-panel, the paper bag team take one look, gets out some markers, and changes into a more appropriate class...

Welsh Halfwit wrote: I don't think Keene was going to listen in this case.

Keene, perhaps not, but Peanut might have - and if Max hadn't ninja'd past Tarot, Keene may never have been summoned.

IceKitsune wrote:

rickgriffin wrote:

IceKitsune wrote:I'm gonna be completely honest this feels like a shocking cliffhanger just to be a shocking cliffhanger. If Breel could use the mana pool how was he standing in it? Why does only him crying activate it? Why does it open a portal to Hell?

I thought I did pretty good at setting it up . . .

Obbl wrote:That is quite literally the point. But it's only a cliffhanger because you're caught up. It's how all serialized works do their magic

Plus it allows us time to make strange and interesting speculations like the above

Look I think a lot of my issue with this is I think I'm starting to get Arc Fatigued here. This arc, while split up into parts, has been running since May IIRC and I don't see how this ends anytime soon.

I'm rather enjoying this arc.

Anyhow, my feeling is that the arc is just about to end, quite possibly in the next comic. We'll probably see a short epilogue, like we did after King's big resolution, since there will be some very immediate loose ends to tie up, namely what happens to all our little adventurer parties, especially the angels, Res, and the Dork Crew, oh, and whether Max comes to in Keene's bed. Also, what Thomas' immediate future will be. Still, this is Keene's big moment, the resolution of his big struggle, one way or the other. We've been slowly building towards this for years, since somewhere in the middle of King's story.

Keene, you have royally screwed that one up, as for you Tarot, no you didn't, you said that if one of them were to use the well spring, you said nothing about the Tear of a sad, heartbroken angel's falling into the wellspring summoning forth Hell. Though to be fair, that would be kind of expected to happen I guess in that scenario, but still, you called nothing!!

Of all the possible outcomes, did anyone predict Breel opening a portal to Hell? Also, was Breel thinking about Hell when that tear hit the mana pool? Is he about to become a fallen angel? Surely heaven wouldn’t allow that sort of thing, right?

On that dark note, time for Christmas cheer, I guess?

In all fairness, Rick, it may be good writing, but I’m not sure that turning characters we care about into physical and emotional punching bags is very appealing to the readers, at least not for weeks/months on end. Perhaps in retrospect, when we’ll be able to read the comics all at once, it won’t feel quite so depressing.

It looks like you don't have to be thinking of something *specific* for the mana pool to be activated. Breel's tear was a symbol (and magic loves symbolic stuff) of his inner anguish, so the mana pool created something appropriate to that emotion. After all, what is a more powerful thing of anguish than Hell itself?

This would be part of what makes the pool so dangerous - a mere fragment of emotion can manifest itself in a very tangible way - that's much harder to control than conscious thought.

<Pedant Squad brings you the following clarifications: The pool does not have the power to literally create Hell itself, so it merely created a gateway. Hell is widely considered to be the physical embodyment of pain, suffering, and anguish. Therefore, it's meaning is fundamentally deeper than fire and demons and all that stuff, just like Christmas is about more than presents and sappy "family time" scenes. Pedant Squad is quite proud of this juxtaposition.>

OK, my first post. I love the comic, I got 7 books already and after this cliffhanger (monday is guest-comic-time) I simply had to get here.

First of all: In the end everything will be fine. He is mortal after all, also under a lot of stress.
Yes, he acts stupid and against everything she said but come on, he is in reach of his big goal, she wont let him...
IF she would break up with him after that... well, they both are not without mistakes.

One angels tear can do a lot of damage. But remember: In this temple dreams come true, so a little hell wont stop them.
You want to know what I think? In the end he has to choose between a perfect world OR saving his girlfriend.
Maybe the mana even makes her mortal again and they can be a real couple... not just in heaven.

I'm pretty sure breel would've been spared the bad feels if instead of being cryptic he'd just straight up told keene why he was standing in the way.

Y'know, something like "I know you want peace between humans and animals and for everyone to be happy but you have no idea how this works and there's a pretty big chance you might instead summon demons from hell if your emotions are out of whack!"

Still, keene you jerk you made a loving angel cry >:

Banchou wrote:In the end he has to choose between a perfect world OR saving his girlfriend.

I think you meant boyfriend. Breel's a boy-o

sammyfox wrote:

Banchou wrote:In the end he has to choose between a perfect world OR saving his girlfriend.

I think you meant boyfriend. Breel's a boy-o

Yeah, my mistake. I keep being confused abou this whole "I am your muse" thing.

As it fate would have it, I was listening to "Not Tomorrow" when I loaded this page.

Also, after being reminded (again) that Breel is a guy... wow he cries fast. Another reason why I thought about him as a her.
And after reading the wiki-part I am also reminded that Cerberus is a girl.

Banchou wrote:

sammyfox wrote:

Banchou wrote:In the end he has to choose between a perfect world OR saving his girlfriend.

I think you meant boyfriend. Breel's a boy-o

Yeah, my mistake. I keep being confused abou this whole "I am your muse" thing.

To be fair, it's an easy mistake to make. Breel's design and mannerisms makes it a bit ambiguous, and I can't actually think of a time in-comic where his gender was clarified. I think that came from Rick himself.

GameCobra wrote:So technically, Breel should be worried now, but he probably didn't intend to hurt the way he thought it would ~ emotionally:

http://www.housepetscomic.com/comic/201 ... -be-merry/

on this point, I can echo Tarot's sentiment in the last panel

RandomGeekNamedBrent wrote:I predict something will hurt Breel in this arc. and combining that with my prediction from the Last Supper panel, it will be because of Keene. maybe for 30 pieces of mana.

it wasn't pieces but it was definitely for Mana

muffins and cookies you Keene! muffins and cookies you so much for that. This is a horrible start to a weekend, knowing that it's a full week and two days before any more update. Keene, you're an imbecile and I'm running out of both ways and a desire to defend your actions at this point. As insufferably arrogant as Tarot is (by God she needs far less screen time) at least she didn't make Breel cry.

Well, the nerds wanted an end boss. They got one.

Everyone teams up and defeats the hellmouth monster.

I would have thought a spirit like Breel would be more mature and able to deal with nuance than that, though. I guess I'm going to have to re-read the Breel strips... is he really a young-un who's just putting a mature and reasonable face on things?

Are... are they gonna have to rescue Breel from the depths of hell? O.o

leinglo wrote:Meanwhile, off-panel, the paper bag team take one look, gets out some markers, and changes into a more appropriate class...

*Cue Sabaton's Carolus Rex.*

I think more along the lines of Darksiders though. No prizes for who's gonna be who.


Honestly, with the realms turning unstable, I think the Temple would allow such Libraties, since it's an End of the World senario caused by, Of all things, a Celestial.

Isn't that ironic? They were sent to PROTECT the realms, but now, one of them has likely sparked the End Times. Even better? Some Fan interpretations of 'The Game' was that Pete wanted to start a war, and that was debunked when it revealed that the game was merely a duel. Now, we're likely going to be dealing with what's likely to be a War senario caused by a neutral Celestial... Unless of Course the Devil is like the one from Hellsing Abridged, Who just wants Hell to be less packed for once.

And you're One to Talk Tarot. Your actions, as well as Keene's, have lead to this. Still, the whole thing with the Mana is out of left field, and there was no explanation as to how. Honestly, Rick better not drop the Arc for Christmas. This is not something to rush, and as of right now, would need more than three comic posts to even finish this... And I mean WAY MORE. Still, I guess that's why there's a 'To be Continued' tag there. There's just too much to just skip over merely for Christmas.

Besides, we haven't seen Kingy for a while, and we need to see how him and his family is doing.

And dont forget our new love-couple, the camels

John-056 wrote:Besides, we haven't seen Kingy for a while, and we need to see how him and his family is doing.

Oh I can picture it. King and family are relaxing at home, playing with the kids, and King's like:
"I wonder what the others are out doing?"
[next panel is a giant hell-battle spread straight out of 40k or a death metal album cover]
Bailey: "Something fun and harmless, I'm sure."