Nightmare Fuel cleanup and maintenance

• Lighter compared to other examples, but the Underground Tavern has a fair bit of this. Wh-what?! The Underground Tavern?! Are you serious?!?!
  • When you first approach the Underground Tavern's entrance, Vi tries to impress Kabbu and Leif by speaking the code to get them in, only to be informed her code is outdated. Vi, annoyed, threatens to tell everyone in town about the tavern if they don't let her in. The bouncer's calm reply? "Try it, Vi. You won't last a night after you do." She immediately shuts up. Doesn't help that you don't see said bouncer or know anything about this place until you unlock it later. Not scary. Cut.
  • When you finally do enter, you find it to be a relatively run-down bar. Shades pawns stolen medals (and implicitly other goods), unsavory types hang around, and the mere mention of the Queen is implied to be a very bad idea. While the place is perfectly safe for the players and even being the source of some sidequests, it very much feels like the characters are rubbing shoulders with criminals and undesirables of various kinds. Not that scary. Cut.
• Here's some prime Paranoia Fuel: The Giants. They don't actually appear in the game itself, but some of the lore surrounding them in the game is definitely not for the faint of heart. Let's see here...
  • One possible reason they don't appear in Bugaria is because of the "Mother Crystal" deep in the Forsaken Lands. Although it does protect Bugaria from outside threats (humans included), one can only wonder what would happen if the protection from the crystal ran out... Fridge Horror. Cut.
  • Another less charitable interpretation is that a cataclysm occurred that wiped out humanity (or at least killed/forced evacuation of the humans in the immediate area) and gave bugs sentience, referred to as the "Day Of Reckoning" by the roaches. However, the book that mentions this also discusses "fires raining down from the sky and destroying the earth," but expeditions haven't found any evidence of that happening, meaning it could be either a case of Unreliable Narrator or a simple creation myth by the roaches. Still, there's no way to know for sure. Maybe?
• The concept of lesser bugs; bugs that never developed the lifespans or intelligence of the main cast and thusly remain beasts of instinct. Just what form of natural selection resulted in these lesser bugs remaining the way they were and in some ways becoming worse? I don't think anyone would find that scary. Cut.
• The Beast. Not only is this (rather large) centipede imposing to look at, it's enough to frighten Kabbu, on account of it eating his friends when he first went through its hunting grounds. Worse still, however, is the fact that it doesn't seem to be baring its fangs to look intimidating; it looks like its grinning, like it enjoys what it does. It brings to mind King Ghidorah in the way it acts; it may look like a mere beast, but it acts chillingly intelligent, and its expression is not one of animalistic fury, but rather vicious, cruel glee. Probably cut this one.
• The Giant's Lair. Holy smokes. The entire area has a dark and oppressive atmosphere, and all of the Dead Lander enemies are hideous Bosses in Mook Clothing that wouldn't be out of place in Hollow Knight! THIS we can keep, there are a lot of reasons why I'm currently staying away from this place.
  • And the worst of it is the Dead Lander Omega (pictured). A terrifying, enormous beast with a single glowing eye, and bony arms that scout the area for prey, as in, you. And unfortunately, this thing isn't confined to the Lair: if you look at the nearby tall grass through the Eliascope, you can see its shadow skulking around. God only knows why it hasn't tried to attack Bugaria yet. This thing is a big reason why I stay away from that place. Keep.
  • Not to mention that Giant's Lair is just an ordinary house that must have been owned by some person, but it's completely abandoned, with the refrigerator left open. What could have happened to this person's house that made them just abandon it? Assuming of course that the Dead Landers showed up after they left, because if the human was still there when they (particularly the Dead Lander Omega) appeared, what happened probably wasn't pretty. Fridge Horror. Cut.
  • The music is just as nightmarish as the lair itself. The desolate piano and hellish droning perfectly compliment its haunting atmosphere, and yet there's still a sense of quiet tragedy to it that seems to reflect on the Lair's status as a normal house that was suddenly abandoned and left to rot. The music is also another reason why I stay away from this place. Keep.
  • Notably, Giant's Lair also puts into perspective of just how small the party truly is. Throughout the game, you encounter human objects that have bee repurposed into housing and transportation for the insects of the land. Cardboard boxes, soda cans, various household items being used as makeshift bridges and the like. Because of how these have been repurposed, it can be easy to forget their size relative to us. And then you enter the Giants Lair, where these objects are scattered about randomly in the disrepaired state the house is in. Combined with the zoomed out camera angles and the Dead Lander Omega, it finally reminds the player that despite all the amazing things the party can do... They are ultimately still just insects. Insects that could easily be stomped out by even a moderately sized animal. The only reason they don't end up crushed is that the Dead Lander Omega seems more content to just drop other, smaller Dead Landers on them for their own amusement. Fridge Horror? I honestly could go both ways with this one.
• The lab beneath Snakemouth. Sweet Venus. The whole place is the site of incredibly inhumane experiments with cordyceps- yes, THAT cordyceps- by the roaches to try and circumvent the need for the Everlasting Sapling for immortality, and it went horribly, horribly wrong. Zommoth, the area boss, got the worst of it, its entire lower body becoming a snakelike tail and its whole face being consumed by a cordyceps stalk. There's barely anything left; just a shell of a moth reduced to a vicious beast. No wonder the roaches went missing... Keep. This place is pretty scary.
  • Want an extra dose? Leif (or rather the cordyceps creature that resurrected him) was regarded as a failure. What in the everlasting FUCK were they trying to do that a life form that effectively resurrected a fallen adventurer was seen as a failed experiment? And what would have happened had they succeeded?? Fridge Horror. Cut.
  • The roach scientists’ lust for power doesn’t stop there. A secret room in the lab suggests that they created Venus. You know, the being everyone reveres as a goddess. There are even two other screens hinting towards the existence of two other beings similar to Venus. And yet they still weren’t content with making three godlike beings (compared to bugs at least). Fridge Horror. Cut.
  • Then reading Zommoth's Beastiary entry reveals the Roaches created it for an immortal guardian, but they failed to predict being unable to control. All but directly confirming the Zommoth is responsible for the state of the lab. Fridge Horror, again. This lab seems to have been experimenting not only with cordyceps, but with Fridge Horror as well.
  • One of the rooms contains notes of one of the scientists mentioning they need to investigate a subject acting odd in the containment room. Across the water is a holding cell containing a Zombeetle who drops a lab card...and garbled notes saying they can't feel their legs, heavily implying the Zombeetle killed the scientist. Fridge Horror. Cut.
• While traveling through the Forsaken Lands, Team Snakemouth can potentially come across a strange, little village. All the buildings are in ruins, it's inhabitants carry weirdly stiff smiles on their faces and, when you try to communicate with them, will only garble some indecipherable Black Speech. Team Snakemouth immediately feels uncomfortable there and even the Venus Bud stationed in the place's "Inn" admits the village is giving her the creeps. And with good reason. Upon trying to speak to the village's "king", said king reveals himself to be a cluster of sentient mothflies having merely disguised themselves as a bug. Upon defeating him, Team Snakemouth finds the place completely cleared out, with only the masks of the "villagers" left behind. Just what the hell was that about?? Not really that scary, the music doesn't even stop there.
• The Wasp King, the Big Bad of the game, is a vicious sociopath who rules his kingdom with an iron fist, keeping citizens in poverty and jailing bugs for even the smallest offenses, and he seeks to find the Everlasting Sapling to gain its powers to take over Bugaria and rule it as immortal tyrant. He is also immensely powerful, wielding an axe and possessing flame magic that could easily incinerate a defenseless bug, and he came dangerously close to doing this with Team Snakemouth during their first encounter. If not for Queen Vanessa's Flame Brooch protecting Team Snakemouth from his flames in the latest encounter, he would've been practically undefeatable. Maybe? I'm leaning towards cutting this one.
  • It's also revealed that the reason wasps are so loyal to him is because they were actually brainwashed into servitude, and are completely unable to disobey his orders, even willing to die if their cruel king says so. And when Team Snakemouth defeats General Ultimax at the end of Chapter 6, he still refuses to give up despite being utterly fearful for his dear life, even shouting that they have to crush his body if they want to get through. At this moment it was clear that it was Wasp King's hypnosis talking through Ultimax, overriding even his own sense of self-preservation. Once the wasps are freed, they end up being very remorseful for what they have done under Wasp King's control. Not that scary. Cut.
  • When the Wasp King finally finds and unlocks the Sapling, he discovers that it was wilted due to the lack of exposure to sunlight. Angered, he immediately devours one of its leaves, morphing into the Everlasting King. After being defeated by Team Snakemouth, he still refuses to admit defeat, and just loses it, trying to form the hugest Fireball possible, only to lose control of his powers and turning into an inanimate tree. In the Playable Epilogue, however, the team ponders with the Roach Village Elder that, had the Sapling, or the Everlasting King, been exposed to the sun, he would've never lost control of his powers and would be truly immortal and all-powerful. Fridge Horror. Cut.
  • His backstory is definitely not a happy one. Ever since he was a baby, he was abandoned by his parents in the Dead Lands, and was forced to grow up and survive against the vicious Dead Landers completely alone. Eventually, he managed to survive, and came across Bugaria, finding himself in the Wasp Kingdom. But instead of finding love and friendship, he became nothing more but friendless, neglected and disrespected trash collector. Ultimately, he abandoned the kingdom, and nobody cared… until he found the Ancient Crown that allowed him to brainwash almost every wasp in the kingdom, his newfound power twisting him into control-obsessed and power-hungry monster he is today. More sad than anything else. Cut.
• The fact that Mothiva is so petty that she is willing to endanger all of Bugaria via trying to fight Team Snakemouth in the Termite Coliseum which could have ruined everything that the team and Queen Elizant worked towards. Fridge Horror, and even then, it's not that scary, it only makes hate her even more. Cut.

A Night Off

• Tyrian's gleeful massacre of the citizens at Robyn's political rally, after Watts cuts off the lights he Tyrian begins his slaugther we are treated to a fightening view as everyone else is too slow or weak to react in time, with only Penny's frame-up and corpses littering the floor once the lights come back.

Gravity

• Ironwood gets his arm trapped in a Hard Light barrier by Watts, and when he tries to pull it out, the skin sizzles and burns clean off. Ironwood pulls the entire arm through the barrier, besides the Body Horror of his flayed arm this fight shows Ironwood's unnverving determination.

• During the entire volume there has been evidence of the flaws with Ironwood's views about Mantle and his trauma over the fall of Beacon, this episode brings both tendencies to a head. When he finds a glass queen left by Cinder on his desk his paranoia goes into overdrive, which is compounded by the secrets held by his allies into the decision to effectively leave Mantle for dead and launching Atlas into the upper atmosphere

• As soon as Salem appears from the Seer's remnants she shows that a good dose of Break Them by Talking can be as devastating as the Grimm she commands. First by further cementing Ironwood's paranoia , then by driving Ruby to tears with a reminder of Summer Rose's death as the girl tries answer back. Salem's words are so effective that Ruby is unable to use her silver eyes.

With Friends Like These

• Besides a small amount of reluctance from Marrow; all of the atlesian military ,and the ace ops in particular, are perfectly willing to turn on their former allies as soon as the order is given, going straight into combat once the order to arrest team RWBY and their allies is given.

• Cinder's entrance to the Winter Maiden's bedroom, with the lightning and sound framing her as something that crawled out of a slasher film before she throws a fireball at Winter.

The Enemy of Trust

• The last time we saw Cinder's Grimm arm, it ended at the middle of her left bicep. Now it has evolved to Body Horror at its finest, the arm has grown all the way up to her shoulder and exposed all the muscles in it. And once Winter cuts it off, Cinder wails in shock....then starts screaming and flailing while a new arm quickly and painfully emerges from the stump, all on its own.

• Salem arriving amidst a storm she conjured with a fleet of flying Beringels and a flying whale Grimm the size of Atlas itself. Qrow was not kidding when he said that Salem would not be worried about the Atlesians' "little ships"....they have no chance against her Grimm, and they never did.