Just started to play the game this weekend, and wanted some clarity on this.....To quote the rulebook victory X is treated as follows:

Some enemy and location cards award victory points
when they are defeated. When such a card leaves play,
one player should place it near his threat dial to remind
the players of the victory points when they are scoring
at the end of the game. It is recommended that one
player collects all the victory cards the players earn
during the scenario, as victory points are applied to the
score of the entire group.

The highlighted section indicates that the cards, for example enemies, are kept to one side once defeated effectively being removed from the game, however, the main rules state that defeated enemies are placed in the encounter deck discard pile....It seems to me that the rule for victory trumps the goes to the discard pile rule...but that may just be wishful thinking.......

I don't see anything on this in the official FAQs......

Answers on a postcard please.....

Cards with victory points on them don't enter the discard pile and are never shuffled back into the encounter deck when

a) they have been defeated by the players (enemies)

b) fully explored by the players (locations)

They do enter the discard pile when they showed up as a show effect though...

Hope that clears that up for you!