im over a year into DMing a campaign. i used this series of modules to run several sessions. After more than a year, these are still the adventures my players talk about.

You need a big window of time to run this. It is best experienced in a single session. There's a lot here. It's a must play for experienced DMs and players. I suggest playing Window to the Past and Those That Came Before prior to playing this. Some of the puzzles and challenges have call-back solutions to those adventures.

This is a fan service clip show for characters who completed all of season 9 up to that point. Its 5 stars at being a great clip show. But for most players, its a confusing mess

As-written this is an underwhelming conclusion to a season. Take 6-8 hours to run this, not 4. Your players will appreciate the full experience more that way.

In 4 runs I've had 24 unique players. Most loved the challenge and the puzzles to prove themselves. 3 hated it. If youve only played seasonal content, there are traps and enemies here you, as a gamer, arent ready for. You will feel cheated.

Horribly edited. Terrible as a stand-alone adventure. In the longer series, this one is like the first level of a dungeon. You are supposed to have your characters stramroll combat while learning about Dara's mission and getting the inpression they are racing towards something. Dont run this alone, Play the trilogy and let the difficulty build steadily until they reach In The Hand.

Im hard to impress. The writing, flow, and execution are great. The items and story awards are phenomenal.

Here's what some of my players said.

1. This was the biggest 180 I've ever had in a mod. I came into the building ready to kill every single person inside it, and now I'm willing to die to make sure they survive.
2. This was the best adventure my barbarian has ever played. He loves cooking and fighting and he got to do both while waiting for the Gith leader lady.
3. Glip Glop is a tool. I may buy this adventure just so the writer gets some money.

Played once. DM'd once. This is the best epic, without a doubt.

Adventures one is boring. Adventure two is unintelligble, full of offensive tropes, and seems written by the people that make rpghorrorstories a popluar subreddit. Adventure three is amazing. It benefits from addition of a new writer and editor, plus a truly perfect execution on a great idea.

Just buy part three separately.

Per the author: Nalfeshnee and Glabrezu were supposed to be Wastrilith. They wete changed by the publisher tobgelp sell a new release. Wastrlith make way more sense and feel better. one of the creatures is one of the smartest beings in the multiverse. It can turn the room its in to literally anything it wants, at-will, any time, no action. You, as a DM, can create any environmental challenges you want im that room. Things Ive seen: 1) Everything is lava 2) Acid vent and 2 lava walls 3) Stone maze that must be traversed to reach the enemy before it escapes (great in theater of the mind and online)

This adventure is crazy fun. This is the Michael Bay movie of AL adventures. Giant city destroying monster? check. Giant robots that combine to create a mech? check. NPC casually hiding godly tech from people for no reason? check. Beautiful women who replicate on command? check.

Make sure to wind the bosses HP or points down as combat slows. Since the party is limited in actions, you have to avoid letting things get stale and repetitive.

TL:DR NPC BBEG makes this a 4-star instead of 1.

The good: Yalanue's story is great. Insightful and astute players will realize that this place has been created to protect the heroes layed to rest. Heroes who dont realize that will have the hardest single enemy T3 fight I've seen. And its against one of the most sympathetic and powerful bards in 5e. You will love this NPC and likely pull her into other adventures as a stat block enemy.

The So-So: The DM will have to lean into the story and do a significant amount of improvising or writing to make the entire module feel cohesive and immerive. Its like Claws of Fury, but bland.

The bad: Your players are constantly harrassed by Saresh, a devil who was hired to kill them. But hes pathetic and unmemorable without DM rewrite. Traps are poorly thought out by the designer, requiring some significant DM reworks to make them feel right. As with most of S9, editing errors make the adventure hard to follow. If you like running things as-written, youll find this impossible to prepare or execute well.

This T4 is a great introduction to high level content. Your characters are famous or notorious. Enemies are pulling out the big guns and they stop playing fair. Give your characters a huge T4 welcome with exploding heads, then let them loose to show the enemy who they are messing with. Features that this mod has to create epic character moments: A moving fortress surrounded by an army A filthy sewer dive The knights of Ni NPCs who punish joksters and liars Unlikely npc alliances Epic battle that favors the party A secret boss fight that can be unlocked

This is great for DMs who love to run complex exploration and combat. Its also great for players who like to play towards a superhero aesthetic. what i mean by that is characters who swoop in to save the day will be right at home here. The hallway exploration is the most nerve racking 360 ft any character will traverse. I also consider this the real wrap up to season 5. Anyone who saw the flying castle on The Black Road, or raced Baron Rajiram to the Mysterious Isle will find closure here. plus, there are some truly impressive takes on existing d&d mechanics to solve problems

This is a hefty adventure that takes twelve hours or more to play. Nearly all twelve hours will be enjoyable. Expect deep, organically introduced lore. Expect a steady difficulty curve in battles, culminating in a highly thematic final encounter. Expect to leave this adventure entirely satisfied while still wanting more.