Tier 4 is a bear to write adventures for.

This mod however, does a dang good job of bringing a fun adventure to the players.

• Combat: ^^^
• Social: ^
• Exploration: ^^^^

Spoilers ahead!

The Call to Action is the slowest part of the mod - and that starts with a bang!

The entire module works to develop a more Epic feel - there is a clock; there are other allies and many, many enemies fighting in the background. Once you get into the adventure there are a lot of Saving Throws and Ability Checks testing the PCs versus the Environment. While running it last night my players were feeling all of their dump stats. Many of the challenges are 'races' agains the clock and the environment.

There are some interesting and tough monsters in here, but I cannot fully comment on them as opponents as one of my players had Wave, and a level 20 Champion Fighter - "Crit, hit, hit, Crit, it's dead". (Sorry I have to leave the combat there, but... when a PC is using Wave... What are HP, anyway?

While running the mod, the players were hurried (added urgency) as the challenges were described, dealt with and moved past. The players all agreed that it was a lot of fun, so bonus points to the author! :)

Now, the bad... there is one fight that in which the PCs must kill all of the bad guys in three or two turns (notching up the difficulty) but the bad guys are all two or three turns away. If they do not win by the timeline, they lose the section. And take some significant chunk of damage. The part that makes this difficult is that the villains only have to slow down the PCs long enough to force them to lose. It is set in a labyrinth and the PCs have to get to the villains, and then have to destroy them.

TL;DR Outstanding use of non-combat encounters to challenge and threaten PCs; One bad scenario (of many!) that feels cheap (too easy to just force a loss on the PCs).

(A side note: There is a Cyric Connection in this mod, and I hope that the author will work to develop this into a mini-campiagn!)

"That was Fun!"

• Allanna the Fighter/Rogue

"Prison Rules?"

• Breker the Nimble, Bladesinger/Rogue

If you like Mike Arrow's style, you will like this module.

1) Fast Paced: Call to Action - Action - Action - Denouement.

2) Excellent usage of setting and lore. Astral Elves, a call to action that leans into the author's vision of them. Gith Priates? A staple of SJ since, well, since SJ in 2e.

3) The main battle is excellent as is, and can easily be ramped up to suit parties that are truly Very Strong. In addition it ties in environmental dangers acting as a sort of soft timer which help to push decisive action.

Thank you Mike for another banger of an adventure!

5/5 would recommend! If your players are bored of steamrolling everything, this is your module! However, if your players are not interested in challenging fights, this one may be frustrating for them.

Ah, Mike Arrow, what can I say: The gent knows what he wants in an adventure and he seems to write them in accordance with that. Action, challenging encouters, and mobs that punch above their CR.

The module starts in media res, so there is no tapdancing to get to the meat of the adventure - it starts at DEFCON 3. While the encounters are tough they are always flavorful: Bunny Bandits in the Feywild? Uh, yeah, it's in there.

Notes: Small parties may find this adventure extra frustrating. I used some additional environmental effects to help my party (I allowed the adjacent river to sweep some foes downstream, helping to slow down the bad guys a bit).

(Full disclosure: This was the first module I played in AL)

There's a village, and the folks are in trouble! Someone has upset the peace! Can you help them? I mean, you have to say yes with the puppy-eyed halfling holding a hat full of coppers and silvers asking you to save them!

The call to action has a very dramatic moment that drives home just how in trouble this village is - maybe even the whole region! Avoiding spoilers but ||body horror|| is involved.

The PCs set off to help and have to do a bit of investigating, mixed with a couple of scuffles, to find out who/what/why before heading off to the where. There can be some good RP moments here, if the players want them.

Then the creep-fest begins. Rainy woods, tricksy fey, surly elves. And a Cabin in the Woods where the antagonist friendliest of friendly hermits lives. This becomes a Diplomacy or Swords-out event based on the groups actions, so again, lots of options for RP and setting the scene.

A strength of this module outside of it's general quality is that it helps to build up the area around Phlan, making it a living and vital place.

Hello!

Secrets of Sokol Keep is a fun adventure, and it works well with novice players as it does with veteran players.

First, a fault, is the call to action is poor. Basically, there might be an issue and the PCs might care, but they have to go take the initiative to get the ball rolling. One rework I have used was to have the PCs get caught in a tavern brawl and whether they are the culprits or not, the Black Fist Sergeant 'suggests' that they investigate the lighthouse issue on Thorn Island.

Next, the RP and Exploration pillars can be strongly represented on Thorn Island. The caretakers and the grounds they are responsible for being a tight but rich environment - the folks are easy enough to bring to life (even for novice DMs!) and the 'mystery' has enough points of interest to be, well, interesting.

And the 'dungeon' can be dicey if the players are not careful. Some dangerous mobs are here, especially for smaller parties. But, of course, DM empowerment means that maybe they aren't so bad.

This module adds to its season because it foreshadows another module, and helps build Phlan's lore in the minds of the players.

An interesting module that requires players to take on many different roles: bodyguards and dungeon delvers among them.

The Module focuses much more on Exploration and Combat, with only a bare nod to Social (unless the Players make much different choices than my players have done!)

There is one combat that fire props might prove to improve the feeling of danger, as the locale is in jeopardy of burning down! This adds a lot of dynamism to the fight that might make low level PCs feel overwhelmed, but such is the adventures life.

There is a series of CCC's that would be more interesting to PCs if they played this module first - the connection between the narrated destruction of Elmwood and seeing it's revival and possible destruction later may add a little conviction to the PC's morning meal. (BMG-16-Sage of Cormanthor; 17-The Lost Sanctum; 18-The Battle of Elmwood)

A fairly standard example of Early AL Mini-mods. This document contains five 1-hour adventures that focus on the four Cults of Elemental Evil, and capped with a 'big reveal' finale. The big reveal is not that big a deal, but overall the mods are fun and generally easy to run.

From the playrs perspective, they are all hired to work in some capacity at a up-and-coming Mulmaster noblewoman's soiree (a multiday event, to be sure!) and come into contact with 'we have to investigate this!' elements.

The adventures have pretty broad coverage for the three pillars: Social, Exploration, and Combat. This is actually one of the strength of these adventures.

I ran these a while ago as an intro to Princes of the Apocalypse and it worked great! My players left Mulmaster to pursue the Cults to their lairs each of them carrying a chip on their shoulders!

(I gave it four stars, but it's a weak four. If I could I would give it 3.5. I rounded up because I do not think there are any significant issues with the adventures.)

Hello!

This is, imo, the best Adventures League season.

Especially the Tier 1 content!

For a large enough group (two tables is perfect) I try to set it up so that the each table will follow a adventure track that leads both gorups to the final T1 Module, Parnast Under Siege. This sets up the T1 Finale as a sort of mini-epic where the larger play-group can feel a strong connection to the setting!

Track 1: The Black Road; Univited Guests; Bad Business in Parnast; Parnast Under Siege Track 2: Beneath the Fetid Chelimber; Chelimber's Descent; Giant Diplomacy; Parnast Under Siege

Tier 2 has a couple of tough modules (especially with a particularly diabolical DM) with the Jarl Rising and Hartkiller's Horn.
There is also Forgotten Traditions which is pretty tough, and has the distinct advantage of being a huge lore dump. It is most everything you wanted to know about Giant Culture on Toril. (If you are planning on running Storm King's Thunder, I would suggest grabbing this particular module for the rich lore it contains.
The shortfall of these modules is that there is not enough material to go from 5 to 11 (leaving Tier2) without adding some additional materials.

When we look at the Tier 3 Modules we find some Durlag the Trollslayer adventures. As a old player that remembers when the Baldur's Gate video game was new, I enjoy the call back of returning to Durlag's Tower!

The Tier 4 adventures are a mixed bunch: this was the first time AL had offered T4 play, and experience has taught me that T4 mods are really hard to balance. My advice is let the sit back, enjoy, and let the players run rampant!

Hello!

This adventure is a five-in-one. There are five discrete adventures that take about one hour each to run. The adventures follow on from events in Tyranny of Dragons as our novice heroes (the module is level restricted to 1-2) seek some of the (probably) fantastic loot from the failed attempt to bring Tiamat into the Forgotten Realms.

Each separate quest is easy to drop into play as long as you are in an area adjacent to some hills, woods and mountains.

Exploration: 3/5 Social: 3/5 Combat: 4/5

Most of the quests ask the PCs to interact with potentially friendly NPCs, but not all NPCs are cuddly! There can definitely be a lot of combat, and at least on of the quests is almost guarnateed to end up throwing blows. Lots of ability checks which is helpful to novice DMs and Players as it reinforces some of the core concepts of the game.

If I had a friend that was interested in running D&D, especially Adeventurers League, I would recommend this adventure (well, this and "The Black Road")

Paul October, 2022

I really like this adventure.

From a player's persepctive it can open up the exciting campaign that is AL Season 5 modules. It touches on RP, Exploration, and combat and can focus on any of those as the group and DM decide.

From a DM's perspective, the module offers options on how to allow PCs to use skills for 'other than basic' tasks! The story is straightforward and has lots of action, ambushes, intelligence gathering and just surviving in a sand desert.

This adventure is my go-to for nights where I did not expect to run, but end up with a group of new players.

-GNOME