This is a pretty big turn for the season, and is the first time you get a major lore dump that will be important all the way through this season into the subsequent Terminal Ambitions DRW series. It dials up the challenge of the combats as well.

The transition between the Neogi (introduced as villians in DDAL10-06) and then the focus being on this seemingly unrelated city of horros is a little unsatisfying. Especially for players who have gotten attached to the Goliaths of Wyrmdoom Crag this module feels like a distraction from the main storyline of getting them back. The structure of the module in exploring this Ancient city is neat and definitely nice and creepy. The fights didn't feel very challenging for the party, even with the adjustments for strong/very strong party compositions. The party didn't enjoy the chase sequence at the end, chases in general don't seem to be very engaging in D&D right now.

To me it feels similar to DDAL10-02, in that both modules feel like filler, with some interesting narrative threads being established for later on in this storyline, but not a lot of forward momentum keeping players engaged as they play this particular module.

Overall This is an interesting adventure that breaks open the Season 10 storyline from "you thought you found the bad guys" to "no, here actually are the bad guys" and they are ancients ... though they have recently arrived, and they are inexplicably involved with this strange location. So, the story tries to break new ground, and that just leaves me thinking, what actually happened in the story writing process that led to this development? To say it feels disjointed is an understatement. However, what it lacks in continuity and development, it does gain in novelty and surprise value. The writer is new to AL, and though he is a talented writer, the adventure suffers in a couple of points because of this. Experience in AL should not be undervalued by the team, and if it's a new writer, then some effort needs to be made to bring in some experience perhaps as a co-writer.

How did it play out? I had a good group of seven experienced players, and ran the game to time at 4 hours. I prepared everything pretty well, with the exception of the final component which I underestimated. I got into the character of the Giff Lieutenant, and he adds a new element to the dwindling numbers of Goliaths. Jumping straight into the first encounter with a couple of classic D&D creatures is a fun start to the adventure. Entering into the ancient city, this needs some guidance by the DM, but it is fun to build up. Then you have the second fight, which just comes out of nowhere. Finally the chase which the DM needs to manage carefully. I had one player who had low stealth and high constitution, and so I allowed them to "Forrest Gump" out, but there is no specific rule for this.

How did it feel? In terms of the Goliath story, they seem to suffer a lot of losses despite whatever the PCs manage to do in their adventures. I feel this is a little overstated in these Tier 2 adventures. The first encounter can be used to introduce the foul nature of the Neogi and to generate some tension and pressure on the PCs. The second part builds up the interaction with the ancient city, but I don't feel it's direct enough about either the Dragonborn or the current inhabitants of the city. There is little background to help the DM. The middle section feels very strange to run and disjointed. The optional encounter does very little to develop the story, and should not have been included. By the time the third section happens, players and DMs alike are lost as to what is going on here really. Finally, the chase scene highlights for me what a waste of time the chase mechanics of 5e are, and the configuration of this section is particularly awkward. This can become a very tediious or pointless component of the adventure if the DM doesn't manage it well.

Feedback to the writer The adventure is a pleasure to read due to the writing style, but the game play and game design is lacking. More story development should be provided to create a more logical structure to the adventure. These are critical to an AL adventure which the writer is clearly not experienced with. Compared to this, 10-05 provides a much more effectively developed story and game play which runs much better in AL. I would have given this 3/5 except for the technical quality of the writing which bumps it up to 4 stars.

This adventure has an amzing setting and theme - but you are left to haphazardly encounter it.

The Good: The creepy factor can be dialed up high, and Xorvintroth is just cool.

The Bad: Part 2 is just a "here's a city with some weird things in it". The characters are supposed to be on a time crunch to recue the Thuunlakalagas, not explore. I solved this by changing Part 2 from a "wander around and encounter randomly" to a "follow the trail of the goliath party - which leads you to these places". It made a lot more sense to my players after that (ran this four times for a Virtual D&D Weekend). Also, it's very easy to not get the magic item unless you do very specific things.

The Ugly: The chase is just... ugh. With insta-kill for failure. Whoa.