A clarification about the placement of the Relic of Dawn in the first encounter of The Cardinal's Plight:

1. Is it placed "at random" or does the Overlord get to choose?
2. Does the Overlord know its location?
3. Is it always placed at one of the three squares with asterisks on the Caravan tile, or can it be placed at the "3" or "4" search token squares (given there are 3 or 4 heroes, respectively)?

I would think the answers which are most fair are as follows, but I'd like to hear others' opinions:

1. at random
2. no
3. it can randomly be at any search token square, not just the three asterisk squares.

I didn't see this clarified in the rulebook or questbook, on the forum, or in the FAQs, but if it is discussed there, then I'm sorry for the duplication.

Thank you!

Per the basic rules on page 2 of the Quest Guide, under Setup:

"In some quests, a unique search token is used. This usually represents a quest-specific item the heroes must find. The possible locations of this item are shown as "*" on the quest map. When placing these tokens, the overlord takes the unique search token with enough generic search tokens to cover each space marked with a "*" on the quest map. He then secretly places one token facedown on each of these spaces. Unless specified, the overlord may choose which of these spaces contains the unique search token".

So, to answer your questions for Cardinal's Plight Encounter #1:

1) The overlord chooses where to place it

2) The overlord does know its location

3) It must be placed on the Caravan (9A) tile as that is the only one with asterisks (*)

Thank you! I should have re-read the first few pages of the quest guide (I just read the encounter itself when I played this encounter recently).

Also a quick note about the secret search token: Players with keen eyes will notice that when you punch out the tokens there's a curved side and a flat side. For the white search token, the white gem is on the flat side. Make sure to put all the normal tokens "flat side down" or a clever player can rule 1 or 2 of the tokens out. I was glad I caught this while playing as overlord, as I would have felt awkward mentioning it as a hero mid-quest.