The rules state that a monster must "move to one of the spaces on the edge of an exit or entrance" and then spend one MP to move off the board. We ran into a situation with Encounter I of At the Forge last night in which a shadow dragon was semi-blocked. Two questions regarding this:

1.) In this particular situation, the board was set up that Quellen was three spaces from the edge of the exit on the bottom row, a summoning stone was two spaces from the edge of the exit on the top row, and the dragon was three spaces away from the exit. Must the dragon be able to "move" to the edge in terms of counting spaces, or in terms of completing a move action? A large monster cannot complete a move action in the same space as another figure, so if I have the exit blocked in such a way, even thought the dragon can shrink to weave between the two figures but cannot stop/interrupt to end the movement. Can the dragon EVER move off the board without defeating the figures?

2.) Assuming a different scenario, if the dragon were 4 spaces away from the board, he could start counting from the front space, go forward 2, and end its movement. This would expand the dragon so that it is now on the edge of the tile, with technically one MP left. Normally, they cannot end their movement without performing another action. If"moving off the board" would be considered an "interrupt" moment for question 1, then would it allow the re-expand re-move shenanigans in part 2?

For the record, my guess would be that #1 is count spaces, and #2 is no re-expand.

1. The dragon may move off the map as ending or interrupting the move action is not necessary to do this. It needs to spend a movement point, which it can do when shrunken.

2. A figure can end its movement whenever it likes. The movement points generated by the move action would be lost, though. A figure can interrupt a move action if it can declare an valid interrupting action from the space it currently occupies. Although interrupts are not well covered by the rule set, I am pretty sure that moving off the map is not considered as an interrupt.

In your case, assuming that the dragon still has both of his actions available it could:

a) Move 0-2 spaces, interrupt to perform another action if there is a valid target (e.g. a hero to attack or a door to open) available, expand towards the map border, perform the action, then continue the move action and use the remaining movement points to move off the map.

b) Move 0-2 spaces, interrupt to perform a second move action, expand towards the map border, and move off the map spending no movement points from the second move action.

1. The dragon may move off the map as ending or interrupting the move action is not necessary to do this. It needs to spend a movement point, which it can do when shrunken.

2. A figure can end its movement whenever it likes. The movement points generated by the move action would be lost, though. A figure can interrupt a move action if it can declare an valid interrupting action from the space it currently occupies. Although interrupts are not well covered by the rule set, I am pretty sure that moving off the map is not considered as an interrupt.

In your case, assuming that the dragon still has both of his actions available it could:

a) Move 0-2 spaces, interrupt to perform another action if there is a valid target (e.g. a hero to attack or a door to open) available, expand towards the map border, perform the action, then continue the move action and use the remaining movement points to move off the map.

b) Move 0-2 spaces, interrupt to perform a second move action, expand towards the map border, and move off the map spending no movement points from the second move action.

1.) This specific quest limits the dragons to a single move action per activation (they can still attack as well). So when the dragon ends its movement, it would lose the additional MP, thus not able to move off the map. However, the spacing of the figures would prevent the dragon from ending its movement at all, as there is insufficient room for the dragon to expand. In addition, the dragon is too far away from the border of the map to get TO it and then spend a MP without expanding.

2.) Same issue with this specific quest limiting the dragon's move actions. It specifies that they cannot gain additional MP through OL card effects either, so my plot cards and dash cards were unfortunately not valid. So again, the only way for the dragon to reach the last space with an additional MP is to interrupt the movement, but that requires a valid action to prompt the interrupt.

But I think you have answered my question, let me rephrase to confirm.

A large monster can exit the map if one of these two situations occur:

a.) Enter the last space of the exit/entrance space while "shrunken" and have another MP to then exit

b.) The monster ends a movement such that it can legally expand (interrupt rule observed) into the last space of the exit/entrance, and then spend an additional MP (either OL card, unused MP following legal interrupt, or second move action).

Sorry, but I did not know the special rules for this quest.

You got it right.

I don't think you need to get to the end of the entrance or exit tile, because it seems to me that since it's a 2x2 square, all 4 squares are "on the edge" if you count the sides as edges.

I don't think you need to get to the end of the entrance or exit tile, because it seems to me that since it's a 2x2 square, all 4 squares are "on the edge" if you count the sides as edges.

The arrow is only on the one edge, so have always read this rule as intending them to leave from that edge. Can anyone confirm?

Baring any quest specific exceptions, we have always played that in order to exit an "exit tile", it requires moving off the very end of the tile, and not from the side ... in other words, you have a 1x2 area to move off of (usually), not a 2x2 area.

Baring any quest specific exceptions, we have always played that in order to exit an "exit tile", it requires moving off the very end of the tile, and not from the side ... in other words, you have a 1x2 area to move off of (usually), not a 2x2 area.

And you are correct to do so. There is an explicit reference to this (including a figure) on page 9 of the rulebook under the heading "moving off the map". It leaves no room for interpretation.