We wanted to start our first game with this overlay.

A couple of questions:

1) It's stated in the rulebook on page 13 that if a character is defeated on the staircase he must move back one space towards the Portal of Power. However, not all spaces in the Dragon Tower instruct you to move back. Is moving back implied for all spaces?

2) The rulebook says on page 13 that if a character kills an enemy but is defeated by another card while on the staircase, he must also move back one space.

What does "defeat" mean in this context-losing a life due to a card effect ?

Okay, I think I got what they meant by "defeated by another card" . If you draw 2 enemies, one uses Craft and another uses Strength,if you kill one and are defeated by the other, you still move back.

zealot12 said:

There are other possible cases: when you draw Two or more Enemies, you kill one Enemy (e.g. with a Spell) and get defeated by the remaining. They could be all Strength Enemies in this case.

It's worth noticing that "defeated" means "lost a battle or psychic combat, after comparing attack scores". It doesn't mean to lose a Life in combat, so Armour will not prevent your Character from stepping back one space if he loses a combat on a Stairway.

As for question 1, I suggest you thoroughly read the Dragon tower section in the Rulebook (pg.13) because I suspect you missed something. You always advance 1 space after a turn in the Dragon Tower (you don't move at the beginning of turn as normal!), plus 1 additional space for each defeated Enemy. Only if you lose a combat on a Stairway, you move back 1 space (no matter if you killed other Enemies).

I consider that the "Turning Back" section is also applicable to the Dragon Tower. If you started ascending and want to move back to the Plain of Peril, you follow the Turning Back procedures (pg.13).