You are playing Nightmare mode.

Players cannot reduce their threat.

Setup: Search the encounter deck for The Mere of Dead Faces, and add it to the stage area. Then, shuffle the encounter deck.

Forced: After Gollum is placed in the discard pile, shuffle him into the encounter deck.

"They lie in all the pools, pale faces, deep deep under the dark water." –Frodo, The Two Towers

Begin with the standard quest deck and encounter deck for The Dead Marshes scenario.

Remove the following cards, in the specified quantities, from the standard encounter deck:

1x A Wisp of Pale Sheen

1x Through the Mist

2x Great Marsh Worm

4x Fens and Mires

3x Eastern Crows

2x Pursued by Shadow

2x Treacherous Fog

1x Wolf Rider

2x Hill Troll

2x Goblin Sniper

2x Wargs

2x Despair

2x The Brown Lands

2x The East Bight

Then, shuffle the encounter cards in this Nightmare Deck into the remainder of the standard The Dead Marshes encounter deck.

Finally, flip this setup card over and place it next to the quest deck. Its effect remains active throughout the game, which is now ready to begin.