I alluded to this in several posts, but I found a Candela Obscura campaign group. I have been playing Candela with two other players since November and we had our last session to wrap up our circle, The Circle of the Serrated Hook. As a side note, our circle name rocks. I did not come up with this, one of the other players did, but I love it. As we wrapped up our session, I am happy and surprised to say that Dr. Vivienne Baker lives on.

Before getting into the session, I wanted to write a bit more detail on Dr. Baker. Dr. Vivienne Baker was a professor at a college university, but her focus was on providing affordable healthcare to all. She is someone who believes anyone of any status should be able to be seen. At some point, Dr. Baker partnered with Candela to continue her research, but also protect people from Bleed, the corruptive force left behind by Magick. She is not skilled in hand-to-hand combat, but makes up for it in her intelligence and being able to help others who have been injured.

Our circle has had so much happen! Our original lightkeeper was murdered because he was corrupt. It was revealed that he was using Candela to steal items and sell secrets. We got a new lightkeeper who was not well-liked which made for tough social situations for our characters to interact with. This led to the final showdown where our circle was tasked to go undercover in a prison. Once we arrived, our task was to find a secret vault beneath the prison and secure the artifacts or seal the vault permanently.

Horror TTRPGs are all about creating tense situations with players. Our group had to get climbing gear to go underneath the prison. As we tried to maneuver our way around, Dr. Baker got stuck! Talk about horrifying, I couldn’t imagine being pushed up against rocks and not being able to move my body. Thanks to the other players, they were able to pull me out and we came up with a new plan where we somewhat safely got through the claustrophobic-inducing rock tunnels.

We arrived at the vault and saw lights slowly coming on. There was messaging that we found earlier that indicated that light was lethal. As the room started getting brighter, me and one other player dove for cover. The other player tried to commune with the spirit in a glass tube. While he successfully was able to do that, the light shone and that player was incinerated. Uh oh. Now we are in this prison vault with an injured character. While I’m a doctor, I don’t have the medical equipment to treat this type of injury. The other player who dove for cover, he suggests finding a way to turn on the light and that’s how we seal the vault. Genius. Through some discussion, we found a well-wheel that could permanently turn on the light. While that’s happening, a team was sent down to dispatch us and one of their members was incinerated as well. Dr. Baker made it out along with the player who originally dove for cover, but unfortunately, the character that was incinerated did not make it out. RIP.

The Circle of the Serrated Hook has two surviving members and while Dr. Baker made it out alive, I’m sure her partnership with Candela is tarnished after this series of adventures. I am grateful that I was a part of this group. The more I have played Candela Obscura, the more I have enjoyed the system. I’d love to hear Critical Role announce another Candela Obscura live play soon. I’d like for other players to have a chance to play this game and see if they can survive till the end.