With Fantasy Flight Games’ announcement of the next LCG campaign, “The Feast of Hemlock Vale”, I feel it is worthwhile to look into the lore of the universe once more and see where it applies with the little, we know of the next storyline. From the preview article that was provided by FFG it appears that this campaign will have a heavily social aspect to it, implying that there will be an abundance of actual story in this arc, which I always appreciate since it gives me more to work with for the content I like to produce. However there isn’t much to work with, as far as lore, at this point. There are suggestions within the community as to what great old one we may be going up against as well as what movies and books could have inspired Duke Harrist in its creation, but at this point there is nothing beyond informed guessing so, for this post, I am going to take a look solely at the investigators that have been confirmed for the release of the Investigator box. As more information is provided in the future of this upcoming product I intend to post additional lore related content specific to the forthcoming feast. Before I begin I’d like to take a moment to advise that there will be spoilers for content from the “Investigators of Arkham Horror”, “The Wrath of N’ykai”, “Shadow of Pnath” releases. With that all out of the way lets look at who is joining the LCG’s investigator pool.
First up is Wilson Richards, the Handyman. Premiering in 2006’s “Dunwich horror” expansion for the second edition of the board game, Wilson’s name is derived from a play on Kevin Wilson and Richard Launius, the designers of 2nd edition. His most recent entry into the Arkham Files universe was the 2nd edition Mansions of Madness expansion “Beyond the threshold” in 2017 which states that…
Wilson Richards has always been good with his hands. He has a certain knack for fixing all things broken, or trashed. Wilson goes where the work calls him, moving from job to job as he is needed. He finds that if he offers folks a fair deal, they will treat him fairly enough in return. Still, he has seen some strange things on the road, and the abandoned and dilapidated houses are not the only places where he has felt his skin crawl. Those great big mansions sometimes have more wrong with them than just a leaky roof. Wilson Richards knows he cannot fix everything, but when a man is fortunate enough to know his calling, he also knows better than to ignore it.
However Los Archivos de Arkham revealed the front and back of the new investigator card as part of the Arkham preview season. That card adds a new bio which states that…
Wilson takes pride in always having the right tool for the job. Leaky Plumbing? Pipe wrench. Fallen tree? Hand saw. Interior remodeling? Sledgehammer. But recently his jobs in and around Arkham have taken on a certain strangeness. Creaky floorboards give way to labyrinthine tunnels. A broken roof shows signs of bursting outward instead of collapsing inward. It’s Wilson’s job to fix problems, and when those problems involve bizarre and horrifying creatures and unexplained phenomena, well, then it’s time to creative with what he’s got.
The Handyman has traveled the coast, from Charleston to Bangor, and arrived in Arkham on a train from Boston simply looking for work. The city immediately put him ill at ease as he took the time to travel the different neighborhoods, interacting with everyone from Bill Washington at the train station to Father Michael at South Church. Despite plenty of opportunities to peddle his trade in the City Wilson felt it wouldn’t be worth his time and had made up his mind to move on down the coast. However, he received another tip about work being needed at Webb Manor and he opted to check it out before leaving. While following up on the lead, Wilson’s mind was doubly made up to get out of town. Upon arriving at the manor Carson Sinclair went on about Hercule Webb’s, the butler’s master, recent & suspicious disappearance. Sinclair implored Richards to take on the “job” but Wilson got out of there at the first opportunity, choosing to not get wrapped up in what Carson was offering.
As Wilson awaited his departing train’s arrival he was finally pushed into action when an unscheduled train arrived, and the sole passenger departed. The passenger had a fully unremarkable appearance and carried a package that utterly terrified the Handyman with its noxious smell and odd movements. As the new arrival went on to meet with the manager of the train station, Gavin Preyer, Wilson recognized in the moment that something was terribly wrong with Arkham on a scale he had not previously experienced. He opted to pocket his ticket out of town and walked out of the station. He didn’t know what job he was needed for in Arkham, but he couldn’t escape the feeling it would be the most important job of his life.
Next up is Kate Winthrop, the scientist. Debuting in 2005’s base set of Arkham Horror the board game 2nd edition, and not to be confused with Kate Winthpup of Barkham Horror fame, Kate’s profile states that…
Kate and her mentor, Professor Young, were pioneers in dimensional science until an experimental beam emitter malfunctioned, rending a hole in space to another world. The creature that came through tore her friend to pieces and Kate was powerless to stop it. Haunted by her bloody memories and armed with the remains of Young’s research, she has made incredible breakthroughs and seen the terrible truth that lurks outside of our own dimension. While her colleagues at Miskatonic University still don’t remember her name, Kate has turned her full and formidable intellect to preventing further tragedies.
Just as Wilson’s bio received an LCG update, so to did Kate’s, which was previewed by Playing Board Games…
Kate Winthrop has spent years researching in the basement of Miskatonic University’s Science building, passing up funding and academic prestige in pursuit of progress. Her single-minded focus finally paid off with the invention of the Flux Stabilizer: a powerful device capable of channeling a new form of energy. However, the price of progress is steep. The first successful test of this groundbreaking invention too the life of her friend and mentor Professor Young. Since then, Kate has worked tirelessly to understand these alien currents, in hopes that she might find a way to reverse their effects.
Having made appearances in almost all relevant Arkham Files releases, she missed out on Final Hour, Kate is certain to have fans in the community excited to see her inclusion in the LCG. Working as a researcher out of the Chemistry department at MU for the past four years, Kate finds her standard hours tedious. The workday slips by while she performs experiments such as burning different tissue samples with sulfuric acid and logging results at her superior’s request. Certainly, she hasn’t made an impact within the department as her boss still thinks her name is Grace. The passing of her mentor, Professor Young, last semester doesn’t help either. In fact, she still finds remnants of the worst night of her life, such as small blood-soaked ribbons of Professor Young’s lab coat, in her office to this day.
That night the two scientists were working late in the lab on Professor Young’s dimensional beam machine. The intended design of the device was to agitate the atmosphere in such a way that a tear in reality would be formed between dimensional barriers, small enough to be managed yet large enough to be able to harvest samples from those other realms. That particular night the device violently malfunctioned, and the portal grew out of control. A Mi-Go excited the rift and immediately set upon Professor Young, cracking his skull open and sucking out his brain. The extradimensional creature flew off into the night before Kate even had time to turn the machine off. In the aftermath of the violent encounter blood and viscera were left strewn about the office, which Jazz Mulligan was tasked with cleaning. At the time Kate hurriedly concocted a cover story of an escaped animal having attacked and killed Young. Jazz didn’t believe the lie but was forced to accept it with no other answer presenting itself. The janitor and the scientist have had an uncomfortable relationship ever since. Kate loves the university itself with its old-world majesty and stone structures, but she is still working to manage her trauma from the is event and avoids her co-workers when possible.
Months after the incident Kate continued professor Young’s studies of dimensional science on her own in the small office she inherited from the deceased. The lab is described as crowded with all of Professor Young’s equipment. Even though Kate has taken possession of all of Young’s research, she still views the equipment as his. Having witnessed the Mi-Go emerging from the rift that night Kate specifically started looking into the concept of the multiverse and other planes of existence as the origin point of the assailant. The creature still lingers in the area, even attacking Ms. Winthrop one night while she was walking around campus. She successfully battled the Mi-Go, thanks to her quick thinking and use of the lab equipment at her disposal she managed to maim the beast, forcing it to flee.
Kate was able to harness the remnants of that battle into her own research which culminated in a successful test of the dimensional beam machine, with the addition of a device Kate crafted to better manage the resulting rift. Having achieved this cutting-edge technology Kate’s next set out to banish the Mi-Go that she and Professor Young released that terrible night off of our plane of existence.
Moving on to the Rogue of the box we have a first for any Arkham Files game, the Countess Alessandra Zorzi. Originating in 2020 as the protagonist of Josh Reynolds’ “Wrath of N’kai”, the first Arkham Files novel published by Aconyte books, and returned in 2023’s sequel, Shadows of P’nath, the countess is one of the Arkham Files’ setting leading acquisitionists. The daughter of Count Ferro Zorzi and his wife Beatice, Alessandra and her two sisters were raised in a family of thieves. It is implied that the Zorzi family swindled their title from an unfortunate royal and are not in fact legitimate nobility. The Countess, born in 1901, was educated predominantly by tutors that her parents hired. As a result, Alessandra is fluent in English, French & German in addition to being able to be understood in half a dozen other languages and has studied Latin and Greek as well. In addition to her studies of language her tutors taught her the skills needed for a life as a thief. While still a youth her parents died of mysterious circumstances, likely related to the mythos, and Alessandra, as well as her sisters, were raised by their grandfather who choose to continue their education. Of note, by the 1920s, Alessandra’s sisters have married but the Countess cannot think of a worse hell than waking up to the same face every day and as such avoids such constraints. She deeply enjoys her work, and the monetary rewards that come with it, and sees no benefit to a less adventurous life when the reader first meets her.
When she was of age, she chose to participate in the first World War as an ambulance driver. She learned how to shoot during her time with the ambulance due to repeated attempts to rob the vehicle when it broke down. After the war she continued her work as a worldwide thief, obtaining jewels in Venice and rare books as an example of her typical assignments. Although she has no problem referring to herself as a thief, she typically calls herself an acquisitionist so her clients feel more comfortable when hiring her services. One such client was Thaddeus Visser, who also counted Preston Fairmont as a friend. While working with her clients Alessandra keeps the relationship between herself and her employers strictly professional, however Thad was well liked and was one of the few friendly relationships she has been depicted with. At the other end of the spectrum is Comte d’Erlette, a wealthy European, who was one of the countess’ marks. The Comte become obsessed with Alessandra during their time together and once she had absconded with several precious books in his arcane library, he placed a bounty on her. The Count’s bounty did result in Alessandra choosing to leave Europe for a while due to the attention it brought to her. Despite having been arrested a handful of times, Zorzi has never been detained anywhere that kept records so she could typically travel without issue. With the bounty constricting her options she found herself traveling to Arkham MA for what she suspected would be a profitable way to spend the time while the heat in Europe died down.
As part of FFG’s preview season Sean and Justin, of the Mythos Busters’ podcast, revealed the full investigator card for the Countess. Per the bio portion of the card…
Alessandra’s life of carefree luxury enables her to hop from a stately gala in New York City to a banquet with the Maharaja of India with ease. The Countess has sampled every dish, drink and dame from Marrakesh to Chicago. The regal title is just an act, however: behind the scenes, Alessandra uses her cover to pilfer from art galleries, banks and the hearts and pocketbooks of the rich and frivolous. Her silver tongue has gotten her into and out of plenty of trouble. A new job with the shadowy Zamacona brought Alessandra to Arkham, Massachusetts, where the Countess learned that more lurks beyond the susceptible rich and frivolous excess than she previously thought.
Zamacona’s job involved Alessandra procuring a mummy on display at the Miskatonic University and while in Arkham Alessandra was fully exposed to the mythos for the first time. I am choosing to not go into the full details of this trip so as to not spoil a great read, the aforementioned “Wrath of N’kai”, which covers the Zamacona job but by the conclusion of the novel Alessandra has a drastic change in personality. After her adventure, and her exposure to the mythos, Alessandra opted to change her style. Previously she assumed she was collecting books and artifacts for peculiar, but wealthy, clients with an interest in the occult. Learning that some of these objects did in fact allow folks to wield extra planar power the Countess chose to go forward by collecting the objects she had previously acquired and turn those with legitimate power over to Henry Armitage, of the Orne library, for safekeeping in his “special collection”. Also, as a result of her adventure in Arkham, Alessandra opted to take on an apprentice for the first time in her career. Pepper Kelly, a cab driver from Arkham and the Countesses’ new trainee, had demonstrated the skills that Alessandra felt could translate to a successful life of crime. The duo next appears in “Shadows of Pnath”, which I reviewed here, where Alessandra dealt with the fallout of her prior actions with the Comte d’Erlette as well as the repercussions of her choices in “Wrath of N’kai”. This will be followed in March 2024 with the release of “Songs of Carcosa” which I wrote about in my Spring 2024 preview. Due to her exceptional skills Alessandra has encountered the likes of Carl Sanford, the Foundation, the Scarlet Coterie, Trish Scarborough and Tommy Muldoon, all of whom see the value in such a talented agent.
Our mystic for this release is Kohaku Narukami, the folklorist, a brand new edition to the IP. As revealed by Drawn to the Flame during spoiler season Kohaku’s lore states that…
Everyone in the Arkham Historical Society recognizes Kohaku’s booming laughter, and the haunting tales he tells of both the yokai from his childhood home outside Tokyo and the strange creatures that haunt the Arkham woods. The eccentric folklorist tells everyone that the chronicling and publication of these phenomena’s existence will be his greatest work. It is only when he is home with his partner Gabriel that he hears the cries of the same spirit who haunted his father, and fears that his “greatest work” will never allow him a night’s sleep.
As a new edition to the IP this is all there is to work with for him however there are some threads to be followed here. His first name is gender neutral and translates from Japanese to Amber while his surname is a reference to the Shinto God of lightning, thunder and storms. Being that he is known within the Historical Society that ties him to Reginald Peabody, the curator of the Society, as well as a tangential connection Mandy Thompson, the Researcher, who has been shown to be a regular visitor to the Society. It is wonderful to see the cast of the Arkham Files universe continue to diversify and hopefully Kohaku will make an appearance in the expanded future in the near future.
The final investigator for this release is the Farmhand Hank Samson. Originally appearing in 2009’s “Innsmouth horror” expansion for 2nd edition and returning in 2015’s “Under the Pyramids” for Eldritch horror as well as 2017’s “Omens of the Deep” for Elder Sign Hank has been shortchanged in the fiction of the Arkham Files universe up to this point. He is one of the clear examples of FFG’s reboot of their internal continuity with the release of the LCG and the “Investigators of Arkham Horror” book as he was originally presented as a farmhand in Texas whose “Pa” went missing and Hank resolved to seek him out. With the release of the “Investigators of…” collection this origin was scrapped in favor of making Hank a resident of the Dunwich, where he lived in a dilapidated farmhouse with his Pa while they tended to a herd of cattle. In fact, the Sampsons can trace their bloodline, via a heavy journal kept hidden away in their farmhouse under lock and key, to the original Dunwich settlers that had traveled from Salem looking for new land. The family mostly kept to themselves, choosing to not interact with other nearby residents including the Whatelys as Hank was cautioned by his Pa, “No good comes from association with their kin”. Since the change to Hank’s background, from Texas to Dunwich, there had been no in game lore presented for the character until The Great Old Ones gaming reviewed the newest survivor as part of spoiler season. According to his card back…
Growing up on a farm, Hank Samson did all the chores Ma and Pa told him to do, including taking care of his brothers and sisters. When Pa showed him the strange animals in the city stockyard, Hank felt uneasy, but he did as he was told. When Pa told him to wait, he waited. And when Pa didn’t come back, Hank went to find him. Pa taught him that family is everything, and you don’t just leave family behind.
This bio seems to reference the Hank’s short story entry from teh Investigator book which established that one night, about a week ago, the two Samsons witnessed an Avian Thrall attack their livestock and the father son duo confronted the creature before Hank killed it with a single shot from his double barreled shotgun. At a loss for an explanation to what the creature was, Hank’s Pa wired Miskatonic University regarding the beast they had slayed. Shortly after that Pa went missing. Hank carries some guilt about the disappearance as he feels he should have just destroyed the carcass that fateful night, resolving that “no good ever came from being curious”. Having received a lead from Joe Osborn at the General Store, Hank set off for Arkham. In particular Hank means to make his way to Hibb’s Roadhouse as Joe says he and “Pa ” have frequented that establishment in the past.
I hope you enjoyed this look at the investigators of “The Feast Of Hemlock Vale”. If you would like more updates about the history of Arkham, its residents, and the events tied to the area please check out @arkhamhistorian on Blue Sky and bookmark this site for future updates. If you have any questions or wish to request specific content, please use this contact form.
Best regards
Dude in Progress
Arkham's Historian 