You've arrived in Ithilien with a sealed message for Faramir, only to learn that he has gone north to defend Cair Andros from massing enemy forces.

Setup: Add Celador to the staging area. Search the encounter deck for a copy of Ithilien Road and make it the active location. Each player must search the encounter deck for a copy of Southron Company and add it to the staging area. Shuffle the encounter deck.

Battle. (Characters quest using instead of .)

If the players complete this stage with Celador in the staging area, advance to stage 3A (bypassing stage 2).

Faramir has left a company of rangers in Ithilien, tasked on ambushing Southrons as the march toward Cair Andros. Their captain, Celador, offers to lead you to Cair Andros after the approaching enemy is destroyed...