Art by creator Sour-Apple-Studios.
Horrortale is an Undertale fan webcomic by Sour-Apple-Studios. It acts as an unofficial sequel story to the original, set years after the “Queen Undyne” neutral ending of the original.
The Underground isn't doing so well ever since Asgore died and a certain other human left. The CORE, which does basically everything that allows monsterkind to have a functional subterranean society, stopped working years ago. The monsters that haven't died of hunger are slowly becoming twisted-looking and cruel, desperate for just a few morsels to last just a bit longer... and human is considered a perfectly acceptable meal.
It is under these circumstances that Aliza falls from the surface into the Ruins.
Like the other humans, Aliza just wants to go home. But the Underground is far more cruel than it used to be, and what little help she has could turn on her in an instant.
The comic can be read on DeviantArt here or on Tumblr here. The first “Book”, or portion of the story, is complete. Book II will not be released publicly until it is completed, but you can read the first three pages on the same link.
Tropes found in Horrortale include:
- Aerith and Bob: Assuming Sans wasn't just making a sick joke, all of the kids who became ingredients in Papyrus's spaghetti shared the names of spices... except for one kid named Brian.
- Affably Evil: Papyrus is genuinely still the same eccentric goof as he was before. However, he now uses outright life-threatening traps and is willing to put children in his spaghetti.
- An Arm and a Leg: Sans rips off Aliza's right arm in a fit of hunger-induced mania. As a result, Aliza only has one arm for the rest of the story.
- Big "WHAT?!": Undyne lets out a loud shout of "WHAT?!" upon learning that the CORE isn't working.
- The Chains of Commanding: The flashback in Chapter 3 begins with Undyne holding herself personally responsible for monsterkind's lack of progress in escaping the Underground under her reign as Queen. Her despair about the situation worsens when the CORE shuts down and nothing anyone tries to get it running again works.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Frisk was a genderless silent child. Aliza is a girl who talks.
- Contrived Coincidence: All but one of the kids who ended up ingredients in Papyrus's "crooked spaghetti" were named after spices. Of course, Sans might be lying just to mess with Aliza.
- Death World: Years of starvation and hopelessness as a result of the CORE shutting down has reduced every monster in the Underground to unpredictable lunatics who want to eat humans, meaning every fallen child should watch every corner.
- Hope Spot: After several months of being out, the power in the Underground suddenly comes back on thanks to Undyne taking Sans' eye and connecting it to the CORE. Since this event is shown via flashback, the power goes out again within a matter of minutes because Sans trashes the CORE to the point of being unable to function, and it stays out.
- Hypocrite: Aliza tries to call Sans out on his hypocrisy after he calls her out on eating Papyrus's crooked spaghetti since monsters have been eating any kid who falls into the Underground. He refutes her, stating cannibalism is eating members of your own species, and he isn't human. Even then, he actually hasn't eaten any humans himself despite being the one who encouraged other monsters to do so.
- I Am a Humanitarian: Aliza ends up as one of these, starting from eating Papyrus's "crooked spaghetti" in desperate hunger. Sans even mockingly calls her a "humanitarian".
- Ironic Name: "Aliza" means "joyful" in Hebrew. Aliza is perpetually miserable, albeit for understandable reasons.
- It Gets Easier: Following up on the cannibalism, Aliza adopts the mentality that it is simply easier to not think about it, and eats more at the end with a smile.
- Off with His Head!: Dogaressa lops off a Royal Guard's head with her axe for insulting the competency of her deceased husband.
- Laughably Evil: Sans and Papyrus may have gone off the deep end, but their scenes are still infused with the humor that made their canon counterparts so beloved.
- Lobotomy:
- Sans is implied to have undergone a minor one after gaining his head wound given to him by Undyne. Some of his memories, mostly of Frisk, are gone.
- As part of his revenge, Sans attacks Alphys's brain, essentially lobotomizing her. The sight of the mess makes Undyne vomit.
- Not in Front of the Parrot!: Alphys and Undyne discuss the merits of the former's plan to get the CORE working again, which involves killing Sans, next to an Echo Flower capable of repeating back the last sounds they were exposed to. Sans ends up finding the Echo Flower, which picked up the entire conversation, and dreadfully realizes his life is in danger.
- Repeat After Me: When Aliza forgets her alibi in front of Undyne, Drunk Bun whispers to Papyrus to tell the queen "that girl's my niece" because Aliza's disguise looks vaguely like the rabbit's family. Papyrus repeats the statement verbatim, leading Undyne to believe Sans has a daughter.
- Revenge Before Reason: Alphys tells Undyne that Sans' powers could restart the CORE at the cost of the latter's life. While this does work, Sans survives the extraction of his magic eye and confronts Alphys about her decision. When Alphys reasserts that her course of action was the right choice and there's no changing her mind, Sans gets so angry at her that he shreds the CORE with magic attacks, negating the attempt to fix it and dooming himself along with the entire Underground.
- Sadistic Choice: A flashback shows Undyne contending with how she can either kill Sans to use his power to restart the CORE and save monster society, or spare Sans' life at the cost of dooming the entire Underground to slowly starve. Undyne picks killing Sans for the greater good, which manages to backfire and result in a worse version of the second option happening.
- The Secret of Long Pork Pies: Papyrus's "crooked spaghetti" is made from kids who fell before Aliza.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: Despite all the physical trauma she's been through (being burnt alive twice, having her arm ripped off, and covering herself with toxic, tarry snow, Aliza looks perfectly fine. However, there are some points where she is shown as disfigured to the point of, in the comic's grotesque style, no longer looking human.
- Troubled Backstory Flashback: Chapters 3 and 4 form an extended flashback depicting the CORE breaking down and its effects on monster society, along with how an attempt to get it working again led to Sans and Undyne losing their left eyes.
- Visual Pun: A penny is shown dropping as Undyne realizes Papyrus' claim of being Aliza's uncle means that by implication, Sans is (supposedly) her dad.
- You Bastard!: The comic occasionally lets the readers decide what the protagonist Aliza should do. The final comic of the first part has Flowey sarcastically congratulate the audience for their choices resulting in Aliza getting stuck underground with a bunch of weirdos and "a taste for human meat" and asks if that's really the best ending they could achieve.
