“…they knew that they must soon venture into that forest and that after the mountains it was the worst of the perils they had to pass…” – The Hobbit

Your Fellowship of heroes have narrowly escaped from their ordeal in Dol Guldur. After a brief stay in Lórien, your party is on its way back to Thranduil when they see smoke billowing up from the eaves of Mirkwood. The black plumes lead you to the smoldering remains of a Woodman village, with bodies strewn about and black-feathered arrows sticking from their backs. This is clearly the work of Goblins, and the pained gasps of a dying Woodman tells you that the survivors were taken by the fiends to their lair within the forest. You swear an oath to rescue them if you can, or avenge them if you cannot, and so you draw your weapons and follow the trail into the woods.

This standalone scenario pack contains two adventures: The Oath and The Caves of Nibin-dûm. These scenarios were originally released as part of the Limited Collector’s Edition for The Lord of the Rings LCG. Now, with the inclusion of new boon and burden cards and the onset of the Revised Core Set, you and your fellow heroes can take on these two challenging scenarios as their own two-part adventure or as an extension of the core set’s Mirkwood Paths campaign. Will you track down the Goblins and rescue the captives? Or will you become lost in the dark of Mirkwood?

Swearing an Oath

The goal of the Dark of Mirkwood scenarios is to find the Goblin hideout within the forest of Mirkwood and rescue the captured Woodmen villagers before it is too late. Along the way, you will face giant spiders, the confounding paths of the forest, and, of course, the very Goblins that you are hunting.

Each scenario covers half of the journey, with The Oath depicting the quest to find the Goblins’ hideout and The Caves of Nibin-dûm covering everything that happens within it. In The Oath, you will fend off threats like the Spiders of Mirkwood (The Dark of Mirkwood, 8) as you search for the Goblin Trail (The Dark of Mirkwood, 14). When you eventually catch up to The Rearguard (The Dark of Mirkwood, 3), you will need to deal with the Goblin Troop (The Dark of Mirkwood, 19) before you can plunge into the depths of Nibin-dûm itself.

In The Caves of Nibin-dûm, you will explore abandoned Dwarven mines in search of the captive villagers. With your torch (The Dark of Mirkwood, 29) in hand, you will explore Lightless Passages (The Dark of Mirkwood, 33) while avoiding enemies like the Cavern Wargs (The Dark of Mirkwood, 31) and the looming threat of the Goblin Chieftain (The Dark of Mirkwood, 27). You and your fellow heroes must navigate the twisting tunnels of Nibin-dûm quickly and carefully if you hope to be Oathkeepers (The Dark of Mirkwood, 7) and rescue the captive Woodmen.

In addition to all of the cards that were originally part of these scenarios, The Dark of Mirkwood also comes with some brand-new boons and burdens to use in campaign play. Use potent boons like "No Time to Waste!" (The Dark of Mirkwood, 48) and The Power of Spirit (The Dark of Mirkwood, 46) when the time is right, but watch out for the Stalking Goblin (The Dark of Mirkwood, 41) and the occasional Shiny Distraction (The Dark of Mirkwood, 42) that may hinder you on your quest.

Just like with the Revised Core Set, all of the new campaign-related cards in The Dark of Mirkwood will be made freely available as print-and-play content on our website. That way, even if you already own these scenarios through the Limited Collector’s Edition, you will still be able to take part in this epic quest.

Traversing the Dark

Back when the Limited Collector’s Edition for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game first released, we made a promise to our players that we would one day make the scenarios included in that limited release widely available as their own separate product. Now, with The Dark of Mirkwood coming in the first quarter of 2022, we can finally say that we fulfilled that oath.