This was the adventure that made me stop running this campaign. After the previous adventures, which ranged from fair to excellent, this one was a real letdown. The beginning is incredibly linear, offering little opportunities for the players to make decisions. It begins with an exposition dump and an on-rails trip to the village of Eresh, where there's nothing to do. Once they arrive they discover the monastery is also off-limits and the players are essentially just waiting for one event (ommiting it here because it's a spoiler) to happen so the action begins. And once it begins it doesn't stop, the adventure becomes a series of fights until the PCs finally confront the villain. There's no mystery, no interesting things to do besides following the trail of breadcrumbs, the adventure is exceedingly short and it doesn't even play to its themes of peace or "balance" (the solution to the problems presented is just killing all enemies). The most laughable part is how one of the main NPCs just shows up out of nowhere, all enigmatic, and doesn't say anything relevant. They go away immediately and the adventure says that they don't provide any more information, not for any personal reason, but because it's "better for the narrative". This was such a bad scene and was mocked by all my players and myself for how childish it is with its desire to be "mysterious" while at the same time not making any sense. It's being enigmatic for the sake of it, and worst of all, it even works against the adventure as it reveals the NPC as the cause of the strange events surrounding the town. If you're running this campaign, seriously consider skipping this adventure.

As the introductory adventure to the War of the Burning Sky adventure path, The Scouring of Gate Pass manages what official D&D products struggle to do: to be simultaneously thoughtful, engaging, challenging and funny. It is rare to find an adventure that strikes such a great balance between action-packed cinematic setpieces and giving players the freedom to interact with the obstacles in a way unique to their gaming group. While the adventure does present the reader with an expected progression for the party, the social nature of many of the encounters allow for plenty of improvisation from the players. This, combined with the complex motivations of the NPCs, helps lend a sense of identity to each and every character and brings to the forefront their humanity, something crucial in a story about war. The conversion to Fifth Edition by Brian Criswell is superb and although I would consider the artwork of varying quality, it gets the job done. Particularly noteworthy is the stunning illustration on the front cover, as well as the black-and-white image of the ragesian inquisitor on page 35. The maps are clear and easy to understand and the city itself seems to come alive thanks to the detailed descriptions of its locations. My only real quibble is that the text is not justified, which makes it look somewhat messy, and that a lot of the artwork would have looked better if it had been left in black-and-white.