Just when you think you've found the way out of the forest, you see an evil creature blocking your path. You dare not leave the trail after working so hard to find it, so you resolve to fight the beast and escape Mirkwood.

When Revealed: Remove Searching for a Way Out from the game. Search the remaining set-aside encounter set for the enemy with the most hit points and add it to the staging area. That enemy is the "nemesis" until it leaves play.

The nemesis gets +2 +2 +2 and is immune to player card effects.

Forced: At the end of the round, return the nemesis to the staging area and it makes an attack against the first player.

This stage cannot be defeated while the nemesis is in play. The nemesis cannot take damage unless there is at least 8 progress on this stage. If the players defeat the nemesis, they win the game.