Setup: Search the encounter deck for the 6 Scheme side quests, shuffle them together, and place them next to the quest deck. This is the Scheme Deck. Place Susie the Spider, Orc-eyes, and Tribute to Gaur aside, out of play. Make The Prancing Pony the active location. Add Bree Crowd to the staging area, Nervous side faceup. Add Control the Town to the staging area, Bree side faceup, and place 6 progress tokens on it.

Forced: After a Scheme side quest is defeated, advance to stage 2A.