Scarlet Hollow Walkthrough – Chapter 1 – Monday

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Bus

You wake up on a moving bus. Speak to the Stranger next to you. The dialogue choices here don’t really matter.

If you have picked Powerful Build you will eat the boiled peanuts right away. All the other traits will sort of offer help to the stranger but nothing will come of it eventually.

Bus Stop and Car Ride

Tabitha will show up to pick you up. You can use any and all of your selected traits to get into her good books.

Use “Explore” options to expand on dialogue and the story.

The Scarlet Estate

In this section Tabitha gives you a tour of the mansion and leaves for her job. Once she leaves you are free to either make a sandwich, be an asshole and steal/ruin Tabitha’s food.  STREET WISE is essential to enter the forbidden wing and STRONG is essential to enter the piano room in the forbidden wing. You cannot enter the Forbidden Wing without Street Wise. If you have TALK TO ANIMALS you can speak to Frou Frou, the cat and Dustin, the possum. If you have BOOKSMART you can find out about the library in the West Wing. BOOKSMART also allows you to impress Tabitha with your knowledge about the build and architecture of the mansion.

After she leaves you can head to your room. You will find Dustin the possum in the drawers.

If you want to make a sandwich just check the fridge, pantry and cabinets. As I said before you can mess with Tabitha’s Mac and Cheese and Ice cream if you feel like it.

You can check out the garden too but you won’t get far. Head to town now.

The Town

You will meet Stella and her pug Gretchen now. If you had selected HOT, you can start to romance Stella now and if you have TALK TO ANIMALS you could talk to Gretchen. Regardless, the conversation will lead you to the diner. At this point, if you refuse to hang out with Stella you can take the alternate path of going to the Library and then story diverges.

The Diner

You will meet Avery here and using your traits you can overhead many of the conversations. Nothing of consequence actually happens here. You can start the romance with Avery if you have HOT.

Stella will tell you about her profession and ask you to tag along.

The Woods

You will meet Duke soon. You can intimidate him with POWERFUL BUILD.

If you have HOT your romance with Stella will progress. Otherwise continue on your hunt after Duke leaves. Once you hear the screech you can either shield Stella or assume it’s a deer.

Stella will offer a snack break after you deal with the deer. The choice here doesn’t matter.

You will get roleplaying options next.

Pick whatever options suits your fancy. Soon you will hear another screech. Go investigate.

Once Duke shows up, go through the dialogue options till the creatures shows up. If you have POWERFUL BUILD, you can save both Gretchen and Duke. Otherwise you will have to choose between one or the other.

Once you save both of them, chase after the creatures. (Sacrificing Duke does not seem to affect the story until episode 3 & 4 where Duke will give you some info on the creatures and his family. Sacrificing Gretchen loses all possible story content for TALK TO ANIMALS with her if you choose that trait. MYSTICAL allows you to understand the creature speech and get some info on them.) Eventually Duke will drive you out if you saved him, if not the cops will show up.

Duke’s Truck

Talk to Stella and Duke.

Stella’s House

After a short conversation you can choose to go back to the Manor or go to Sybil’s house.

Choosing the manor allows you to speak with Sam Wayne for the first time and have a small conversation with Tabitha. I chose to go to Sybil’s house.

Sybil’s House

You will meet a strange man, Wayne, at the door, and eventually, after showing Sybil the footage, you will also meet Kaneeka. You will learn that the creatures are called Ditchlings.

Once you are done, you can choose to stay at Stella’s house or go back to the manor. Staying at Stella’s house is important for her romance. Regardless, either choice will end the Chapter.

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Alternate Path

If you take this route, the mystery still unfolds, but the overall vibe shifts a bit. You end up spending less time with Avery, Stella, Kaneeka, and Gretchen, and that changes how certain relationships develop. The opening beats are mostly the same up to a point, but once you hit Scarlet Hollow proper, things can branch in a different direction.

When you first meet Gretchen and Stella, it plays out the usual way. The key difference is that you can refuse Stella’s offer to hang out. That one decision opens up a few alternative stops. Instead of heading straight into the usual diner sequence, you can choose to visit the Library, the General Store, or just head back toward the Scarlet Manor. If you do accept the diner invite, that section unfolds the same way it does in Episode 1 on Monday.

If you decide to check out the General Store, that is where you properly meet Kaneeka for the first time. You can chat casually, flirt a little, or keep things distant if that is more your style. It is a small interaction, but it sets the tone for how she sees you going forward.

The Library is a bit more layered. That is where you run into Oscar, Rosalina, Pixel, Alexis, and Becka. You get a front row seat to the dynamic between the teens and Rosalina, and you see how Oscar handles being a parent in the middle of all that tension. You also pick up some background details about the town itself, get to know Oscar better, and, importantly, get your first opportunity to pet Pixel.

Once you wrap up your meet and greet, the story pushes you toward the road back to the Scarlet Manor. On the way through the woods, you encounter the Carolina mountain lion. Things escalate quickly, whether you choose to stand your ground or bolt. Duke shows up in time to scare the animal off. After that, you end up accompanying him through the woods whether you are thrilled about it or not. There is a brief calm moment where you can share a beer or some jerky and talk. Stella shows up again during this stretch, though Duke shuts down her attempts at “investigating.” You cross paths with her again when Bertie the chicken comes into the picture. At that point, depending on your choices, you may be able to leave Duke and go with Stella instead, similar to how the standard route handles it.

During all of this, Tabitha can call you. You can answer and talk to her, ignore it, or just text her later. The choice does not derail the plot immediately, but it affects how events unfold later.

The crisis event in the woods happens much like it does on the main path. Afterward, you can either continue digging into what is going on or get out of there and retreat.

Eventually, you wind up at Stella’s house. How you get there depends on earlier decisions. Duke might give you a ride. The police might get involved. You might show up on your own. From there, you can head to Sybil’s house or return to the Scarlet Manor, just like in the usual progression. The exception is if you called Tabitha earlier. In that case, she shows up and takes you back to the manor whether you want to go or not.

If you choose to visit Sybil’s house, the sequence plays out mostly the same as usual. The only noticeable difference is that Kaneeka recognizes you if you previously stopped by the General Store while exploring Scarlet Hollow. After that visit, you once again decide whether to stay at Stella’s place or return to the manor.

Overall, this route does not completely rewrite the episode, but it does shift who you spend time with and how certain relationships form. The mystery remains intact, yet the path you take to uncover it feels slightly different.

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This concludes our walkthrough of Chapter 1 of Scarlet Hollow.