After surviving Mîm's betrayal, you have made your way to the Elven kingdom of Nargothrond. It is one of the three protected fortresses of the Elves, and Morgoth is seeking ever to find and destroy it. The ruler of Nargothrond, Orodreth, seeks your counsel. Should the Elves of Nargothrond continue to hide and ambush the Enemy only when prudent? Or should they gather arms and boldly assault the Enemy?

Setup: Create the Glaurung deck (see rules). Set Glaurung Deep River Mighty Bridge The Hopes of Nargothrond and The Ruin of Nargothrond aise, out of play. Shuffle the 10 Innocent objectives into a separate innocent deck. The first player must choose: either trust to secrecy and advance to stage 1B, or take an aggressive approach and advance to stage 2A.

You have advised Orodreth to keep his forces out of sight and only strike when necessary. With this approach, you hope to delay the hour of the Enemy's arrival. Still, his forces gather and the hammer will fall soon on Nargothrond. Hopefully, the natural defenses of the fortress will hold.

Skip the quest and combat phase this round.

When Revealed: Reduce each player's threat by 10. Add Deep River to the staging area.

Forced: At the end of the round, advance to stage 3A.