#GET OUT OF THERE KANEEKA!!!!! THIS IS FUCKED

[wyrmsandrocs]

At this point idec if sybil is evil or not. I'm feeding her to the ditchlings for the way she treats her daughter

[bubblybloob]

So, which run from Scarlet Hollow would you say has been your favorite until now? Any favorite trait/trait combo?

Favorite combo was the first I took of course, Mystical and Talk to Animals! You get to be so weird and everyone is so put off by your antics!

Some long ass rambling and spoilers below!

Individually, TTA can feel a little useless at some points, it’s never a passive ability so you only get use out of it when there’s animals around. It especially feels lacking in chapter 2, where there are two instance of running into wild animals (the bird and the bats) that feel weird since you don’t get to pause and chat with them and they don’t say anything noteworthy about ditchlings, the mines, the town, etc.

I get why it can feel like that, you don’t want players to feel they made a mistake choosing talk with animals by not having animals appear throughout a chapter, but you also don’t want player’s who didn’t choose it feel like they’re always missing out on important stuff by having too many animals.

I really think they should let more passive thoughts with TTA occur. The only instance I can recall of it appearing as a thought is if you’ve had Sybil’s tea and it’s like “she won’t judge you for your quirk :), go talk to her”. It caught me so off guard when I first saw it and Mystical pointing out that my thoughts were all weird made me almost stand up like “WHAT”. But even though it doesn’t sound like TTA would have passive moments where it’s not directly in action, I think it should, maybe our character is privy to random facts woodland critters have told us, or we’re more in tune with nature or something. Idk, it’s not useless and it’s incredibly hard to compare it to the other traits cause it essentially makes previously non-characters like Dustin or the Goat into characters, that’s something no others trait does.

Now for my more positive thoughts on TTA, damn is proving you can actually understand animals at the library so satisfying, and it stays satisfying as Kaneeka slowly comes to believe it herself over the course of the chapters! I'm so glad it seems to be getting taken more seriously by the characters as the chapters pass, we start by getting introduced to the trait in chapter 1, then we don't use it much in the second, then we get to talk to the mayor and, if Gretchen is alive, get the knowledge that something is up with Reese. And then we can learn that the PASTOR TALKS TO ANIMALS TOO. In chapter 4 visiting Pastor Daniel is great, I love that the game is setting up for TTA to have more of a spotlight.

Now Mystical. Mystical is probably my favorite trait. I've heard some people say it feels useless early on, and I think those people may not have played with it in their first run, cause going in blind with mystical makes you aware of a lot of stuff, like knowing someone will die out on the trails on Monday before it actually happens made me so tense, and knowing something is suspicious about Sybil when she gives you that look, or that "You're finally back where you belong" sending the shivers of foreboding up the spine!

It gives you longer visions if you have it (and are drinking Sybil's evil tea), so it's great for me who loves theorizing and lore. And the channeling of Charlie’s spirit in his funky funhouse of fright? That whole sequence with the seance options is what truly got me hooked on the game.

I also love how it seems mystical MC’s can be a little frustrated by chapter 4? The whole “hopefully my powers will finally do more than make me unwillingly channel ghosts” makes you sound so fed up with how not only are you forced into knowing things will happen and having no control over it, but also fed up with how no one takes you seriously. Like Stella seems a little excited at the prospect you could be a psychic when meeting Duke, and Avery is chill with everyone so they don’t judge you, but everyone else brushes you aside or looks at you weird. Also Sybil, fucking Sybil trying to make me feel my abilities are less than her’s during the tea reading. Lady I will find a way to have me and your daughter mystic blast you, you can’t even do anything without making people drink tea, suffer.

Anyway sorry for the rambling! I’m obsessed with this game, so much so I joined the discord, I rarely join stuff like that due to nerves, so that’s how you know the brainrot is REAL.

[mmikmmik]

I'm starting the third episode of Scarlet Hollow now. It's really good, I'm enjoying it a lot!

I really like Tabitha so far. She was surprisingly protective of the MC at the end of episode two. I keep ditching her to do stupid shit and almost die, but I've been polite and haven't fucked with her stuff and have been checking in with her often (she was in the mines because I called her), so I think that relationship may be skewing positive? I'd be curious to see how extreme your relationship can get, if you're super nice to her or if you actively antagonize her. I'm not sure if being obedient and staying out of trouble would actually make her like you more, given that she has this tsundere respect for Stella.

I notice that both of the descendants of the Scarlet line got messed up in the old mineshaft by miner ghosts(?). Ancient sins, ancient sins...

I hope everyone stans Oscar. You're all stanning Oscar, right?

The branching storyline feels smooth so far, although I did notice there was one scene where Kaneeka (iirc?) says she wants to get an actual biologist's opinion on something, and I couldn't respond with something related to the biologist grad(?) student background I picked.

Curious about Reese's deal. I got the vibe that Kaneeka and Stella mean well, but haven't really wrapped their heads around how sick he is yet. This game seems gritty enough I could see him having a mundane chronic illness but I'm guessing it's related to the supernatural shit.

At the start of episode three, I'm getting nervous I'm going to have go through the love interest gauntlet :/ I tend to be 50/50 on whether or not I even want to do a romance plotline in visual novels and stuff, and it SUCKS when I'm trying to play something with a really strong plotline and a likeable cast and I have to suffer through a cringey parade of proposals and rejections before I can get back to the story. The phrasing + icon on that "keeping your options open" achievement stressed me out. I'm not really interested in that with any of the characters so fingers crossed that I can painlessly keep everything platonic

[honeyfizzly]

Hmm for the "send me a character thing"

Tabitha Scarlet

Thanks for the ask!

Ask game ->

First impressions- God she looks miserable and mean

Impression now- I want to see her happy and out of scarlet hollow, I will take her to the outer banks and no one is stopping me.

Favorite moment- I've got alot, but I think "its...we're family right" is what takes the cake. For those who don't know, this is what tabitha says after she's sacrifices herself for you to the ghost and you ask her why she did it. Makes me emotional every time.

She also has dialogue where if you ask if she missed you she'll say "no" but streetsmart will chime in and be like "yeah she's lying, she definitely missed you".

There's also the fucking goofy ass dialogue of "who knows...maybe if you try hard enough I'll tell you my deepest darkest secrets..." where if you have an neutral to bad-ish bond with her and tell her you like knowing people's dark secrets. I've only gotten that dialogue from her once she usually just says "I knew it" in response to that, so idk it's proper trigger.

Idea for a story- I'm not really a fanfic writer so hmmm I usually like aus so like dnd au? Putting tabitha in curse of strahd for maximum angst or maybe she can be in a nice cozy campaign. Oh! I think the werewolf tabitha theory is silly and I love werewolves, I wanna see a fic if the scarlets were actual monsters (...assuming they're not literal ones already lol)

Unpopular opinion- I like the cousin bonding time route, like the murdering reese route. I wouldn't have it as my canon route nor do I hate reese or want him dead but I think it can lead to a very interesting avenue for tabitha's character where she is litterally willing to *kill* for you and hell maybe even kill for stella too. Idk maybe I do wanna see her get worse, after of course I finish my canon run where I fix her.

Favorite relationship- platonically it's mc and tabby, romantically it's stabby. I also like the dynamic kaneeka and tabitha have going on, I like both the worldstates where kaneeka fully hates tabby and the ones where she's slowly warming up.

Favorite headcanon- tabitha named frou frou and really likes very frivolous and fancy names (though she'll never admit it!). Her hypothetical baby name list probably includes names like Celeste and Anastasia

[organizationhimself]

my scarlet hollow playthroughs so far (SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY):

SYLV -hot + street smart -he tries to be nice in general but always says the funny thing -okay relationship to tabitha and tends to invite her (tabitha probably regrets this now oops) -often private about his feelings and leaves a lot of dialogue options on the table, but will call out bs (cops and reese's mom this is you) -skeeved by wayne and sybil (no tea for him) -initially kept his options open but zeroed in on reese immediately (locked in)

LUNE -talks to animals + keen eye -generally polite but she'll definitely ignore you to talk to your cat -empathetic to tabitha but not especially sympathetic about her work -befriended the possums in her dresser (they had some extremely interesting opinions i am still experiencing fridge horror about black tabby games you goddam geniuses) -peanut allergy -ghost made her old -suspicious of wayne but reluctantly regards him as an ally -bad track record for keeping people's parents alive so far -glommed onto stella (fellow streamer) and angled for every choice that would get closer to her (locked in)

CHAD -hot + powerful build -a totally selfish asshole who says the meanest possible thing UNLESS he can flirt with someone -what he can't punch he will fuck (that means you, wayne!) -has already proven that tabitha is actually some sort of saint for not hurling him off the cliff on monday (if there's the remotest chance of her killing you in later chapters he is as good as deceased) -could have saved both geezers but didn't (was an asshole about it) -made enemies with rosalina but her dad was still interested -no showers for chad -no tea for chad either fuck off -the contrarian in action; people are very unclear about whether or not he believes in ghosts since he seems to change his mind multiple times during the same conversation (and people call him out for it i love this game so much?? i love it SO MUCH) -for that matter he will switch sides mid-fight or mid-argument according to unknown logic; his loyalties are a mystery even to him -somehow still managed to help reese?? (HOW) -i want to add that when i let him do the thing and reach out empathetically to reese (immediately after stabbing reese with an axe ofc), and then reese GOT SHOT BY TABITHA, who i'd finally called for the very first time, my JAW DROPPED and i stared at the screen in disbelieving fucking glee because HOLY SHIT THAT GOT ME. i am unbelievably lucky that didn't happen with sylv (because i loved that moment so, so much). -swerved every romance so far; if anyone can put up with him it's probably wayne

JADE -mystical + book smart -tends to greet people with either uncanny silence or an offer of boiled peanuts -leans hardest into her mystical side and talks extensively to people while avoiding being rude but if she can be weird she'll do that -kaneeka stalker but it seems tricky to do that while being weird + not sidelining tabby -first playthrough to recruit avery (i feel like a CHUMP for not realizing there was an opt-in party member the whole time) -doesn't entirely give tabitha a pass for being a coal baron but brings her everywhere and has managed to eat ice cream?? with tabitha?? (did i mention i LOVE this game guess who my fave is besides reese go on guess as if my pfp isn't a damaged prickly blond with a gooey vulnerable center and Responsibilities) -jade does not talk to cops -in soviet russia jade makes ghost old -managed to talk to stella WITH tabitha (!!!!!!!) -jade's definitely going to save everyone!! besides. maybe duke. and rosalina. and reese. and... -angled for kaneeka romance but failed to escape the tea

[daemonoferror]

A date to Build-a-Bear with your Scarlet Hollow SO

Includes: Stella, Avery, Kaneeka, Oscar, Reese, and Wayne

Note: idk, earlier this year I got sad I couldn't just. Go to build a bear. So I started writing these. Reader is hardly mentioned but I did write it in the spirit of you being there.

Stella

• No clue how you got her there, but hey, you did it.

• Gretchen's going with you by the way, that's a given but I think important to mention.

• Go around Halloween, hopefully someday they'll have the mothman bear we've all dreamed of.

• Stella has so many ideas for what to make, though.

• Get a Halloween themed bear- no wait, a dog- no wait, this one looks really fucking stupid it's perfect- no wait-

• You have to go multiple times so she gets every bear she can think of.

• If she can make one look like Gretchen or a cryptid that'd be perfect

• But she'd also love to make a really screwed up, funny looking bear. Like-

• "Oh yeah, I noticed this one's missing an eye so. I'm getting this one." "This shirt has a typo on it, that's so funny i love it" "do you think they'll let me mismatch the shoes??" "a HOOK HAND ACCESSORY?! Well obviously I need that"

• You would not be able to tell a grown woman made this bear.

• She'll DIY it clothes later, it has it's own little wardrobe of wacky outfits

• She'll buy accessories she thinks Gretchen could wear.

• Lets Gretchen lick the heart before it's put in the bear

• Might get a sound effect heart but worries it'll be too annoying.

• If she got a scentiment it'd probably be the pumpkin one or... pizza? Because that existed, apparently?

• Names it something silly- an old man name like Harlod. Or give it a cryptid name.

• Absolutely fucking loved the date, she's already planning the next trip there.

--

Avery

• They'll think the idea is very cute.

• Make sure to go around spring/saint Patrick's day.

• Wants a flower print or green bear. (The point of going near saint Patrick's day is too ensure there's a shamrock bear to meet these requirements)

• Chooses the lavender scentiment for their bear.

• Will do that thing where you record a message for eachother's bear. They'll do a simple "I love you *kiss noise*" and it makes you swoon. They are SO perfect.

• You make a plant pun for their's, they love it no matter how stupid it is.

• They somehow make doing the heart ritual look cool?

• Finds a plant shirt and the bear's fate is sealed: they're gonna match :o

• The bear will be just as stylish as them (maybe more, I keep imagining Avery giving it a monocle accessory)

• Either names it after a plant- Like Magnolia or Clover- or names it the same way they name their plants (assuming they name their plants bc... who doesn't?)

• Very happy with the date and their bear, will show it off to everyone. Maybe it has a place at the diner- if they can find a spot garunteed to not get maple syrup spilled on it, anyways.

--

Kaneeka

• She probably came up with the idea, but feels a little silly about it at first because it seems so childish.

• Go around Halloween to once again ensure the pick of a spooky lil bear

• She takes it very seriously- this is gonna be the best goddamn bear ever.

• There are 2 wolves fighting inside Kaneeka: The goth and the nerd.

• So she's having a difficult time choosing between whatever collab buildabear is doing at the time (superheroes, sonic, Mario, whatever) or making the coolest goth bear you've ever seen.

• Please just let her get both 🥺

• Thin mints cookie scentiment for one bear, coconut for the other.

• Will do a cute sound effect for her bear. She would suggest recording one for eachother, but she doesn't know what to say.

• She's not mismatching the collab bear, it's getting the accessories that was made for it.

• The goth bear will get the nicest outfit ever, in all blacks and dark colors.

• She'll also DIY it clothes to fit her aesthetic better

• Gives it a very pretty, elegant name, like Celeste or Audrey

• The other bear, she fills it out the exact way she would for the character, which just feels like extra work.

• "Why does Batman need a birth certificate? He's batman." Proceeds to do the right thing and names it Bruce Wayne and changes the birthday to the right birthday.

• Thinks it was the perfect date, and is really happy you went together.

--

Oscar

• You'll be forced to take Rosalina and her friends with you, so not really a date. He'll see it as more of an outing for the kids, but it's kinda fun to participate.

• Gets the classic bear with brown, curly fur.

• Won't get a scent or a sound effect.

• Is a bit embarrassed to do the heart ritual, but turns it around quickly, joking that a teddy bear's heart transplant is no laughing matter.

• Won't want to get accessories because those cost money, but if you insist because you're paying, he'll cave and give it a dapper little suit and glasses. Maybe a top hat. A mini book to read. It'll be so cute.

• Gives it a bear pun or a book reference that no one gets for a name.

• Is very tired at the end of the day from being dragged around the mall by a bunch of tweens, but he gets home and still thinks it was a good day. Probably falls asleep with the bear. Though that will sadly be the only time, he keeps it on a night stand or bookshelf so it won't fall off and roll under the bed. He'd have a heartattack if he lost it.

--

Reese

• He never went to build a bear as a kid so this is gonna be so great for him.

• Picks out a very soft, cute bear

• Maybe like, the patchwork one with the sewed on heart? Idk why, if just seems right.

• He feels a little out of place, he's not used to cute things. He just sorta picks whatever he vibes with, and it comes out pretty cute and simple.

• He holds it very gently, like it could tear or fall apart at any second.

• Might buy a black or white shirt he can paint later, or a sweater so it doesn't get cold 🥺

• Paint brush accessory

• Blueberry scentiment, doesn't need any sound effects (unless there's a construction noises one LMAO)

• Doing the heart ritual heals his inner child

• Understuffs his bear just a little bit so it's softer

• Names it something absolutely BADASS "Nightmare" "Knight of Dreams" something awesome and cool idfk he's the creative one not me

• Has so much fun, might get sentimental about it. You can pry that bear from his cold dead hands.

--

Wayne

• . . . Why?

• A goop monster walks into a kids store. Screaming and crying insues. And then you're alone in the store.

• The employees might even be out of there, they don't get paid even for this.

• He's just happy to be with you, does not give 2 shits about the teddy bear at first. He adores seeing you having fun, is happier that you're not doing something dangerous.

• DO NOT let him touch the damn bear until it has some washable clothes on!! He can POINT at what he wants!! >:(

• Gets a simple bear, either a very old fashion basic one or just gets the same as you.

• Snazzy little jacket to parallel his. He's fine with you picking out the accessories for him though.

• You make him do the heart ritual even with no employees around to force you to

• Which ends up getting pus and blood in the bear. . . Gross!

• Stuff his bear full of scentiments. No, the scent doesn't matter just- just put them all in. Yeah, it's just to rival the smell of rotting flesh.

• Wayne gives it a very specific name, one you get the feeling comes from someone he knew long ago...

• Since the employees left, please just. Leave some money on the counter. It's okay if you don't pay for the 15 scentiments stuffed inside Wayne's bear. Yeah, no, it's really fine, trust me.

• Wayne will cherish this bear forever, and is extremely careful with it, even though it inevitably gets dirty a few days later anyways.

[void-writing]

really enjoying episode 4 of Scarlet Hollow and i want to put together some miscellaneous thoughts about my experiences so far

Spoilers to follow, so I’ll put it under a cut :)

Sybil and the Cat

As much as it pains me, I do not trust Sybil. She was setting off so many alarms for me this chapter during the tea meeting. Like, she has fucking castor beans in her tea room--which if you picked the Book Smart trait are revealed to be full of ricin aka: one of the deadliest poisons ever that was used by KGB to carry out stealth assassinations because you only need a tiny dose for it to be lethal and there is no antidote. And when we see it again in the clinic’s medicine room, we recognize it but somehow we can’t remember where we saw it even though we were just at Sybil’s tea room and when we ask Dr. Kelly how she settled on using ricin to subdue Reese’s...condition...we mysteriously don’t hear who Dr. Kelly went to for it. I 100% believe that Kelly got it from Sybil because she claimed she had an “errand” to run on Main Street (aka, where the General Store is) when Reese distracted her.

Also, Sybil is definitely doing something to Kaneeka. There is something in that tea that makes her more subjective to Sybil’s influence because when we came into the General Store, Kaneeka went to her room way too easily, and there’s a scene where we manage to get Kaneeka out of her room to come with us to the clinic, but Sybil stops us and insists Kaneeka isn’t well despite her momentary insistence to the contrary. And then...she just changes her mind and we have to go alone. And if you picked the Mystical trait, you specifically note that something is encroaching on your mind and trying to make you agree with Sybil that Kaneeka should rest.

And I haven’t even touched on the tea reading itself because something I find highly suspicious is the notion of the “cat” figure, the “hidden enemy.” There’s an option to pose the question that Sybil is the cat but it’s immediately shot down. You don’t even voice it. It just tells you “there’s no way Sybil is the cat. She’s helping you. Why would she warn you about the cat if she’s the cat. Pick someone else.” Also, the time I picked Tabitha as my suspect, Sybil was strangely insistent on encouraging that conjecture. It’s like she’s trying to subtly drive a wedge between us and Tabitha, which makes me concerned because Tabitha at least seems to value Sybil’s council and got some mysterious “tea” from her in episode 3 (which I think is either for the Scarlet’s mysterious prisoner or for us, and I’m fairly sure that it’s meant to subdue whoever drinks it somehow). Plus, I think it would be a classic fake out if Sybil is this hidden enemy because even without the tea forcing us to not suspect Sybil, it’s a lot like how in murder mystery shows, sometimes the one who reports the crime is the one who committed it in order to throw suspicion off them. Because why would they raise the alarm if they were the culprit?

And honestly, her tea reading itself is kind of sus too. If you have Mystical as a trait, you can ask to see the tea leaves yourself and...it’s just kind of a mess of leaf shreds. Sybil claims that tea reading is something that takes years to learn, but I’d think that with the Mystical trait, we’d be able to pick up something. But nothing flags and we hand it back. Plus, the reading doesn’t...tell us anything new aside from this “hidden enemy.” It’s supposedly just a mess of omens of ill fortune and doom. Which we already know from the Ditchlings. And it doesn’t point us to any useful direction. Other than the clinic and seeking out more of the carvings. She says it’s to arm yourself with knowledge (and honestly, I do find that to be a kernel of sound advice) but we don’t know much about the carvings aside from 1) only Scarlets feel the pull and see visions from them, usually of some dark secret truth, 2) people keep dying near or even on them, 3) a Witch told Charles Shaw Junior to seek them out for currently unknown reasons, only to get whammied by Eddie--who seemingly was in some kind of involuntary trance--as soon as he finds it, 4) we keep passing out and having seizures when we see them for the first time, and 5) something bad happens whenever we see them the first time (the mine collapsed, Charles Junior’s whole puppet show, Reese...). It feels like we’re being...primed for something. Prepared. And it feels like we’re being prepared as a sacrificial offering somehow to strengthen whatever curse/mystic whatever that has its hold on the town.

We get some backstory from Sybil about both herself and our mother, but Sybil was vague about herself. She only mentioned that her family has been in the Holler for as long--if not longer--than the Scarlets. So, maybe she’s a descendant of The Witch from Charlie’s haunting. The one that likely has “ulterior motives” according to the Mystic Trait. Sybil also seems quite insistent on downplaying the extent of her power and knowledge and denying being a witch when asked. All in all, Sybil seems very insistent on pushing the “innocent old lady” image. She also dropped some Scarlet lore too. Apparently our maternal grandmother died in childbirth due to being too young to be giving birth, let alone birthing twins. All the husbands after Edwardine’s time are still unknown, Sybil writing them off as flings or just not being terribly remarkable. I’ll talk more on my thoughts about this later.

In summary, Sybil is sus. I think she knows more than she’s letting on. She’s doing something to Kaneeka (Miles also looked pissed for some reason during the scene where Sybil stops us from taking Kaneeka with us to the clinic. Whether his rage is on Kaneeka’s behalf or directed at Kaneeka, I don’t know) and was almost certainly the one supplying Dr. Kelly with castor beans. There was something in that tea that we drank that makes us less suspicious of Sybil (maybe it’s part of the “preparation” I’m theorizing is going on. After all, we were given the same tea when we first arrived in Scarlet Hollow...). I think she’s trying to throw suspicion off of herself by warning us about the “hidden enemy” herself. Tabitha trusts her but tried to subtly drive us to suspect Tabitha of being an enemy.

Reese and Doctor Kelly

First of all, Dr. Kelly definitely likes kids better than...most people. If you don’t have the Keen Eye trait, Rosalina loses a leg and when we go to visit Oscar to check in and see if he’s seen Stella, Dr. Kelly is there giving Rosalina shots and checking up on her. During this, Dr. Kelly is downright kind and gentle until she notices us and she turns into the Ice Queen Doc that we saw last episode. Oscar told Dr. Kelly everything that happened the night before and she...seems to believe him, but if we try to warn her about the carving in the clinic and ask to see it, she gets defensive rather than dismissive.

Reese might be an Anti-Christ. I mean...the biggest reason I think that is that Dr. Kelly was having “romantic” sleep paralysis dreams for months and suddenly got pregnant despite not seeing anyone romantically. There’s also the fact that Reese has a downright supernatural healing factor, which is definitely how he’s survived consuming regular doses of one of the most deadly poisons on Earth (and also getting shot by Tabitha if you call her) and why he seems...strangely fixated and enthused by the idea of human suffering and cosmic horror. Like...those on their own are fine. I get it. It’s fascinating to explore in art and media, but...Reese seemed to be talking about people experiencing it in real life during the build up to his transformation. Idk. During that, it didn’t feel like he was talking about the horror movie that was on.

Reese has encountered Wayne before. He didn’t know his name, so he didn’t make the connection to Wayne as our stalker until we name him. Wayne knows that Reese is something other and dangerous, but didn’t know what until the fight broke out. I want to talk more about Wayne, but I’ll leave that for later. Also, Reese was absolutely convinced that Wayne hated him and meant to hurt him (I mean...I don’t think he was necessarily wrong in that tbh).

Dr. Kelly has been prepping for the eventuality that Reese will no longer listen to her and take his “medicine.” There’s an outcome where Reese gets locked away in Dr. Kelly’s safe room (which is the outcome I favored most since I don’t want to kill Reese but I also don’t want to let him kill Dr. Kelly). And the ricin was actually Dr. Kelly’s second option. She switched to it when she had to stop ordering official meds because what she was ordering was poisonous and people would get suspicious. Also, what she was giving Reese wasn’t working anymore anyway. His body adapted. So I think the poison was meant to keep Reese’s powers busy. If they’re focused on healing the damage the ricin does, then he won’t have enough to spare to Hulk out. And even the ricin seemed to be losing effect too because it only took a couple hours for Reese’s powers to rebound (he did carry us from the carving, up and down several flights of stairs despite being a walking skeleton, which is sus on its own but extra sus if you have the Powerful Build trait, which makes you even heavier. I think).

Reese can turn his paintings into minions. With the Mystical Trait, you’re able to sense in episode 3 that something dark lingers in those paintings in a much more literal sense and Reese talks about feelings building up within him that he releaves by putting them into the paintings. Guess it was a lot more literal than we thought.

Reese also got...strangely defensive of us when Wayne shows up. I haven’t done anything to support or oppose him yet, but I do find it a bit odd. I mean, he’d only met us for like an hour tops the day before. Maybe it was just because we were there and depending on how the medicine room goes (and what traits you picked), we alerted him to the Doc’s “true” intentions with him and his “medicine.” But he doesn’t seem to exhibit the same feelings towards his life-long friends. Not that they came up during the whole *gestures vaguely* but I’d think that if he was feeling so under threat that he’d mention, even off-handedly, staying with Kaneeka or Stella. I don’t quite know what to make of it yet, but it felt odd to me.

Dr. Kelly was also looking over death records of Scarlets in her office. We have the option to snoop at them (which I’ve always taken so far because I love me some lore) and we get some...interesting bits of info. That, I’ll talk more on later, but I find it interesting that she’s looking at those especially since in episode 3, Dr. Kelly mentioned that Scarlets seem to be...averse to hospital and doctor visits. I wonder what she was looking for in those.

The Carvings

There’s a chance of being able to examine the second carving (which I will be calling the Goat carving for simplicity’s sake) if Rosalina didn’t lose a leg and we placate Charlie’s spirit. If you have Book Smart, you notice that the carving’s style is Greeco-Roman, the weathering points to it being from a temple, and that the carving from the mine (which will henceforth be called the Chain carving) were made by the same artist and likely came from the same place.

They seem to lose their magnetism on us after we encounter them the first time.

The carvings also seem to be in sites of death. The Chain carving was in the depths of the condemned Shaw Mine where miner’s died due to rotted beams (and if you have the Mystic trait, you get extra scenes from these carvings. In the Chain carving, you see an argument between Charles Shaw Senior and Enoch Scarlet, where Charles Senior confronts Enoch about using subpar wood in the mines and Enoch writes him off. I don’t remember if you get an extra scene in the Goat carving, but the third one also gives us a vision of Enoch doing something dubious. So it seems that whatever’s going on in the Holler might have started with him). Charles Shaw Junior freaking died on one, murdered by a Scarlet. And the third one was in a “clean air” clinic that was turned into a proper doctor’s office after the mine collapse to treat the survivors. And I doubt all of them survived.

And the third one...I’m calling it the Chimera carving because there was...a lot going on visually in that one, we see an injured man in a hospital bed, presumably Theodore Scarlet, Enoch’s brother and our great uncle who supposedly died in the Shaw mine collapse. Enoch assures Theodore(?), who says the doctors told him he’ll never walk again, that he’s sorted this out by talking to The Witch. Theodore doesn’t seem to know who Enoch is talking about, responding with “A...witch?” rather than “The Witch” like Enoch. I’m guessing she’s the same Witch from Charles Junior’s memories, but Enoch claims that Theodore doesn’t have to worry about his legs or anything again and that he’ll be taking him home by the end of the week. If you have the Mystic trait, you get an extra scene of Enoch in the doctor’s office, telling the doctor that the man claiming to be Theodore isn’t his brother and insisting that he died in the mine collapse. I’m not sure who Enoch was lying to, but I think it was most likely that Enoch lied to the doctor and declared Theodore dead when he wasn’t and then hiding him in the estate. Though, I think it would have been just as likely that Enoch killed this guy.

The symbolism of the carvings to me points to the themes of cycles and sacrifice. The arms circled in chains, each swinging some kind of improvised chain flail(?). The goat’s head, surrounded by three wolves (and the fact that the Shaws had a lot of goat symbolism during Charlie’s haunting. Possibly pointing to how the Shaws were scapegoats for the Scarlets and potentially a sacrificial goat as well). The Chimera carving involves seven (mostly) alternating figures or humanoids and animals, all bound together by a long, tangled snake. The animals are a lion, a goat, a sheep, and possibly either a cow or a pig (I can’t tell). The humanoids all have something fantastical about them. One man has a crown and long ears (kind of gives me Midas vibes with his scepter and almost donkey-like ears), the man opposite to him has horns and similarly pointed ears, and the last figure is fairly ambiguous gender-wise and has no visible ears (they actually look fairly normal, but something about their appearance feels fae-like to me for some reason) but the snake’s head is hovering over their shoulder, its tongue flicking out. The goat and pig or cow remind me of a Roman suovetaurila, a very important type of sacrifice, usually made to Mars (one of their gods of war) to bless and purify land. There’s two types, but the biggest and most important involves a goat, which we’ve seen three times in the story so far, so I’m more keen on referencing that one (...though now that I think of it, “ram” also could mean a male sheep, which is more likely considering the word “suovetaurilia is literally the Latin words for pig, sheep, and bull smushed together). I don’t know, this one is less clear symbolically, but we might not have enough info yet.

Scarlet Lore

So, we get a fairly hefty amount of Scarlet lore this chapter. And Alexandra’s doll moves! Of course, if you picked Keen Eye, you pick up on a bloody, pussy residue that we’ve come to associate with Wayne, so someone’s been rooting through the closet in our absence. Creepy.

Tabitha brought a goat into the greenhouse for some reason. Again, I’m thinking for sacrificial purposes, but even with Talk with Animals, the goat (creatively named “Goat”) doesn’t know much either. So, a mystery for another day, I guess.

Our mother, Vivian apparently was terrified over being pregnant according to Sybil (who I am still sus of and will be taking everything see says with a Dead Sea’s worth of salt from now on). Understandable fear given that we were apparently conceived out of wedlock with a still unknown father and Vivian’s mother--our grandmother--died in childbirth. But I don’t know. There’s definitely more to this. Maybe Vivian knew that we’d be destined for something horrible and left the Holler with us to try and prevent it? Not enough info yet, but I’m definitely keeping that in the back of my mind. God. What if Vivian got pregnant the same way Dr. Kelly did? I mean, we have the option to have some legit magic powers (the Talk with Animals and Mystic traits), and since Edwardine, the paternal lineage of the Scarlets has been strangely obscured and surprisingly matriarchal. If I’m remembering right, every descendant of the Scarlets since Edwardine--Enoch’s daughter--has been female, which is an interesting coincidence that--for me, at least--would be quite innocent in any other setting. Fuck. What if this is a Hell Bride situation? Like, Enoch promised a female Scarlet to some otherworldly force through the Witch in exchange for bettering Theodore’s condition (if Enoch actually cared for his brother) or to ensure that the Scarlet family continues to hold power over the Holler and everyone in it (and maybe that’s why no one seems to be able to leave. At least...not for long anyway).

We have an opportunity during our journey into the clinic’s morgue to see Pearlanne herself and...uh...she’s definitely a dead body. Though, I don’t think she’s been embalmed. I’m not an expert in funerary practices and I know embalming isn’t everyone’s preference but it does seem to be the standard and I find it...odd that it doesn’t seem like her body’s been embalmed at all with her funeral in three days. I don’t know. I’m just highly suspicious of literally everything right now.

We get to see some death records and they have some interesting tidbits in them.

Enoch and Alexandra (Edwardine’s first daughter) both died on the exact same day. Well. Enoch died for sure. Due to a supposed “hiking accident” where he fell off a cliff. Alexandra, meanwhile, just straight up vanished and was declared dead by Edwardine. While I have no idea what could have been up with Alexandra disappearing, I definitely think Edwardine murdered Enoch as retribution for whatever mystic forces he tampered with that compelled her to murder Charlie. After all, Charlie did specifically mention that whatever was going on with those carvings, Enoch was responsible.

Edwardine’s child with Charlie was supposedly stillborn. A boy, named Andrew Charles (kind of sweet of Edwardine to give the boy his father’s name for a middle name). There was no doctor and it was a home birth, so we only have Edwardine’s word to go on. I definitely think there was more to this. What, I don’t know yet.

Theodore, our great uncle who died in the Shaw mine (supposedly), was declared dead by Enoch, his younger brother, who fully took over the mines after he died. Supposedly. Is it possible Enoch murdered his brother to take the mine and estate and town for himself? I wouldn’t rule it out yet, but Enoch is hella sus.

Edwardine had two brothers who died in Normandy during WWII, each within a day of each other. We kind of already knew that from episode 3, but the confirmation of death records is interesting.

Edwardine is probably the longest living Scarlet in...a long time, and possibly ever. She lived to be almost 90. Pearlanne was second longest-living and both seem to have passed from old people illnesses (sleep apnea and heart disease).

Edwardine raised Pearlanne and Vivian in place of her daughter, Mary-Belle (the woman who’s portrait hangs in our room. Actually, I think we’re in her room, so she has her missing, probably dead sister’s doll in her closet...). And according to Sybil, our mother was something of an emotional punching bag for the rest of the family.

As far as I remember right now, only Edwardine and Pearlanne lived past thirty.

Enoch made some kind of deal, either for his own benefit or for the sake of his brother. Don’t know which yet, if these are even the only two options. Enoch seems like a very two-faced, self-serving bastard to me so far, but we’ll see.

Wayne

Oh boy...if I didn’t think he was something supernatural before, I do now. Not even counting that Wayne knew Reese was something eldritch and other, he fought Reese and managed to repeatedly find his way into places taken over by entities trying to keep him out. Also, there’s something about his yellow pus-goo that harmed Reese on contact. I want to know so badly what Wayne is. My current tentative theory is that if Reese is something demonic, what if Wayne is something angelic? If Wayne’s the one that pulls everyone out of Charlie’s haunting, Sybil hints that us bending to Charlie’s demands would “go against everything he is.” A curious phrase, for sure. Sybil seems to be convinced that Wayne is harmless, though again, I’m suspicious of Sybil, but Wayne seems to be acting as like...a musty, spooky guardian angel. So far, he’s been nothing but helpful to us, if not blatantly protective.

We actually saw quite a bit of Wayne this episode. He followed us to the Church and I saw him lurking by the clinic as we approached it. To my knowledge, this is the first time we see Wayne watching us from afar since episode 2 if we stayed at the Estate following the events of episode 1.

Most importantly, if we don’t decide to pursue the romantic subplot with Stella, Wayne walks us back to the estate and we get the opportunity to ask him some questions. Naturally, he’s vague about a lot of things, but he’s following us specifically because “[we’re] special” and when we ask why he answers “you just are.” Annoying, but mildly informative in the sense that there is something inherent to us specifically that is unique, even amongst our kin, limited though they are. Wayne also says that we’re bonded to him in some way. He doesn’t elaborate, but he does imply that he will stand by us for...whatever’s coming.

This mysterious “bond” is a bit suspect to me and I’m curious about what that exactly means (personally, I hope it’s not romantic...).

He also encourages us to snoop around the estate when Tabitha is out and busy with the strike. He might want us to find something there. Perhaps the mysterious imprisoned entity? Perhaps something else.

[voiceofthesilly]

3, 4, 5 aaaaand 6! :3

3. I do love me a tortured artist...

Reese definitely takes the cake for. Many reasons. One is that i personally have to short-circuit seeing him. Another is that I love people who talk during movies so so much please explain to me the directors entire thing. Also, it's very true that his shit is reminiscent of Goya's black period (thinking about it even in genesis sorta) and Beksiński's work (🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱💥💥❗‼️💥 Poland mention) and i m a big fan of Beksiński. Im also not immune to 12 foot, monster-dwelling tailed monster (shout-out to needle princess) Also just found out he's a DM? I'm genuinely ready to sell my soul for the guy

But Avery and Stella are so close behind, Avery for being the weirdest person around (so so affectionate. Why did you say you'd like the ditchlings to lay eggs under your skin), Stella because I'm personally also a big fan of cryptids and paranormal in general. Also there's so much wrong with her

4. This one unfortunately has got to go to Oscar because I haven't really gotten around to hanging out with him yet... Not that I dislike him by any means, just don't have a lot of feelings about him either way.

Unless Sybil counts, she's interesting as fuck but I do not trust her a single bit and there's so many things I'm sure are her fault. So as a character — I think she's great . But I'm hissing and scratching at her

5.

Only now I realised there's two question fives and i did the other one in another ask so!

My absolute favourite side character is the pastor. He's just some guy . I would trust him with my life. Wdym he just went "uhhh yeah god and stuff" to make sure Kaneeka /and Avery think that's what we're talking about. "Firm parenting moment" and it's please be good or we might skip storytime. I cannot wait to see more of him

6.

My favourite traits have got to be street smart and keen eye, though book smart and powerful build arent far behind. I just love lying to people and eavesdropping . But the muscle-weirdo stuff powerful build does and additional information book smart grants are really cool also

As for combos, I think it's the same, keen eye and street smart are amazing together . Though maybe it's just because the MC who has them is my favourite. I'm going for a playthrough that gets both of these and book smart, and so far it's also been very fun so book smart/keen eye seems fun, and so does street smart/powerful build with all the bullshit it allows me to pull

[ghostrot12343]

A self-indulgent ramble about my playthrough of Scarlet Hollow

I'm mostly writting this as an attempt to get these thoughts out of my head. Spoliers below.

So, I decided to try playing basically myself but more well read (Book Smart) and with the ability to talk to animals. Yes, my first D&D PC was a druid, how did you know? I did as much as I could to ignore bus guy, and I don't like peanuts, so on the bus they remained.

Upon meeting Tabitha, I did break my rule of offering a hug to someone lest they reject it, and reject it she did. So that stung. And in the car, Tabitha's statement about "emotional maturity" did nothing to convince me of anything but her own trauma.

After getting settled in, it was nice to meet Dustin and give him some nesting materials. And as I mentioned, I don't like peanuts, so there's nothing to eat in the house, and I didn't want to break Tabitha's trust immediately, so while I wanted to explore the house, I decided to leave that for later in the week and left the house.

Gretchen is delight and a fantastic friend. Frou-frou is fine, I can respect her need for space, but I'm definitely a dog over cat person. Having a gluten allergy, the diner is a reminder of how unaccommodating places outside NZ were of that, but I've not eaten all day and I'd suffer the headaches for at least something to eat that doesn't contain peanuts.

Meeting Duke with Stella, I told him not to shoot the mountain lions, and uh, well, I had accidentally skipped why he was asking for the flashlight and decided to go save Gretchen who I knew would be killed by the ditchlings like all the other animals we'd seen (also, it was weird that the game tried to suggest the deer's obvious statment on its affliction and warning was a threat?), and as the achievement states, Duke had poor trigger discipline.

Meet Kaneeka & Sybil, but I'm 90% sure I also went back to the estate that night.

The fact that we saw supernatural beings and a man died means I am immediately unconcerned about hiding my ability, there are weirder, more off-putting things going on. One thing I regret about the library was not reading what the game had to say about Tommyknockers.

Of course I immediately go see my cousin when we get to the mine, but I don't wait after I call her about Rosaline because time is of the essence - ditchlings exist, a man died, and this shaft had a collapse that already killed children.

I'm glad no one died, sucks Rosaline lost a foot though.

Checking in on Dustin & his mom is definitely a highlight of the mornings. And I was so worried about Bo dying if I gave him his father's location, but it felt more wrong to keep it from him when the police were so FUCKING USELESS, so it was a relief when I saw him in the later episode.

Cousin Bonding Time is the best, I didn't even know there was romance in this game until hanging out with Reese, but I still would choose CB... cousin bonding time over a date, sorry Stella. And fuck that Piece-of-Shit-Karen Nancy for ruining her morning.

While I thought the pastor left an okay impression and I have no clue why other people found him so sketchy, I also didn't tell him about my conversation with the mayor because I just don't know him.

I definitely clicked that the doc was poisoning Reese even before the game gave me the ability to voice that suspicion. Also, I am still very curious as to why she seemed to immediately detest my presence.

I asked for permission to invite Tabitha and then ignore Kaneeka's objection because asking was a formality. While I didn't object to Tabitha's belief of Oscar's parenting in the car, something that I sort of regretted, and simply further questioned during our morning hangout, I was disappointed that he failed the test of letting Rosaline take part. Like, sure, her being there meant that she knew for sure that her dad wasn't making stuff up, but she also literally lost her foot YESTERDAY, what the fuck Oscar, she shouldn't be in a high stress environment. So, while I don't fully agree with Tabitha about Oscar specifically (she's right about some people shouldn't have kids, *cough* the Scarlets *cough*), he definitely needed to have picked up a parenting book about setting stronger boundries, preferrably a week ago before all this shit happened. But I digress.

Very glad that I was able to win my day in ghost court.

Strike: Told Tabitha people thought she was a hero because of e2 and to not fire Davis, that she should meet with them and after asking what it is they wanted that she should probably give it to them, whilst also being understanding of the financial difficulties of the mine itself. Didn't tell the strikers about Rodriguez because honestly, I don't know what they'd do to him and I don't want another man's death on my conscience and this is less personal than with Bo. Also didn't talk to the strikers in the diner as I didn't want to get attack and/or weaken their efforts.

I did get to go everywhere, the pastor revelation was interesting, but I misread the "this doesn't mean we're friends" and wish it hadn't been so cold, even if yeah, friendship in this game requires immense trauma and life-threatening situations, so you know, maybe Daniel shouldn't want to be my friend.

I regret drinking Sybil's tea, I don't like tea but I thought maybe her insights would be useful... which they weren't. "Oh no, your cousin is going to betray you", I don't trust that idea as far as I can throw it and since I don't have powerful build, that's not very far anyways. At least, according to the decision tree I'm using as reference, I saw more of the Enoch/Teddy interaction.

I do feel sorry for Reese, but no way was I going to let him murder Dr Kelly. That's just more trauma to endure, and also, he does literally turn into a powerful monster when emotionally distressed, so wanting to prevent that from happening is a reasonable desire even if her approach could 100% be better. Also, Sybil was not slick, I already knew she was giving the Doc the castor beans, fucking with my head was as much a confirmation of that belief as hearing it normally. Also, Dr Kelly talking about Reese's dad was really humanising, definitely made me want to chat with her more. Hopefully the game allows you to convince the pair to go about cognitive behavioural therapy / anger management without the need for pills.

Sad that I missed out more Tabitha bonding by not calling her, but I also didn't want to put her in harms unnessecarily (the mines were specifically her business, and the ghost hunting was a group thing anyway). Hope I get a chance to help her and Stella reconnect without having to try and recreate this playthrough up to that point.

And the main reason I wanted to write this:

Based on the death certificate and the vision, Enoch lied about Teddy's cause of death, and with Charlie Jr's death being connected to the sigil and Edwardine's sadness in the moment all leads me to believe that there may come a moment when Tabitha, or maybe the MC, will be tempted to sacrifce the other to secure the future of Scarlet Hollow, and I need to be able to beg Tabitha not to make a blood sacrifice of my character before it gets to that point. And like, I know that feeds into the Sybil tea thing, but that also suggests premeditation which I don't think is the case. I just don't want my character to be made into a literal blood sacrifice on the alter of capitalism when I'm already a figurative one irl.

[marshvlovestv]

My Favorite NaNo Excerpt, 11/4/23

I actually managed to finish two WIPs today, Blessed Be The Midland Railway and Cotton and Thread! Keep an eye on this and my Zero Escape blog for links :)

As for this excerpt, I'm not even sure it's my absolute favorite from today but I honestly just wanted to share something from this fic before it gets outright smutty. Fair warning that even though nothing has actually happened yet, there's still some frank discussion of sexuality here.

Fic: Artificial Means (Scarlet Hollow)

She’s too curious. Her fingers buzz as she types out her guess, not fully believing that she’s writing what she is. And god, she knows she doesn’t have to feel funny doing this. She and Stella have talked about their respective masturbation habits before, in gritty detail, even. It’s a thing that good friends can do. And she and Stella are both bi, and it was fine, so the fact that Reese is a man shouldn’t make this more uncomfortable than that could have gotten… Maybe just the fact that he’s Reese is enough for that. Still, Kaneeka sends her text. it’s a fleshlight. She blushes and turns her phone over when she sees that it’s been delivered. Her right hand sits on her thigh as she waits. She tries not to let the image form in her head of Reese lubing up a disembodied plastic vagina, but it does, and that hand starts to crawl up her leg, teasing at the hem of her sleep shorts. Her phone buzzes. Nope ;) Fuck, there’s that emoticon again. This guy she used to make mud pies on the playground with, watch stupid anime with and tape ridiculous videos with of them running through the woods looking for creatures both of them knew didn’t exist, he was sending her wink emojis

[arcann]

1, 3, 9, 10 for choose violence

the character everyone gets wrong

Kaneeka is not Sybil's little puppet, the magical tea manipulation clearly started days ago if not that very same Thursday. She's bold and very much guided by scientific knowledge. She left for college and while she does diligently cares for the store, she has left it alone at times by her own choice. She fights with other people like Tabitha and the pastor. We see her fight her mom of Wednesday and with the right dialogue you can make Kaneeka start to realize that something is wrong while you try to escape to the clinic and Sybil catches you. Why does everyone make it so that all Kaneeka is, everyone she hates and loves, her interests and hobbies were made by Sybil.

its the racism.

9. worst part of canon

y'shtola's attitude change beginning with shadowbringers. some switch got flipped in the square enix's team after a realm reborn that made them realize she could be fanboy fuel for the gamer dudebros so they decided her pajamas, miner outfit and personality where she cared deeply about the beast tribes and defending them loudly and openly needed to go and now alisaie was the loud defender of others while y'shtola is just. smart. in a very "this plan doesn't make sense but we're the heroes so we're doing it" smart. deux ex smartness.

she's super annoyed about matoya all the time. also her (non) blindness. what's up with that.

10. worst part of fanon

people who think scarlet hollow is a romance visual novel and not a horror visual novel. enough said.

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

left this one for last bc cw for racism and black face

always thinking about the person with a swtor oc named blakk (yes two k's, as if the third one would be too in the nose or something) who was a literal white man doing black face and when the person got called out instead of confronting their issues they decided to give a fucking long and insane explanation of how the oc could be like that because he was a strange and very unknown type of humanoid alien who could change their skintones and that was somehow... good enough for them??? complete lack of acknowledgement and even worse, thinking star wars' racism would cover their own. it was absolutely delusional. the oc's face claim was fucking armie hammer of all people.

this was about five years ago but last i heard that person is still out there, black face oc and all. learned absolutely nothing from all that clowning

[dontbreakthechain]

Doing this Scarlet Hollow meme I saw a lot of other people do

What can I say, I’m a follower by nature. Also, couldn’t find the original, can’t give a shout out to the maker. This is someone else’s copy pasted in and then their answers deleted.

TRAITS

Your “canon” trait combination? The canon-est playthrough I have is just my first one, Micah, the one where everything is a surprise. The traits for that playthrough are Book Smart and Keen-Eyed. I get why people think this combination is a little boring, but it’s great for a first playthrough. It gives you so much information, and its Skeptic Vibes work well when you don’t know how far the rabbit hole goes. I also want to give a shoutout to TTA and Street Smart (MC name: Kitty), hands down the funniest combination. This jaded cynical loner who talks to cute little animals like a fucking disney princess

What 3rd trait would you add for hardcore mode? I did do a hardcore mode, it was TTA, Mystical, and Hot. It’s a good hardcore set of traits, hot helps make up for the (to some characters) off-putting weirdness of the Mystical/TTA combination, and, because TTA and Mystical haven’t been special traits yet, it means your playthrough isn’t that much worse than a normal one. For my canon-ish runs, Keen-Eyed and Street Smart have some cool interactions, but overlap too much to make for a good playthrough. Keen-Eyed, Street Smart, And something else could be interesting.

What trait are you least drawn to? This is a fairly common answer, but Hot. It’s passively useful, and getting out of the Big Bad Choice of episode 4 is pretty great, but it has much fewer active interesting choices than other traits. 

Speaking of common answers, Powerful Build is fun you people are just nerds mean

Coolest trait? Street Smart. All the traits have their moments, but Street Smart is by far the most op and gives the most cool opportunities. Also, it makes a funny as fuck companion to half the traits. Street Smart/TTA?  Street Smart/Book Smart? Street Smart/Mystical? All absolute riots

ROMANCE

Who are you romancing? Everyone, sooner or later. Micah is romancing the dilf supreme, thanks to being in a prime position to do so after rescuing Rosalina/banishing Charlie. Kitty went with Kaneeka, my most common LI. I am not immune to goth girls or the music of Bruce Springsteen. It is also my mission to rescue her from Sybil.

What romance are you least interested in? Listen, Wayne girls (gn), I’m glad you’re having fun, but it’s not for me. Also, Stella’s romance is frustrating on a purely technical level. I get that it’s on purpose and I get why they did it that way, but it’s so hard to unlock. It’s especially frustrating that it’s so unclear whether Stella can even stand you until the very end.

Who would you romance if every character was eligible? I want Bo to [REDACTED REDACTED  REDACTED REDACTED] me until I can’t walk straight.  

MISC

What character would hurt the most if something bad happened to them? Something bad is happening to everyone, but I will riot if Sybil successfully traps Kaneeka, Bo is made any sadder, or the curse on the pastor isn’t broken.

Would you stay in Scarlet Hollow once the week is over? I mean, we’ll see what happens, but the game seems to be heading in a Scarlet Hollow is not going to survive the week direction. If I’m wrong on that... maybe, but probably not. If some major changes get made and it becomes less of a ghost town (...literally?) by the end, it might be worth it, but I’m a city person at heart. 

Who would you vote for dog mayor? Me. I’m dog mayor now.

[doodle-spooder]

Chapter 3

Okay so this will be my last post of the night since I need to get on a normal sleep schedule for my new job. So this chapter recap! So woke up, took a shower and thought about Reese (my blorbo, my boi, my game crush) and met Dustin's Mom. Nile sent memes to Kaneeka and Stella and met Janey. Taby tells Nile that Rosa lost her foot completely, then drags her out to the car for 'Cousin Bounding Time'. Made it to town, Taby has to get 'Tea' which then Nile ask if she was getting drugs. Listened in on Sybil and Taby talking in the tea room, and that there's something outback, and to feed it the 'Tea'. Met Bo, and told him where to find Duke. Decided to spend some with Tabitha and Nile and her bounded over stuff. Invited her to ghost hunt. Met Mayor Jimmy, and then Pastor Daniel. Got the vibe that he's cursed. Nile asked him if he wanted to join the ghost hunt and Daniel said no and left. Talked with Oscar, Kaneeka, and Stella. Conviced Stella to invite Avery and Nile's gave a heads up about Tabitha being there. Met Reese and tried to flirt (and IT wasn't an OPTION!!! I'm SO FREAKING scared of chapter 4) but was kind of a normal reply. But Reese thinks Nile's nihilism is cool so vibes. Dinner was tense as fuck, and danced around the accusatory options. But told the gang that Doctor Kelly is scared of Reese.

Ghost Hunt! So Nile meets like most of the town at this point to Oscar's place. We gonna bust some ghosts. But then the hatch happens and Niles does a full attunement with Charlies Jr. Also Niles ask Tabby two questions, is fainting/strokes a thing in the family and what did you put in the cream sodas? Wayne is there and Tabby is freaked, Niles is curious about it but Tabby is tight lipped. We finish the puppet play. Now Nile and Tabby are on trial for the sins of our fathers. Sybil breaks the spell and Nile decides to walk into the light. BUT WAIT!

Tabby loses years of her life and takes the bullet. We meet back up with the others and Stella isn't okay, she just isn't. She says she'll call (but she doesn't). Nile heads back with Tabby and lightly grills them about Wayne, but she asks if Pearlanne killed Wayne. (Though street smarts noted that Tabby might have killed her mom... however didn't ask her about it) Nile heads to bed and just sleeps.

[birbycakes]

finished one playthrough of Scarlet Hollow. I def want to play around with it More to find my optimal self insert route, but I gotta say... I'm loving whatever the hell Wayne has going on. And Reese. And Avery seems to really Understand me, I like them. And I enjoyed the flirting with Oscar if you're both hot and booksmart. I like Kaneeka too, I should really have Erika focus on romancing her. They'd be cute together. And Stella... idk how to feel about her. I was feeling like she could be bestie material but she was Weird in that last scene. I need to figure out how to get the moment where she and Tabby reconcile, I totally missed it. Probably needed to call her- I did but went back. I was about to Tame the Beast in Reese when she fucking burst in and shot him and I burst out laughing. I love Tabby so much.

[crestoflames]

The problem is that you really can’t just break Reese out later.

Because of how the game works, being like “hey I’m just gonna lock him up and undo it later” undermines the weight of your choices. There’s a reason you cannot just go back and remove Charlie from the library once you decide to leave him there. The devs confirmed things like that are not possible. It also makes the choices that are not trait-exclusive disproportionate. If you could just break Reese out later with minor consequences, everyone who isn’t Hot would choose that.

The point is that all of the end of chapter decisions have a trade-off. Each person has things they think are worse than others, but the point is that no choice will be perfect. There’s no way Dr. Kelly is gonna allow Reese to be broken out, either. She’s already anticipating Stella or Kaneeka will try something of the sort and is going to do everything in her power to prevent it, especially since this episode convinced her that her actions are necessary, and the player did too by backing her up. Hell, even in the ending with Hot, if you don’t bring Tabitha along, she says she wants to go after him, ostensibly to lock him up again, until the player convinces her not to. She does not see a way for him to ever function in society, which to me is just sad and gives me even less sympathy for her than I already had.

The only way I can see Reese breaking out is if he eventually does it himself, and the psychosis from solitary confinement makes him worse, so he does end up killing his mom and hunts the player down later. The devs said in the most recent stream that some players are going to be surprised by the consequences to those decisions they chose in chapter 4, and then they’re going to try and go back and redo it, and realize there are no good solutions. You’re trading one bad end for another. That’s the point of the game.

I’m not delusional, I know that letting Reese eat his mom will fuck him up and have major consequences. But I personally see the outcomes to him staying locked up as worse. And I am all for people doing whatever it takes to get away from their abuser, even if that means killing them. No one is under the impression that that won’t have bad consequences. But locking him in solitary confinement potentially for the rest of his life (that’s what Dr. Kelly wants at least) is no better, and will definitely have irreversible consequences. All of the choices are bad, you just have to choose what will work best for your own ethical code. And I couldn’t bear to leave someone actively suffering in something that is legally considered torture. Dr. Kelly’s death is so quick in comparison; she does not suffer.

But that just comes down to personal beliefs. I believe letting someone suffer indefinitely is worse than letting someone die quickly. There’s no way Reese would come out of solitary confinement unscathed. Even if he doesn’t break out and harm others, he could harm himself, or at least attempt to, due to his regenerative healing powers.

Either way, locking Reese up is going to have just as many consequences in the long run as the other two non-trait specific decisions. It’s just deciding what you can live with, morally.

Reese/Dr. Kelly decision

(Episode 4 Spoilers)

This one is pretty straight-forward for me, but the choice I feel is "right" still leaves a guilty, sad aftertaste.

I give Dr. Kelly the tranquilizers.

I see it like this: when Reese starts to transform and Wayne arrives, you find yourself in the middle of a crazy dangerous situation that keeps getting worse. Unless you are Hot, you're powerless to stop it from escalating.

I was presented two bad options: help Dr. Kelly imprison her son again or let Reese murder his mother. I felt helpless because I didn't want any of those outcomes, so how could I make the most out of a situation that was so out of my control? By thinking ahead and picking the alternative that didn't have irreversible consequences.

I want Reese to be free AND happy. There are some things you can't go back from, and killing and eating your mom is one of them (seriously, he didn't need to devour her). No matter how awful Dr. Kelly's parenting was, that's something irredeemable that would clearly hurt Reese as well. Do you think Kaneeka and Stella would treat Reese as if nothing happened? Or that Reese wouldn't carry the guilt with him for the rest of his life? Would he internalize that murder is an acceptable solution to his problems, and weaponize his power again in the future? Reese transforms into something supernatural, but what he does with that power is what can make him a monster.

This turning moment makes me think of how all of Reese's story is about choice. Joan knew her son was different and she tells us that she had no choice but to keep him restrained for everyone's safety. But of course she had a choice. She couldn't know that he would harm anyone, she just feared it. It's the suffering that she inflicts to her son that makes Reese despise her in the end. I love that the game actually gives you the chance to call her out on that ("don't you think it's a self-fulfilling prophecy?").

She absolutely could have done things differently. She could have been honest with Reese about his nature (and how little they knew about it) and educate him to accept and control it. It's her fault that she didn't even consider it. Can you imagine having a super strong gym bro son and making him sick because "he could hurt someone with his powerful build"? That's basically what she does. She imprisons her son on the grounds of possibility, for a crime he hasn't committed and might never commit. She never trusted Reese, never gave him a chance. If she did, Reese could have been a fully functional Jersey Devil (or whatever kind of goblin he is) that used his powers for harmless purposes.

But Dr. Kelly's fear makes her narrow-minded when it comes to Reese. And in Episode 4 she tries to make us buy into her black&white philosophy - she frames the crisis as a situation with only two possible outcomes: either she tranquilizes Reese and locks him up, keeping everyone safe, or Reese kills her and rampages free to terrorize the town. NICE DICHOTOMY IDIOT, WHAT LIES OUTSIDE IT??

As I said, I want a different outcome and I won't let Dr. Kelly trick me into thinking that's impossible. So, despite being powerless to get my way in that moment, I focus on what I can do after. I cannot bring Dr. Kelly back from the dead. I can absolutely break out Reese later, and that's what I intend to do.

Reese transforms and becomes a bit insane PROBABLY because of the influence of the carving (so a bit my fault 😬 sorry I brought unearthly despair to your household, I'm a Scarlet). I hope that it will pass and I'll be able to reason with him when he calms down. I wasn't hot enough to appease you before, pal, I'll give it another try after your nap!

So my intention is to free Reese and maintain his innocence. Let's disrupt the self-fulfilling prophecy before it self-fulfills! There is a better way to do things and it's about time the Kellys hear about it.

I'm determined to do that, but it still feels awful to know that Reese thinks I betrayed him. I barely said a word to Dr. Kelly when she walked me out of the house, because she acted like we were sort of on the same page while all I could think was "you're still wrong and I'm going to get your son out of here as soon as I can, I just didn't want him to gobble you up".

[thedeafprophet]

i think theres a lot of implications for the binding aspect, which really come to light if you have the mythical trait (my fave). You're being undeiniably called home to the hollow,,,, you were Suppose To Be Some Places,,, the extras to the memory flash backs of Charlie suggesting there was a way to 'reverse it' and they could be free,,,, something is going on there, something has bound the scarlet family to the hollow. something that our mother tried to get away from, was afraid of. but we still ended up back here

Sybil is tied into all of this somehow. She says in one text with mystical that we 'all have our parts to play'. i would guarantee you she knows whats been going on. And im gonna rescue Kaneeka from her if its the last thing i do!!

im not typically a mystery person either (im too distactable to follow plots) but i think the fantasy horror elements really tie it all together... it reminds me of like, a darker Gravity Falls, in a way XD honestly probably the best visual novel i played

🤞 i have faith (lol). theyve taken inspiration a lot more from cryptid stuff which is FAR preferred for me. I also appreciated them straight up having a line of saying you're not christian in game, which also makes me think theyre aware of how Assumptions come off.

look the pastor fucked up with his responses immediatly, being told you dont believe in the after life and he starts talkin some bullshit about changing your mind? you can fuck riiiiiiight off dude XD

totalllllly down to chat when chapter 5 comes out aaaaaaaaa. what black tabby has said about its wip thus far has me chomping at the bits

(i actually did my first playthrough as one of my flondon ocs cuz i didnt know what id want to do for the game yet XD)

Uh hi idrk how to sound normal in asks lmao but. I am curious. About more of your thoughts/opinions/theories on Scarlet Hollow? I played it for the first time recently but don’t really know anyone else who has besides like the one person who got me to play it XD

(Also your post about diagetic text boxes as subtitles for a hard of hearing PC sent me, I love it so much it’s canon to me)

hi you are sounding perfectly fine in ask XD i know at least a few flondon people who have also played it

So, as it stands right now, I don't have a lot of solid theories that arent vague, for one major reason: I don't think we have enough information to concretely theorize yet.

We have a lot of good buildup (something with the sigils, something with a curse maybe? something to be free from, that we're drawn here, suspicious incidents with the families death, non human creatures, Sybil being sus as all hell, whatever the hell the entity is etc), but we have yet to be provided with anything that would give us any solid conclusions. This is by design, i imagine starting next chapter as we explore the manner things will begin to unravel.

So my basis is like this 'the previous scarlet family members Did Something that put some sort of curse/trapping on the family in some sort of magic situation with some sort of consequences, all of those are beginning to unravel now for some reason'

beyond that, I really dont know! I have faith for black tabby to pull off the mystery, lots of good inklings, but a solid theory on whats going on? nada. One thing i will say is i expect black tabby to be doing their own things, and will be far more creative then to do like, a 1:1 with christian mythos or something lmao. theyve said that with the sucess of slay the princess theyll be able to 'get weird' with scarlet hollow which is very exciting

I have a lot of mini inklings and suspicions but that about it XD

ie. Sybil affecting the players thoughts, family curse, whatnot. Oh i also think it'd be interesting if whatever is possessing 'Wayne' could be able to body hop..... much to think about

thank you thank you. i've had fun considering that my scarlet hollow pc could also be hard of hearing like me. Ive toyed with the idea that the magic interference (ie the ghost miners in chapt 2) would mess with their hearing aids on a frequency level, so thank goodness for magic textboxes to help them

if u have any specifics you'd wanna chat about feel free to ask XD