Somewhere to the East from the Shire 1.0

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This is according chatgpt: ✅ Can you choose the order of Setup effects? Yes. According to the official rules and supported by community clarifications (including ALeP’s own streamlined setup guidelines), players may choose the order in which Setup effects resolve during Step 7 of the game setup.

"During Setup Step 7, all player card Setup effects (on heroes, contracts, attachments, etc.) are triggered simultaneously, and players may choose the order in which they resolve." — A Long-extended Party – Streamlined Setup

Application to Pallando and Messenger of the King Let’s say you’re using:

Pallando (Ally) with his Setup Response:

“While you control exactly 2 heroes, Pallando gains a [Spirit] icon and: ‘Response: At the end of setup, search your collection for a copy of Blue Staff and attach it to Pallando.’”

Messenger of the King to turn an ally into a hero.

Here’s how it works:

If you resolve Pallando’s Setup Response first, and you still control exactly 2 heroes, you may fetch and attach Blue Staff to him.

After that, you can resolve Messenger of the King and promote an ally (like Alatar) to a hero, raising your total to 3 heroes — but Pallando’s Response has already resolved.

This is legal, because you chose the order of Setup effects, and you fulfilled the condition “While you control exactly 2 heroes” at the time Pallando’s effect triggered.

What if you resolve Messenger first? If you resolve Messenger of the King first, and go from 2 to 3 heroes before Pallando’s Response, you no longer meet the condition “exactly 2 heroes”, and therefore you may not use his Setup Response to fetch Blue Staff.

Summary ✔️ Yes, the order is your choice.

✅ You may resolve Pallando’s Setup Response first, while you still have exactly 2 heroes.

✅ Then resolve Messenger of the King to gain a third hero.

❌ If you do it the other way around, you miss the Blue Staff window.

Thing is ChatGpt is not flawless..

And neither am I. 'At the end of setup,' so after MotK.