I'm on the final quest card of Journey Along the Anduin (Ambush on the Shore) which says that once I defeat all enemies I win.

I was forced to travel to The East Bight. If I defeat all enemies, will I automatically win, or do I need to travel back to the quest card first so that its victory condition is active again?

In other words, do victory conditions get put on hold while you are visiting other locations? Or are they always active (assuming you have the required progress tokens, which in the case of Ambush on the Shore is 0)?

You're always considered to be at the quest. Locations does not matter.

Congrats, you won!

Okay, a similar question arose today:

On the first Anduin quest card, you need to have no Hill Trolls in play in order to continue to the next stage.

Today I had more than 8 progress tokens on the quest card, but the troll was still in play. I then defeated the troll, in the Combat phase.

As soon as I defeat the troll, does the quest immediately change to the next stage, even though I'm still in the Combat phase? Or does the quest card only change during the quest phase?

Also, to what if there is an active location at the time the hill troll is defeated? Does the quest card change anyway, or do I need to first finish progressing through the current location before the quest card can change?

tripecac said:

page 22

tripecac said:

as soon as its defeated

and no active location doesnt matter

So, locations never affect quest stage completion? They only force the player to "waste" progress tokens (while following the location instructions)?

tripecac said:

yes unless they state otherwise so, while x is in play players cannot progress to 3b