This has ended 2 missions in a row for me now...

Dark Whispers is a Fear card that stays Face Up and forces you to suffer 1 Fear at the end of your turn.

After drawing just that 1 card, after about 5 turns, Gimli had 3 face-up fear cards, with a limit of 4, which means every single turn he would have to draw a fear card and then perform a Last Stand. Even if we are aceing all our skill tests and the board has no enemies on it, best-case scenario I get 3-4 more turns before the Last Stand tests become impossible to pass (I managed to pass a Wit;4, but next turn was unable to pass a Wisdom;5).

Is there any way to recover from something like this, or is it just bad luck and I have to eat the mission loss?

That's rough. I've completed one and a half campaigns, and this card has yet to be drawn face up. On the other hand I do pull Rage a lot (not as bad, but it was just with enough frequency that I double-checked that there was only one in the deck). I'd chalk it up to luck. Maybe make sure you give the fear deck a good shuffle before the next mission.

Bad luck, get someone else to shuffle 😆

Sometimes search tokens allow for turning faceup damage or fear to facedown. Typically ones that sound like your character rests for the test.

There is a character coming in the Shadowed Paths expansion that has the ability to do flip faceup cards down.

One thing is confusing me though, if you survive the last stand, does it not remove all fear and damage and gain 1 inspiration? I think of the times a party member has been downed that was the case.

1 hour ago, Thaeggan said:

One thing is confusing me though, if you survive the last stand, does it not remove all fear and damage and gain 1 inspiration? I think of the times a party member has been downed that was the case.

Only face down cards. I confess I don't know the exact text of the card, but the OP says that the additional cards get dealt face up. Of course if the text dictates that they are turned face down as part of it's effects then they do get discarded at that point, yes.

So that is a good point. @Faranim , you have been turning the cards face down as the effects call for it, right? Then discarding them when the last stand occurs?

Yes, correct. I also drew Rage and a 3rd card that stays face up (the one that says if you would discard a face-up fear card you flip it down instead). Passing the Last Stand only discards the face down fear so I had no way to get rid of any of the face up ones. I’m not even sure what would happen if I drew a 4th face up fear card - I assume instant death?