hrm... let me expound on the situation a bit more. for example,
Shadow phase: shadow player plays 3 minions with 2 vitality each.
Maneuver or Archery Phase: shadow player plays an event with the keyword TOIL. he exerts the first minion, (can the Free Peoples player use an event or special ability here to exhaust the second minon??), Shadow player exerts third minion.
or is it,
Maneuver or Archery Phase: Shadow player plays an event with TOIL. he exerts minions 1,2 and 3 (counts as 1 action). then the FP can now react..