A decent mid-quality module! :)
Spoilers ahead!
Upon first read-through, the primary conclusion as a DM is: What is the point of this module, we already know the conclusion?
If the characters did not play any of the foregoing modules, we are suggested to pull them through The Callestan Clash from Encounters in Sharn. That may very well be a good introduction, but 1) Encounters in Sharn is another paid product - didn't we already pay for this adventure? - and 2) The Callestan Clash is a tier 1 encounter. I'm a little unsure if a tier 1 encounter can be used as an AL legal introduction to a tier 2 module. Oh, did I mention, that the players are - for the first time in Eberron, though - offered 50GP to help out in the Call to Action. I guess this could use a little brush-up following the no-monetary-rewards clause. (Maybe leave it in as an option for homebrew'ers, and instead mention the possibliity that House Medani will remember the players help going forward?)
Which brings me to the overall level of detail in the module. Granted, we have a couple of harder NPCs to kill, but the module in itself does not really invite the players to start a fight. It's more of a stealthy follow-that-cab kind of story, which - in the end - offers what seems a pointless discovery along with a fairly decent fight. For the bonus objectives, things get a little more fun. Bonus A is quite fun and can be challenging, but bonus objective B.. Well. We're supposed to sick the players on an ooze and skeleton .. Put against a 6-man army of level 5-6ish characters, unfortunately that's not much of a challenge.
Coming to the conclusion of the module, the magic item in itself is - sorry for being so blunt - just not up to par on a tier 2 module.
Of course, we couldn't expect all of the modules to be of equal high quality. However, this module seems to be originally written as a tier 1 module and then upgraded to fit tier 2. It's a little strange, but I hope my feddback could lead to a small update of the text. Particularly the possible Clash intro needs to be changed, as it doesn't seem AL legal (to my understanding).
Now, A Holy Visit is not as big a mess as Jack of Daggers (I refuse to write a review of Jack of Daggers..) and if I'm right, the overall goal from the overall story editors, has been sort of thin, leading to a story with an interesting setup for a fairly weak goal to achieve.
Having played the game, I'll add a little something to the review.
Possible spoilers!
Granted - two thumbs up, Ashley - the story setup is quite fun and interesting. For the second time in the Eberron campaign, the entire table kept quiet while I pulled them through the introduction. This - in itself - is a very big plus! Great setup!
The flow lost a bit of its velocity after the players entered The Anvil. Pulling out a little fun from the bard on the stage, the game got a little speedier, and once the NPCs started leaving the private dining room, thing picked up quite quickly. The 'boss fight' was quite good and fairly well balanced, and another two thumbs up for bonus A. My players had a lot of fun comnunicating with Cat and Pup and took a decent blow from the NPC which was good and well-placed.
In hind-sight, I'd like update my review and rating. There was quite a lot more fun in the adventure than expected, although two of my players felt there were no need for them, which was a shame - however, this could never ever be the authors fault.
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