Candela Obscura: Eye for an Eye

"**Candela Obscura: Eye for an Eye**" (CO2x01) thumbnail featuring the cast.

"**Candela Obscura: Eye for an Eye**" (CO2x01) is the first episode of *Candela Obscura's* second chapter. Years after the Last Great War has ended, five investigators unite in the Circle of Needle and Thread to defend the Fairelands against an eldritch invasion.

## **Synopsis**

### **Introduction**

*Those that rise from the trenches only to boldly dive into the catacombs of the Fairelands are few and far between. Any investigator, be they soldier or civilian, will eventually find themselves forced to abandon what is right for what must be done. The scars of war are deep and timeless. Those who survive must balance on a delicate thread of ever-fraying purpose, for to stare too deeply into the chasm of the past is to see nothing but a reflection of terror. When retribution crawls from the darkness, our inner fortitude is put to the test. The Circle of Needle and Thread. Assignment #533: Eye for an Eye.*

### **Episode introduction**

A man in his 40s is alone in bed when his 5-year-old son, holding his teddy bear, knocks and comes in saying he heard something in his room. The father goes to investigate but finds nothing. The child says "I miss Mom" as dad tucks him back in and returns to his own bed. As he drifts off, his closet door opens and a ghostly hand reaches out, followed by the white figure of his wife. As he fully wakes and calls out "Allison", her hand covers his face. Her thumbnail slices into him and breaks him open. The child opens the door, sees this, and runs.

### **Part I**

The members of the Circle of Needle and Thread are finishing up an assignment to intercept a device arriving on a train and keep it from the hands of EONS (the Esoteric Order of New Sciences). Currently, the device is held by a scientist on top of the train who is in a gun battle with Sean Finnerty. Both would have been wounded, but Marion Collodi is watching as well from below and uses his Premonition to have Sean avoid the hit and join him in a passenger car of the train.

Meanwhile, in the EONS tech train car, Nathaniel Trapp is facing down two security guards. At the same time, in the last car, Jinnah Basar ("Jean") is holding a gun given to her by Violet Boucher, as Beatrix Monroe stumbles in the door. Violet found a letter and suspects Jean's loyalties are divided, and Avery Choi, now bound and gagged in front of them, acts as a liaison between EONS and Candela. However, Bee has used I Saw It Coming. In the fray, Jean is shot, although not badly wounded, and Bee dashes out, detaching the train car. As Jean rushes toward her, Violet shoves Avery out the door. Jean opts to jump over to the detaching car rather than save her, shouting, "Consider this my resignation!" as she goes.

Meanwhile, Marion moves back toward Auntie Bee and Jean while Sean moves forward to attempt to intercept the gunman on top of the train but is followed. Nathaniel is still facing the knife-wielding guards and is badly wounded in the ensuing knife fight. Jean is upset about Avery, but as they move forward, they see a crate of odd chickens which Jean starts dragging. Marion reaches the badly wounded Nathaniel and attacks his assailants, getting wounded himself but knocking the guards down. Sean chains the train door closed on his follower and climbs back on top of the train. The scientist is holding the device and dangles it over the side of the train. Sean shoots his gun out of his hand and the scientist tumbles backward onto the engine. He detaches the train cars, but Sean leaps the gap, kicking the scientist prostrate, grabbing the device, and knocking him unconscious.

Meanwhile, Auntie Bee and Jean, dragging the chicken crate, have reached the car where Nathaniel and Marion are still facing two wounded security guards. Sean tells the engineer to slow the locomotive and the others move forward. Marion is able to slam a metal bar from the chicken cage to hold the train car to the locomotive when the two come back into contact. Sean fires his gun straight up into the ceiling, hitting the scientist and knocking him off the train.

The train pulls into Newfaire. At the group's home base in Hallowharbor, a beautiful area near the water, they meet with their Lightkeeper Draven Kingsley and show him the device, which contains a small purple worm Sean names Johnny. Jean tells them it is an androphage which can induce euphoria before taking over a creature's body and killing them. Draven explains EONS has been collecting these strange creatures, possibly to use in drug dens. Draven puts the device into a hidden compartment. Jean tells Draven that Avery possibly died in the fracas and he consoles her.

Draven gives them their next assignment. Candela has suffered a death: Antonio Suarez, the husband of Allison Suarez, a former member of Candela. Just then, a five-year-old boy, Lucas Suarez, runs in and grabs Draven's leg. Antonio was gruesomely killed by creatures from beyond the Flare, and Candela needs it stopped before it hunts down others. He gives them an additional bleed containment vial and the Suarez family's address. Nathaniel asks about Allison Suarez, the boy's mother, and is told she is still unsalvageable.

### **Part II**

The party is in a carriage heading toward the Suarez home in Groundswell. Jean heals Nathaniel's wounds while Marion performs a Ritual to regain his spent resistance. Nathaniel explains his connection to the Suarez family: Allison Suarez sacrificed herself to save him from an attack by a creature in a subway station, transforming herself horribly. They look through a folder of information about Antonio's death, which is similar to other attacks that occurred around Allison's attack a few months ago, then stopped for a few months, and have now apparently begun again.

They reach the Suarez home, built into the ruins of Oldfaire. Sean pulls out a shotgun, and Marion takes out the phase knife he acquired on the train. Jean senses bleed residue lingering from the attack, and notices flies in the first-floor bedroom that settle on the mirror in the bathroom. Marion finds a shattered mirror in the bathroom, although others in the house are intact, and they take a large mirror and a hand mirror with them. Aunt Bee becomes lost in memories of her happy married life many years ago, but Marion (who apparently has known her since he was an adolescent) pulls her out of her reverie.

The body of Antonio Suarez is still there, fileted open on the bed. Marion notices the bleed detector registers strongly on both the flies in the room and the body, and the clothes in the closet appear melted. They notice Antonio's body has been drained of blood, his organs rearranged, and a small white object near his heart which proves to be an eyeball which Jean places in a bleed containment vial. They find a used ticket in one of his pockets dated "Summer 12 1907" (last night) on the Trapp Transit Subway from Steelworks to Groundswell. Nathaniel confirms his family owns the subway and the Groundswell station opened two days ago.

The party reaches Groundswell Subway Station at sunset, and realize that since the monster attacked Nathaniel once, it may again. Privately, Sean urges Marion to continue to keep his powers of clairvoyance a secret from everyone except members of Candela. Down on the platform, they notice that the train windows are now shuttered with mirrored panes, and see a trail of dark ichor leading into the tunnels indicating where the creature has passed. Marion feels an undulating near his scar and can tell it is close. Bee tells all the passengers present to clear the platform and the party moves into the tunnel.

They hear an otherworldly cry ahead, and proceed to a massive steel plate plugging a hole in the wall. At its top, it has been burst through, and they see four eyes surrounding a mouth staring at them through the hole. It is not the creature that previously attacked Nathaniel. Sean shoots first, killing it, and Nathaniel takes a photo. Sean helps Jean up to the hole as a train approaches, and through the hole she sees an ancient fallen Candela Lighthouse, dangling almost upside down from above. She rappels down safely on the other side, followed by Bee and Marion. Nathaniel and Sean are still in the train tunnel as the train bears down, and Sean uses a grenade to blow through the steel panel, wounding the entire party but reaching the other side.

The party remembers that near Thinnings where creatures have pierced through the Flare, Candela builds Lighthouses containing astrolabes, such as the one behind the GM, that magickally seal the Thinning shut. While the astrolabe is turning, light emits from the top of the lighthouse. This one is dark and fallen from above as a tunnel undermined it.

They see the reflections of many eyes staring at them, twenty or more small squid dogs guarding the Thinning. Bee produces a bag of feed which Marion covers in fresh blood, and Jean has a book detailing how lighthouses work. The kibble distracts the squid dogs long enough for the party to get a rope up on the hanging lighthouse. Sean slams into the dogs, holding them off, but is wounded, as the others climb up the rope. Nathaniel yells at him to climb, and Sean responds to the order from his former commanding officer, climbing out of the dogs' reach.

Now all in the lighthouse, they start moving up the upside-down stairs to a rift in reality where the astrolabe sits. Within the rift, something large stirs, and begins moving through it: a massive beast with wide-open jaws, stringy black tendrils for hair, and tendril-like hands. It is smiling. They all take two bleeds, dropping Nathaniel, Bee, and Marion unconscious with scars. Marion's premonition pushes the others aside, saving Bee, but the others watch as the creature's fingers pull at a blue thread emanating from Nathaniel's chest. A similar thread from Marion snaps as if there was nothing there to pull, and the creature says, "Ah. A vessel already prepared."

Bee urges the others that they need to reach the astrolabe quickly in order to save Marion and Nathaniel. Sean remembers seeing a creature like this in his time with NoMAD and the Ghost Platoon, a face looking at him through a mirror after he massacred multiple creatures that appeared to be human children during the war. Nathaniel wakes, scarred, as Jean closes the rift as she would close a surgical wound. As she does, she realizes that by leaving Violet alive, she doomed her father, and her father's spirit is here with her now. Marion stirs to consciousness, crying out and weeping, "There's nothing wrong with me!" The lighthouse begins glowing once again.

### **Post-Game**

One of Nathaniel's eyes turns completely white as if burned out, and he moves a point away from Read into Strike. Marion moves a point from Strike into Sense as his star-shaped chest scar grows larger and shows more signs of being Bleed-based, moving above his collar. Sean notices and moves to him, holding him gently, waiting for his adrenaline to subside, and asks him softly, "Want me to pee on it?" They hug each other close.

Bee moves to Jinnah, holding her hand and telling her she did good. Jinnah, however, has a funeral to plan, and looks at the light from the lighthouse, saying, "Goodbye, Daddy."

Back at the Chapter House, they report to Draven and train. Sean and Bee each take a Stitch (although Sean retconned to not take his in the next episode), and Jinnah takes a Refresh.

## **Featured characters**

### **Circle of Needle and Thread**

* Beatrix Monroe
* Jinnah Basar
* Marion Collodi
* Nathaniel Trapp
* Sean Finnerty

### **New**

* Avery Choi, a liaison between EONS and Candela Obscura
* Draven Kingsley, the Circle's Lightkeeper
* Lucas Suarez, a child orphan
* Violet Boucher, former mentor to Jinnah

### **Mentioned**

* Allison Suarez, Lucas's mother, a former investigator who saved Nathaniel
* Antonio Suarez, deceased

## **Quotations**

* **Marion**: *(to Sean)* Are you okay?
Sean: *(pause)* If I wasn't, you'd be able to tell, right?
Marion: Sometimes. If you weren't, would you tell me?
Sean: Fuck out of here, come on. Let's go.
* **Marion**: *(to a wounded Sean)* You know, if you need me to pee on it to disinfect it, I'm happy to do that.
Sean: Why do you keep asking to pee on us?
* **Sean**: *(to a wounded Marion)* Want me to pee on it?
Marion: Would you?
Sean: If you asked. *(they hug)* I got you, bud.
Marion: Would you do it in front of everyone else?
Sean: I get shy.
Marion: *(laughing)* I hate you. But I love you.
Sean: But I love you.

## **References**

**Art:**

1. ↑ Fan art of Jean with the chickens, by Elaine Tipping (source). Used with permission.
2. ↑ Fan art of Dr Jinnah Basar, by Jenny Tan (source). Used with permission.
3. ↑ Fan art of Sean hugging Marion, by Dian Huynh (source). Used with permission.