Against all odds, the Ring–bearer has found his way into The Black Land of Modor, but a dangerous journey still lies before him and The Eye of Sauron yet searches for the spies who escaped from Cirith Ungol.

Setup: Add Mount Doom and The Tower of Barad-dûr to the staging area. Make Brake of Thorns the active location. Each player searches the encounter deck for a different location and adds it to the staging area. Shuffle the encounter deck.

Fordo and Sam gazed out in mingled loathing and wonder on this hateful land. Between them and the smoking mountain, and about it north and south, all seemed ruinous and dead, a desert burned and choked.
–The Return of the King

Dire. This stage gets +4 quest points for each player.

The first treachery revealed each quest phase is immune to player card effects and gains surge.