Last Hope of Fenhill is a sizable horror adventure by Marieke Cross, for a party starting at level 3 and ending at level 6. Set in the Duchy of Galarnay, it’s filled with mysteries, murders and monsters.

Disclaimer: We were provided with a free digital copy of this product.

Story

There’s quite a bit going on in this adventure. The players find themselves to the Duchy of Galarnay, which could conceivably be in any setting, not necessarily the Forgotten Realms – though it is also designed as a Domain of Dread, and while Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft isn’t a required companion book, it can have a lot of extra information if you want to play up that particular angle. Anyway, they find themselves in the Duchy for the wedding of one Harford “Harry” Holmes – whether to wish him well, or to confront him for his past misdeeds.

However, once they arrive, they are slowly dragged deeper and deeper into the mysteries of Galarnay. Disturbing happenings occur around them; starting with the grisly murder of Harry on the eve of his wedding in the village of Ashbrook, which the players investigate, but also with other things that the villagers don’t seem to care about very much – mutated animals, filth and vermin, all of it reaching a crescendo with the Harvest Festival where a human sacrifice is burned alive as an offering to Ilmater.

The players are called away from Ashbrook by the ruler of the Duchy, off to Fenhill Castle (though they probably wouldn’t want to stay in the village for long after the various things they’ve seen) – but there are more disturbing encounters on the road, and when they finally arrive, they don’t get a warm welcome. Instead, they keep running around, from one disappearance to another, every time finding hints that the whole of Galarnay is under the influence of something exceedingly powerful and deeply evil, twisting the minds of its inhabitants and playing with their lives.

Ultimately, the culprit is revealed: a hag named Agatha has been behind this for centuries, tormenting all these people for her amusement, and stopping anyone from fleeing through the mists surrounding the Duchy. The players will have to fight her (and it can be a very difficult fight, as she’s not alone) and finally restore a measure of peace to Galarnay.

Overall, it is a very deep and well-thought-out story; it’s not exactly a sandbox, but the players can explore and do things in many different ways. There are lots of NPCs with very detailed backstories, and the villains are, perhaps not necessarily sympathetic, but certainly not one-dimensional. Something to keep in mind is that there are some very dark situations included (though you’ve probably figured it out by now): human sacrifices, murders, cannibalism, torture, and more.

Layout & Art

There’s a lot of excellent art sprinkled throughout the adventure by a number of illustrators, especially for the important NPCs. There are also high-quality maps, as well as lots of handouts for your players; invitations, letters, notes, et cetera. There are also some amazing reference cards for the NPCs that you can give out.

I really like the way the adventure is organised as well; there are 11 chapters, each covering a distinct part. They all have an introduction with notes about running that chapter, including a short overview, important NPCs, and the main story beats and how to prepare. In addition, there’s also an introductory chapter that again goes over the entire adventure in summary and has a lot of background information, such as the full story of Agatha (that the players likely won’t find out in full, but it helps the DM get a feel of the tone). It also contains more mechanical info for running the adventure: levels, treasures, etc.

Final Thoughts

Last Hope of Fenhill is an amazing, deep, and dark adventure that will keep you engaged for quite a while. Marieke Cross is also the author of Mystery of the Soulless Dead, another adventure with a similar tone that I really liked – so if you’re looking for something with lots of grim mystery, I heavily suggest you check it out.

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