I have searched this forum as thoroughly as I could and have not found any confirmed information(including the unofficial FAQ).

The text of The Dead Marshes Quest 2B - The Capture:

Forced: After this stage is defeated, the first player chooses a player. That player must pass an Escape test, dealing 1 card from the encounter deck for each resource token on Gollum, to capture him. If Gollum is not captured at this time, reset the quest deck to stage 1B.
If this final Escape test is passed, the players have captured Gollum and won the game.

It is not entirely clear through the rules or the card text how Escape Tests work when Gollum is shuffled back into the deck. The forum posts I found seemed to have developed house rules to assist with handling the situation. Many players just throw in the towel once Gollum "escaped" because of the infrequency of him being available as an object to claim again.

Treacheries that instruct you to perform Escape Tests still require you to attempt them from my understanding, however it is not entirely clear what you do with this particular quest step when Gollum is no longer in play. Do you automatically reset your quest deck back to stage 1B? Do you wait until an Escape Test is possible thus continue playing until Gollum appears and then do the Escape Test? When you grab the 3+ progress tokens required to beat this quest, what are you supposed to when Gollum is not in play? Has there been any official word on this?

Thanks guys for all of your help. Love how these quests make the game so great!

Bomb said:

If Gollum is not in play, you still have to make the escape tests. If he is not in play when you defeat 2B, you make the escape test.....deal no cards from the deck and reset to 1B. Then you go on and on and on for hours until you finally get Gollum again or die. easy.

OK thanks. It makes sense to me, but I also think it belongs in the FAQ for clarity. There are some things entered in the FAQ that clear up very simple situations and scenarios and less entries that clear up complex ones.

muemakan said:

Agree. The Dead Marshes is a boring quest...

Ahhh.. ummm… hummmm..

So we did just now play it correctly… We managed to win with Threat 46 and 47.
And my three heroes ended with combined resources total of 2 less then the total cost of all the cards in my deck :/

Very odd quest.

i love the dead marshes….nice and themeatic

rich

muemakan said:

This is one of many reasons why Shadow of the Past is a great card. Makes this quest considerably less frustrating.

Even so, I agree with rich: TDM is a thematic, entertaining scenario.

I like the quest idea but is too easy to play so most of the time is just boring cose there is no challenge. Actually many of Shadow of Mirkwood quest is too easy. The idea to make some additional powerful encounter cards (special set) to make old quests more difficult to make them shine again was amazing but…… FFG cancel the event…..

But maybe they will sell those cards soon who know?

That's the hope. I was also disappointed to hear that FFG canceled the Fellowship Event. Would have been nice to get an inside look at the encounter supplement packs. Perhaps they will be sold as print-on-demand expansions in the near future.

starhawk77 said:

problem there would be that they coulnt mix with the general enoucounter cards

Yeah, it wouldn't be ideal due to the difference in thickness. Sleeving encounter cards solves that problem, but I gather some people don't like to do that (I recommend clear penny sleeves, but that's neither here nor there).