I ran this at San Diego ComicCon and it was a ton of fun. Lots of RP in this one (it reminded me of the movie "Knives Out") plus players who are going to continue on to the Dragonlance hardcover learn about the hazards of the wash in the Wastes. As a bonus, players will learn some history of Ispin's green shield. I finished in 2 hours and fun was had by all.

I ran this at San Diego ComiCon and found it to be a great intro adventure. Riddle dungeons can be tedius but even convention newbies had fun figuring them out and enjoyed kobold-filled final bossfight. Another surprise: The chase at the end was scary and memorable and everyone makes it out safety. Finished in 2 hours and fun was had by all.

I ran this at San Diego ComiCon and found it to be an excellent intro adventure--told a story, had fun, and finished in 2 hours. I especially like that while some players are engaged in contests at the faire, others are seeing clues to something else going on--this keeps everyone engaged. Also, a well-tuned boss fight with more clues toward events that will take place in the hardcover.

I played it a long time ago and just ran it the day before last. It's outstanding! It starts with a mystery that has plenty of visual hand-outs to get your cerebral players engaged. Soon you get into a dungeon crawl that is exceptionally spooky. The final encounter gives the party/players choices that are wonderful to see dawn on them. Heads up: The first encounter can be deadly if the players are unlucky and the second if the players are foolhardy. But one of the comments I got after running it was that they were pushed like rarely happens in Adventurers League play.

At a con, I got a chance to play this, then take a day off and prep it, then DM'd it. It included Bonus A both times and went the full 4 hours. This adventure has some really good points--the multi-wave fight at the end is really well done--but it's got fundamental errors that can confuse players and embarrass a DM:

--There is desert plain with a courtyard surrounded by a wall...BUT the map shows it underground.

--There are sentinels around the courtyard allowing characters to sneak around with a DC14 Dex(Stealth) roll...BUT those creatures have Keen Sight which should increase the DC to 19.

--Devils in the courtyard can be overheard mentioning a name that is not explained anywhere else in the module. I guess it's the name of the "evil lord" described in the background but...?

--The Armory is described as having a second door to the Great Hall, which makes sense since it's got a certain...item that the players shouldn't miss. But that second door is not on the map. (Frown)

--The next room is described in writing as 40' by 25' wide but if you look at the map it's 30' wide. And, the map does not include key features like suits of armor and a 10' diameter sigil on the floor so it should be more like 50' long.

--There is a classic checkerboard room but it has 3 colors instead of two making it very hard to draw the map.

So, if you want to enjoy some fights, some riddles, a cinematic Battle Royale, and not be confused, just hand-waive Story Objective A and get to the good stuff. If you're willing to spend some time to make the story work, here is how I did it:

--The courtyard is outside with a ruined keep behind it.

--I described the devils as skeet shooting imps: "Pull! (Hurl Flame!) Har har har!" Give them rubble as half-cover in case of a fight and more rubble 30' away so they can run and Hurl Flame again: "Har har har!" I named them Cletus and Cooter, a couple of Hurl Flame-nuts who are kind-of like gun-nuts.

--As written, the encounter unfairly favors the obvious choice: Sneak in with the easy DC, overhear a clue, and attack with surprise. So give the birds advantage to see the party.

--If a character gets within melee range of a devil, a bird has a readied action to dive bomb the character to attack with its Pack Tactics. If the character takes the opportunity attack, the devil will attack and run to the next pile of rubble without an OA.

--I steered the party toward talking to the devils. They agree to let the party through their courtyard because, "...we's lookin' for a more sportin' challenge than these here imps so we'll give you a 6-second head start if'n y'all wanna run fer it!" Alternately, they'll take a Soul Coin.

--Also, have the devils reveal information if the party is willing to engage in conversation: "I hear there's a big ol' bar-B-que goin' on inside! Say howdy to Lord Weatherstone and his Lady!"

--The double doors to the Great Hall are locked to force the party to the Armory, which is unlocked. Include the second door to the Great Hall. And don't make them fight the good-aligned ghost goodness sakes!

BL: With those changes, the first encounter went well and it helps tell the story. The rest of the adventure is pretty good but the mistakes in a flagship module like this are unforgiveable.

I ran this in a 4-hour slot at a convention. I did Bonus Objective A but talked my way though B after the final fight. Overall, this was a fun adventure, but like the other DDAL9s, it took an inordinate amount of effort of figure it out and make it work.

Spoilers for DMs:

--I figured out what encounters I really wanted to do early (Fallen Devil and Troop of Woe) and which I wanted to do right before the final encounter (either Obelisk or Untainted Husk, but not both). I made a rough map so that players could choose between 2 encounters at a time knowing only the titles, depending on their perception or survival checks. Player agency is good.

-My party agreed to pay Malenkthis' price and he was a crotchety and totally debased tour guide. NOTE: Even though he's NOT supposed to go to the final fight, page 11 lists the price if he IS present at the final fight, a major editing error. I'm glad I remembered that tidbit and applied it earlier in the adventure.

-The Tree of Skin turned out to be one of the best encounters because I was whispering information to the player sitting next to me and she got to choose when to launch the attack without being able to consult with fellow players.

--The final encounter took a lot of re-reading to figure out what was going on. I had the devils stand off to the side and let the unicorn make her delusional defense of her rider. The party blinded her early and figured out what was going on half-way through the fight, and it was a GREAT revelation.

--I opted for the Orthon in the final fight because it's tactics are so distinctive: Shoot, bonus action (you know the one), then move.

BL: The set-up can work really well, but you've got to think about how to reveal information and it's not very clear.

DM'd this in a 4-hour slot at a small convention. I generally don't enjoy DMing T3 but key features mitigated a lot of the usual problems and was especially easy to run: --Designed to be played by theater-of-the-mind with memorable set-ups that are describeable and well described. --Short fights designed to let the monsters hit hard in the first round before they inevitably get steamrolled.
--Some good role playing and a plot that is understandable, even without the artwork of a map through a swamp that generally gets hand-waived anyway.

I can't stress enough that you should take advantage with the set-ups to give the monsters a surprise round with advantage. I really regret I couldn't figure out how to do that in the final fight and it was one of the less memorable, unfortunately. On the other hand, with a 60' diameter clearing and a monster that could do drive-bys on one character at a time--only 1 OA!--I figured out how to make an earlier low CR fight challenging.

BL: This will be my go-to T3 adventure from now on.

DM'd this in 3.5 hours at a public event, completing neither of the mis-named Bonus Objectives.

Best of the Behind Infernal Lines trilogy, especially because it did not require excessive DM prep like the others.

Spoilers for DMs: --Play-up the RP aspects in Shadowswimmer Tower. If members of your party played the last mod, the Story Award is a good one to play with the Imp. With Respen, emphasize his fragile emotional state: "Oh, how I LOVED that lazy, screwed up demonologist, Viltharn! Boo hoo hoo!" . (In other words, don't let this revert to combat, but still make them work to get what they need.) --I made a map of Plagueshield Point with no fissure to represent what the characters saw on Respen's wall. I think it helped them understand the multiple levels inside the stalagmite. --Note the Wis(Perception) check at the end of page 6. If your party, like mine, had some expertise in this skill, be prepared for them to enter at Area P3c and be aware that that it's not marked on the map, though you can figure out the location. --My party went straight for Ljubomir in his chambers and it was a hard fight, especially because of the two bodyguards and their invisible nuisances. --After that, the fight in the prison was anticlimactic, but the freeing the prisoner freeked them out. --They hid out waiting for their mode of transportation to re-charge and when they finally left, I had this whole description of Dalgro's demons arriving and then a battalion of devils soon after leading to a pitched battle while the party ran for it. Because they never encountered Viltharn I gave them a chance to pass Respen's respects, which my players seemed to enjoy.

BL: Take advantage of the way Season 9 adventures make the players CARE about what they are doing in Avernus.

DM’d this in 3.5 hours at a weekly public event. We…kind of/sort of…completed both bonus objectives. It was crazy fun, but it is also the worst edited adventure I ever read, which, surprisingly is the least of its problems.
--Incomplete maps with colors that made them unreadable when printed black & white. I screengrabbed to PowerPoint and adjusted the brightness all the way up and the contrast all the way down. Also added more info and box text--contact me (nado.hopsong@gmail.com) if you want to see if it would work for you.
--Maps are not in order bottom to top. Rooms are not numbered in logical order either.
--There are war machines with no way to go anywhere but into the River Styx. I added a road to the South, which seems especially important if the party steals a car to get away.
--Read up on the Barghest in Volos in order to understand the motivation of this key NPC.
--The secret tunnel in room C15c is tied to Bonus Objective B. It’s easy to miss. I moved this entrance to C19.
--There is an overwhelming array of story lines in this module: The platoon of friendly NPCs, the merchant with a secret, the demon attack, the original owner of the chateau, the mad scientist, the refugee with a secret, the traitor seeking redemption, and the BBEG showing up at the worst time. It took hours of preparation. Here is how I did it:

1. I did the Wandering Emporium quickly by laying out the plan then giving each player a write-up for who they talked to. This allowed players to decide how they will tell their part of the story. I made Biergroach’s chest a story item from the last adventure; the puzzle worked well.
2. When scouting, I proposed 3 options: Climb down the cliff south of the Dump and entering at the Garage; climb down the cliff to the dome on top of the Dump, although they see some demons already doing that; or run to catch the wagon going down the road to the middle-level of the Dump. I said other options were possible. My party did the first.
3. I planned for an RP encounter for each entrance: Mugmerch, Chalice Void in the dome, or delivering a message to Nuldrath whose office I placed just off the garage. (I combined the storylines of the two Abashai into one story: The message was the broken shell from the brother he ate just after hatching and, since that is such a dragon-like thing to do, he understood that Tiamat was telling him that he was forgiven so he broke down and cried.)
4. Since the rooms are not populated, I picked encounters from the Random Patrol Table to man the rooms, including: Bored goblin guards, a succubus mechanic, and an incubus engineer.
5. I planned for mostly role playing with 1 fight in the middle (Swamphair) and the boss fight at the end.

I think DDALs should have better production standards than CCCs, and this adventure falls short. That said, this was fun and felt refreshingly different than other 5E modules, so be forewarned but not afraid to try it.

DM'd this at a weekly public event in 3.5 hours. We completed one bonus objective.

The Mad Max fight was fun but long--about an hour for my table of 5. I used old iPhone boxes for the war machines. I only allowed my players to target enemies but not their cars.

Mahadi offers objectives in two places in the module, Story Objective A and Bonus Objective B. With substantial effort, I combined the requirements for both into a draft contract that describes both objectives (find the spy & scatter the Rusty Razors). I added some statements to the contract to try to trick the players into losing their rewards: "Mahadi will generously waive fees for dining in his restaurant, which may or may not have happened..." I also made the contract lax on the requirement for anyone to hear the spy's confession so the characters can cite it to ensure they get their reward. This provides two good lessons in the extreme lawfulness of devils. I printed out several copies and it worked well; my players said they enjoyed it. (I will e-mail it to anyone interested: nado.hopsong@gmail.com.)

Meeting various recurring NPCs in the Wandering Emporium is fun, but the clues to solve the mystery are really weak. Think about how you will present evidence towards finding the spy because, as written, it's the barest of suspicians then "If confronted..."

Concerning the chest, I made it a "story item" that can't be opened until DDAL9-06.

The fight with Ar'ath the Butcher was OK but I had to rush it. I allowed the party to devise a plan resulting in the ol' Invisible-Character-with-Spirit-Guardians trick--books from the cleric of Oghma really beat the crap out of those gansters! Don't forget to describe the strange physiology of a Dhergoloth--3-legged, 5-armed insectoid whirling dervish.

I ran this in 3 hours at a weekly public event. We didn't get to Bonus Objective B, which is a shame because it would have been an exciting rescue, but we had a lot of fun in the other fights and I didn't want to run late.

I rated it 5-stars because it's really good but I've still got a handful of ideas for other DMs: --I wrote a speech for Duke Portyr that included nervous glances right before he said Gharizol's name and the gory end right after he says "Sure as I'm the son of a Hellrider..." --In that first fight, think about who/how the devils are killing while the party is running 150 feet. I had one eat several members of a child's birthday party (not sure if the kid was sad for getting eaten or having his party at a political speech) and another ate a newly engaged couple posing for their instagram wedding annoucement--nobody felt sorry for them! --I removed Chesserie Warden and replaced her with Hastrine Leaftender just to minimize NPCs who seemed similar. --The way I did the chase was to write the landmarks on a white board and had players roll to have one complication on the way to each landmark. The marriage procession turned into a bachlerette party fight and the street vendor's smoke gave them cover to get away in the end. It's become a running joke that beet sellers blocking streets is a major problem in Baldur's Gate. --I prepped a hand-out of the warehouse map with information on internal structure, equipment available, and NPCs. As expected, my players came up with something I didn't expect, namely ranged shooters perched in the rafters. --The designated number of bad guys attacked the party and a bunch of other cultists fought the NPCs separately. It would not have been too hard to have Wellum Smith kidnapped, but I wrapped it up instead. Gharizol made it clear he smelled Hellriders and wanted to go after them first, until the party engaged him. --Spell casters were having a hard time figuring what spells actually work against devils (hint: not many) but it's good that they figured it out before 5th level, amirite?

Final shout-out to this 3-adventure arc--my players really cared about the refugees!

DM'd this at a monthly event at a game store. Finished in 3 hours, skipping the bonus objectives because they are nonsense.

I made several plot changes:

Zehira does not need to accompany the party into Myth Nantar. Sahaugin are mortal enemies of Sea Elves so I said they are not allowed into the city and would be hunted on sight. Skipped the investigation involving Errel and Myrin--why would a foreign and unknown group be asked to investigate murders in city described as "tense and uncertain"? Kept the predetermined questions for the Librarian (no player re-write) because there is a pre-determined answer.

Other recommendations for DMs: <<Strongly recommend swimming down the shipwrecks so they can have the fight at the bottom. I identified 8 actions that would slow the descent and if they did 3 of them I would have made them roll for exhaustion. My party cast a spell to befriend a shark and hitched a ride to the bottom--I never thought of that one! <<I made the "Welcoming Party" fight in the water, not inside Myth Nantar, so they had to deal with underwater fighting rules. Also, for my strong party, I had Shark Telepathy bring in 1 reef shark every round. <<Since the party did not break any of the 4 Rules, only Oceanus meets them at the Fire Fountain and explains the Mythal, the city, and that they are NOT needed to investigate murders, which is OK because the party's (secret) mission is to find Thessalia and ask questions to the Librarian. <<The party meets Thessalia in an alley; a Veteran Patrol approaches aggressively and says a scrying spell is taking place here from...that building over there! Go there, BOOM! Whoever it was gets away and a Sea Elf veteran is unconscious from the blast--did the party treat the injuries? Nobody saw how he got injurred so it's kind of suspicious. And the bad guy got away, too! <<Veteran Patrols are called away to investigate another murder. There is only 1 guard outside the Librarian (it's the Malenti), the party goes inside and gets the riddle/answer, and comes outside to a dead body and accusations of murder! (BTW, I played the Veteran Patrols to be very no-nonsense and have constant radio contact with Mythal, like it's a central police dispather that knows any spell cast in the city.) <<The party tries to talk their way out of it, the Senior Councilor remembers the history of the Malenti, a conjuration is detected in the Hall of LM--the Malenti!--and there is a final fight.

BL: Fast and fun, DMing it this way. When I played as a character, as written, I did not understand the motivations for doing what we were doing. I just regret that I had to spend so much effort to re-write a module after having paid good money for it.

I DM'd this at a weekly public event. Finished all 4 parts in under 3 hours. It might have been a straight forward dungeon delve but the new format started in season 8 makes it more confusing than it needs to be.

Advice for running this: "Enter here only the DMs, exit here only the spoiled."

--I described Flame Falburn as like Brienne of Tarth. Everyone got it. But I don't understand how Daryn is pronounced DE ryn.

--If I run this again, Benn Hithlin (bad cop) will be the big blonde human and Tradran Foremantle (good cop) will be the aging dwarf. Get the police procedural tropes right, people!

--The call to action skips around: Hithlin gets yelled at; a murder took place inside a locked building; I want you to tail Hithlin; after that investige the murder. Think about getting that across in a better order.

--The murder investigation went well, with each party member investigating (not perceiving) different rooms. But I don't understand why the room descriptions are on one page, the clues in those rooms are on the next page with the interaction with guards before entering the building in between.

--Lots of really descriptive directions/distances underground but it didn't match the map having a junction allowing two entrances to the complex. This is particularly confusing because there is a really cool rune quote at the entrance, or maybe at both entrances.

--My players split the party so I had the Hell Hound ambush in one room (I nerfed the 6d6 breath weapon to 3d6) and had an imp ambush the last character in the far room. It got dicey.

--Next time I will reorient the Devil's Chamber in Bonus Objective B so the party cannot get line-of-sight to the altar--make them go into the room. Also I regret that I forgot to have the devil invoke the implied contract of the entrance runes. Realize that you can't put this dialog at the beginning of the fight because of the ritual going on so you've got to stop mid-fight for the verbal sparring.

--Yes, the rooms on both maps are not numbered. No, it's not hard to figure out which room is which by the drawings of the interior features. That said, I read/re-read in advance and wrote notes on the maps; if I was doing this cold the lack of room numbers would have been extremely frustrating.

BL: Fun for all except poor Eryn Xeph, who got ritually sacrificed.

I DM'd this at a weekly public event. Finished all 4 parts in 3.5 hours. Fun but realize the format, with no box text (just quote boxes) forced me to do a lot of prepration because I'm not good at improvisation. I typed 2.5 pages of notes.

Here is my advice to DMs running this:

--Show the characters the picture of Baldurs Gate from pages 14-15 of the DiA hardcover, if you have it. Point out Basilisk Gate, where much of the action happens.

--Provide hand-out 2 and try to get the players interested in the refugees, because they come up again in DDAL9-04.

--Don't skip Bonus Objective A because it is the only fight. Cultists all got surprise becasue they were mixed in with the crowd and critted with Ferocious Surge--that scared my players. I described Grant Yoreling as a blond frat-boy yelling from a roof-top 60' away. He still hit hard, with Spiritual Weapon and Hold Person, but he was so aggravating that that the chase didn't get very far before they brought him down. Consider this a fight with an optional chase.

--I introduced Dovis Tolbergate at the scene of the murder, but he was so emotional about his friend he doesn't help much except to translate and introduce the party to the widow.

--I played Bolnata as immature but genuinely grieving--remember half-elves age slowly. I described her dress in detail several times but the party never picked up on the clue, and this is a big BIG hole in the plot. Think about how you will get them to the tailor shop if they don't figure it out. I had to shove them onto the ol' railroad.

--Everything else went well, including the trial. I had no note takers that night so there was a lot of "Then that one guy said...what did he say?" so I went full-auto Judge Judy on them skipping player to player intentionally misinterpreting their testimony until the turnip-seller testified, and then they got off. I didn't count sucesses or failures, but it was fun.

BL: If you want an imp familiar, EARN it by over-prepping this adventure. Mine will be named Bezos and I'm sure it will screw me over at every opportunity.

Played it and DM'd it as Gamex in LA. The adventure immerses you in the strange & corrupting influence of the Far Realms and Illithid biology. Great maps and the pictures; I used them 2 ways: A)I have small scissors in my DM kit and for the Kobold Door and the Duregar Experiment I cut out the pictures out and gave to the players; and B)For the non-fighting encounters (Kobold wall & Library) I just handed them the map as a reverence. Four changes I made: 1)Stressed the malformed nature of the two drow more than as written (the "hand" found in the rubble was jutting out of the dead drow's shoulder and the other drow was dying because a foot was growing out of her mouth so she couldn't breathe); 2)I placed the Kobold door half-way up the 60-foot cliff, which just seemed to flow better; 3)The location of the Illithid Living Quarters and Kaz'mazal's quarters is not labeled on the map as far as I can tell so I combined the two into one investigation and kept the story moving forward; and 4)Replace the "troll" with a Dire Troll from Mordenkainens and, once again, stress the malformaties.

Why 4-stars? Because both times the players curb stomped, including once as a party of 3. I held back in the first fight, assuming daily attacks had already been used and I wish I hadn't. I made some changes to the final fight but I wish I had made more:
--Read up on Koz' illusion spell and have him use it initially (it negates Counterspell). --Place a malformed Hill Giant thrall at the top of the stairs as a blocker; I had him dodge only and described him as having tentacle arms. --Don't be afraid to use Koz' 8th level spell but think about how you will adjudicate the impact. --Use Telekinesis 3 ways: movement, opening the cage, and attack; don't let him touch the ground! --Maximize the HP of the 'batteries' so they last more than 1 or 2 rounds. --Consider giving Koz a way to become invisible because he is really 'squishy.'

Hope this helps. You'll have fun running it straight but you should really consider upping the challenge.