I had the opportunity to play this adventure. I perished, but it was enjoyable. I hope to bring the enjoyment that I had to my players. As I prepped this adventure, I did not note too many things that caught my eye, but I'll share what did.

First off, good story. This series so far has gotten some good background going with it. This plot appears compartmented enough that you could insert it to any point in BG:DiA that starts in Mahadi's Wandering Emporium, or if you are looking at running this in non-organized play, you could have Lulu also be a guest in this particular hellwasp nest along with the heart and the other beings in the nest.

I like the bottom line of the Call to Action, but if you are pressed for time, then consider dropping the combat and turn it into something that the players are drawn to at its end, or have Mahadi's minions aid in the battle and bring it to its conclusion. there are some options there for you. If not pressed for time an encounter in the Infernal Rapture restaraunt has the potential to always be fun.

I like learning.. especially new vocabulary. frass, effluvium and cruor. I appreciate the designers use of the words. I admittedly had no idea what they meant, and looked them up. Now I do. Thank you!

Part One has you capturing a draining journey over the Avernian hellscape, but does provide some random encounters to help give the trek some substance, if you wish. I am curious why there is no Con Save for exhaustion level here every hour of travel, like in the hardcover (and I beleive in this modules predecessor). It's not a show stopper. The Skarback Company are an interesting bunch of NPCs.

When you get into Part Two, this is a well put together mini-dungeon crawl. This is a nest you're running ... expect the common theme. I really like the big baddie encounter at the end. I intend to give it an Aliens finale feel. I didn't see any 'Adjusting the Scene' sidebar for this encounter, but I could see the removal of lair actions, perhaps rolling damage vs. taking average damage, adding or losing hellwasps as options. Shouldnt be an issue to manage. Two potions of climbing are missing from the Magic Item Rewards in the Rewards Section. I intend to add it to what is there.

To get 'The Final Temptation' in Part Two you either have to acquire the parchment that you can find during the crawl, or maybe have already earned Mahadi's favor in the Call to Action. Seems reasonable that this could be an option for you if any of your players are already persona non grata (No Exceptions!-branded!). Again a return to Infernal Rapture can turn into a long one, so watch your timing, because I believe that the ending in 'A Freinds Return' is significant enough to present to players, especailly ones that will be playing the series.

The Story Award (outside of the return of Mahadi's giving-you-the-boot award) is interesting enough.

My rating is based off of these noted items above and my previous enjoyment of playing it. It is well put together and should not be a challenge to present to players. There are opportunities for all the Pillars of Play. I look forward to seeing other works by this designer.

Hey All-sorry for the book. But I've committed myself this year to providing constructive feedback to all designers whose adventures I have the opportunity to present and offer some insight into how I have/will successfully present their works, in hopes that my player's experience is as enjoyable as I can make it and that perhaps this courtesy will be reciprocated at some point in my future design efforts.

I had a chance to play this adventure and it was enjoyable. I am a fan of RP, so it did not disappoint in that respect. I believe my DM breathed some life into it as well (no pun intended). Now, I as prep it for one of my groups, I saw a few things that I felt warrant mentioning.

I'm not really sure why the amount of charges in Soul Coin is important at all to the CTA. I prob won't even mention it. DMs-please read the Dramatis Personae at a minimum, unless you already have some knowledge of Mahadi's Traveling Emporium from BG:DiA or other adventures in Tier Two where The Emporium appears. The adventure can come to a screeching halt if players do not barter with Mahadi. Some of the terms seem reasonable for T3 characters; however, the bartering can also be overcome with players meeting one or two of the conditions for barter. Making the group check that the modules advises garners more insight into Mahadi and the galal, but do nothing to affect the terms offered by Mahadi. There appears to be no cause/incentive for even attempting the check other than being given more background into Mahadi and perhaps some fodder to use in RP in the Second Part of the adventure.

Part 2 gave me the feel of the DDOPEN 2018. Heavy RP and again a pat down that may rattle players feathers, but they will get a chance to hide weapons and the weapons are just being checked-in storage here, so they aren't being stolen. I would encourage DMs to read Appendix Three, present the guests as people that, "catch their eye", "bump into players" or have them overhear something that might appeal to their background or ideals, bonds, flaws, etc. I intend to use events from the BG:DiA hardcover or the other Tier Two adventures plots as gossip for the party. To set the players up with options to complete the adventures objective, be sure to engage them with the bulleted list in 'Use the Clues' section in Part Two and gauge your audience when you present the Qirroz option please. Escaping after the chalice has been lifted is relegated to one check like in Part One, but I think the designer did a good job of offering options for DMs to present Exploration and Social Pillars to gain some insight into things that can help them. Players already familiar with Mahadi's rules or some behaviors in BG:DiA, should know that combat in a gala filled with all manner of devils will not end well for them.

In Bonus Objective A, I thought we could be provided some insight into what the nature of the deal between Galabraga and Mahadi was. Since its not provided, I see it as an opportunity for DMs to add a little something of their own to the adventure. I appreciate that the designer has good adventure flow back to the main story line from both Bonus Objectives.

In Bonus Objective B. What is presented here could easily be captured in a chase using chase rules. I'm a little bit surprised its not presented as such, but this is easily remedied by a three to five round chase scene. Use the Chase Complications in BG:DiA for Infernal War Machines.... add a distance trigger, and the chase rules to escape, and I think that could also meet the spirit of the chase (pun intended this time). The Social Pillar of Play in this Bonus Objective seems to be a 'No Go' from the start. I don't see any player group giving up The Chalice after what they had to go through to get it, or giving up 25 souls coins that they probably gave up already to Mahadi to get to this point in the adventure. I did enjoy the No Exceptions! Story Award, I think that it is approriate tormenter and suitable consequence for the realm that these adventure take place in; however, the other story award in this adventure is devilishing brutal. I don't imagine players being too eager to continue their travels in Avernus in the throes of the exhaustive nightmare of these two story awards working in tandem on them. I'd be working with Mahadi to book the first flight back to the Prime Material PLANE (oh, there I go again).

Alright. Seriously, I do find this adventure an enjoyable read and I know my players will enjoy it too. This adventure provides opportunities for DMs to focus on NPC presentation and amplify descriptives to help with scene immersion. If your players are looking to just chop up evil devils, this is probably not the adventure for you. I'm not a fan of "One way out" meta (One check stops/impede/complicates adventure flow), but there is enough here to work with, meet the spirit of the story the designer presents, and end with entertained players. Pick this adventure up if you haven't already!

I had a chance to play this adventure, but now I get to run it at Garycon this year. There are many things to enjoy about this adventure. The background story is great and befitting the overall theme of this season. I enjoyed that the flowchart placement. I like the sidenotes with tips on presentation of the flora and the forest corruption. The first part consists of several encounters enroute to the location of Story Objective B. They are provided in a table format for those that like to add randomness to the encounters. You may find yourselves headscratching trying to understand timing in game. I think the important thing here is to be mindful of event timing and base Part lengths (event timing) off of that. I had no idea what a vole was and had to look it up, but was surprised to see what it was (I enjoy learning)! I do like the persistent challenge in Part Two and look forward to see how they play out. I like the tailored corruption. I just went down the chart in the Appendix and gave each corruption event a level so that I could associate it in my mind with levels of exhaustion, and to incorporate their effects into the game, I would recommend using the narrative given on the table when a player misses a check, or when other characters are observing this character and also consider rewarding Inspiration to the player! This may be slightly bothersome to those that need some kind of meta associated with it.

The story rewards are Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus-encompassing and their importance and value are easy to discern. Overall, it was a great read. I enjoyed it as a player, and am looking forward to presenting it at Garycon 2020! The adventure is not the best one of the series, but it is good (I don't give out five stars often). I know there will be completionists that probably already have this adventure, but if you were on the fence, I encourage you to consider picking it up!

I had a chance to run this module today, and it was well recieved by the players! They enjoyed the unique puzzle.. one of them told me they had not seen anythng like that before. They did enjoy the fey-theme of the adventure and really wanted to engage the NPCs in RP. We unfortunately lost track of time, so we did not finish the entirety of the module, but they module is written in such a way that you could end it at the of the second part and narrate the rest. We will be running it's finale here shortly. It my first opportunity to run one fey creature from the adventure (Won't spoil) and it was fun.

As the DM there is enough there to challegne the players. If you want to make it more imersive, take some time to read up on the NPCs and the scenes. The adjustments for the APLs seemed to work fine for my party composition. Would you believe? My party did not have any knowledge or magical means to speak with most of the creatures in teh adventure and still had a good time.

Sad to see this series coming to an end, but looking forward to see what DES does in the future! Add the entire run to your Fey-inspired games... there is much in the lore presented to take these adventures in many different directions within their pages!

When I ran this, my favorite part is that I did not need to really work at all to get the the players to looking for safety. I think that the designers well-written narrative amplified by a DM projecting a sense of hopelessness gives the players that sense of urgency they need to get to safety and find ways to mitigate the threats that exist in the adventures.

I'm beginning to notice a trend with adventures that have James Introcaso's name anywhere in the acknowledgements. They are well-designed, well worth it and well done.

Your players shouldn't be disappointed.

I had the opportunity to to play this module and enjoyed it! Now that I am prepping this adventure for my FLGS game, there are some things I noticed. The adventure is easily compartmented with the adventure hooks presented, and there is enough there to link it to it's predecessor, DDAL 09-06. I really like it's premise and the Macguffin is unique! The adventurer's background seems complete until you get to Bonus Objective A. where it can be super-challenging without a more amplified background (which I believe, has been provided in the Adventure's League Official Forum). There were some map labeling oversights that are easily overcome. The NPCs/Creature compostion here is certainly appropriate. I especially gravitated to Villtharn. I liked that the designer provided a means to allow an NPC to help and hinder the party. I was moved that the designer cleary put effort into its mundane items in the fortress chambers. They complement the feel and theme of the location and it's inhabitants. I did have one technical question which I will pose to the proper forum. Overall, I liked this module and I look forward to running it here in my BG:DiA campaign soon! It is my second favorite adventure in this series, the first being DDAL 09-05.

I did have the opportunity to play this adventure and had a good time ...but, I did not forget the noticeable frustration that my DM had when he was running it. Nonetheless, he provided us an enjoyable experience. Now, as I prep this adventure to insert into my weekly Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus game, I noticed some aspects of this product that I thought important to share.

There doesn’t appear to be clear consequence for getting caught sneaking out to carry out the mission of this adventure, although stealth and discretion is implied. If it was noted that players were not to leave the emporium, I could see potential concern, but nowhere in the Call to Action, nor within the adventure is this addressed; however, players are given a way to ensure that they can sneak in-and-out without issue in Part One, but again, to what end? It appears that they can go, come back and everything will be good to go.

I liked the Social Pillar of Play opportunities throughout Part One, but I can tell that 90 minutes of it might be a bit excessive for some. Within that timeframe there is nothing that I can see impeding the players from gaining information needed to complete their objective, and the segues to Bonus Objectives can be omitted simply by removing NPCS or just not have certain dialogues come up. Infernal Contracts are present, which can result in players risking their souls to get crucial information. Rich NPC environment .. including Fai Chen’s Donkey. Part One's timing appears sufficient to achieve this part's objective and move to Part Two.

Part Two is enjoyable for Combat and Exploration Pillar-focused players. Getting there can prove to be fun with a random encounter table and environmental effect that is appropriate. Getting in-and-out of the location here seems manageable enough, but if players have the weight of Infernal Contracts on them, it could keep players here longer! Make sure that you consider this when you are presenting this part .. that your players at least have some time to engage their contractual obligations. The adventure's Wrap Up provides some cinematic-esque options for those that may need some help closing the adventure.

It may be a matter of production timelines that caused the noticeable background/transitional incongruency with this module, it's predecessor and the Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus book (booth names, Avernus environmental dangers, contract limitations, Infernal War Machine types, etc.). However, these were minor and could be overcome with reading and adjustments. I’m an experienced DM, a theatre-of-the-mind DM primarily, so the area descriptions were sufficient for me. I can see newer DMs being challenged by knowledge gaps, limited familiarity with the story arc and maps provided. This is not my favorite module of the Avernus Rising Series, but it’s got all the Pillars of Play, and can be presented to player enjoyment. If you have enjoyed the other mods, add this one to your collection.

Wow!

What an interesting plot! There are many things to like about this adventure. Being a natural sweettooth, I can appreciate the fact that the story takes place in a bakery, and one that procides a menu so players can order treats! The adventure keeps a tasteful themes through its clever naming conventions of chapters. The area information of each episode presented was clear, I could distinctly picture each scene presented.

The designer's effort to provide an unique experience is clearly captured in the extra descriptives provided for the common magic items in it, and it also provides alot of Exploration Pillar of play without neglecting Combat or Social Pillar. All-in-all, a balanced effort, worth 'consumption' (sorry, had to do it) by DMs that want to present an adventure with a light-hearted and down-to-earth feel.

It's also got a fey blue squirrel in it! Isn't that fella keeeeeeyooooooot?

For an inexperienced DM, this is not the adventure you are looking for.

I really do like the adventures premise. It definitely fits into the overlying arc of The Jade Curse and the rise of Dagon to the Moonsea Region. Beyond that, there are a few things to get past before this can be palatable for DMs to run. I lined out alot of the module's narrative. There is alot of background that that the designer wants you to know, but alot of it will never come out during the session. The adventure suffers from organization setbacks; information that should be underneath Area Information subtitles are scattered about the adventure in other areas. Information given out by NPCs seems barely relevant for resolving objectives. Creature and NPCs subtitles do not contain basic information- in some cases, the only way you know what NPCs creature type are is if you go back into the Appendix to look. One of the Bonus Objctives just leaves DMs flat out hanging- come up with a way to disarm the main device and the skills necessary to do it, but no description of the device there to give DMs any type of reference. I had to go back to Scene B of Episode Three to find a description.

I like the beginning Estate Sale Call to Action, The Leap of Faith is awesome story point, but again lacks basic meta references to be able to determine success/failure. I really enjoy the fact that a Bonus Objective allows you to go get a journal from folks that bought it and don't want to give it back, but that journal is crucial to players being able to navigate challenges in the main story.. they almost have to have it. The single point of failure is at the entrance to the Keep. If there is no spellcaster you can't get into the keep to continue. I do enjoy the fact that the designer has options to engage the adventure through different pillars. I really would like to reward a player an estate as this module proposes, but it doesn't pass the basic AL guidance that forbids such things without certificates, special campaign documentation, etc.

All-in-all, an experienced DM can navigate the lack of skill check guidance, get DCs assigned, manage the dominate presence of magic-users, the ambiguities with the generator and an aboleths lair actions to make this adventure work. Again, the plot is good and the overall arch this adventure supports is a good one, which made me want to work through these setbacks so I can present it to players. I hope that this designers future efforts will take into consideration the areas where this adventure needs work.

This module's story may be a bit familiar to some that have played the Rage of Demons hardcover. Kuo-toa and their struggle with gods. Bu tthis adventure presents a new city, new tribes, and a new god in a (I'll keep that secret) and Dagon, Prince of the Depths and whose rise to power is the background premise of the enitre Jade Curse series of adventures. But this unique take on it makes the adventure enjoyable.

Theres alot a good things here to help DMs present the adventure. RP Tips help those that want to give the NPCs a little life, and the APL adjustments to encounters seem easy to implement. The designer added a unique table to a mechanic. DMs will like the "X sucesses before X failures" mechanic to speed up skill check slogs that some adventures can have. Damage by level is something I have not seen before. I was intruiged by its use. "Many Hands Make Light Work" sidebar give DMs a in-game mentorship moment if time permits. It is plain to see the strong effort the designer gave to the treasure descriptives and the dramatis personae. I'm not a big fan of flat treasure drops ...giving magic items unique descriptives is a welcome extra touch.

I found the premise of freindly Kuo-toa bothersome, and I admit that is because of older views of kuo-toa as being malicious beings, some of the most deadliest assasins in all of Faerun, apathetic and murderous. Their portrayal here as goodly beings definitely sets this adventure apart though and is a shining part of the adventure's story. The adventures flow seems like it could be tighter. The objectives presented during the primer aren't obviously congruent throughout the module. It left me to have to figure out what the actual objectives were for bonus objectives. That is something easily overcome by experienced DMs and not a hindrance to running the adventure but worth noting.

This adventure is well-worth the purchase and I look forward to running it numerous times over the next year!

I have read this module a few times but actually ran it tonight (with a few adjustments). The ongoing effects (Necrotic Kiss and Cancerous Magic) are in fact from DDEP00-01 The Red War Epic. I was confused as to whether these ongoing effects occur during one part of the adventure, or duration of the adventure-two different parts of the adventure say two different things. The first adjustment I made is to not include these effects at all-they easily defeat a non-experienced party before they even get to the main crux of the adventure. Especially if DMs do as suggested by conconcting a "maze of left turns, right turns, and dead ends...". The second adjustment was that at the beginning adventure where the party is told what treasure they are going to be rewarded. In my experience, giving players this knowledge may take away the motivation for some-I chose to wait until they came back.

I enjoyed the idea of actually placing heroes names amongst the "legendary heroes" of the adventure. DMs here can use that opportunity to at least hint at the presence of some of Faerun's mightiest, or heroic players that your players use in other adventures. I did enjoy the non-combat encounters random table and there is obvious bias here because one of the NPCs on the table comes from one of my designed adventures. I thought the tribute to NPCs from other adventure designers well done in good taste. The Area Information descriptions are sufficient to replicate a map for those that need one, or be able to provide an effective description.

My players enjoyed dealing with the protocols, particularly the last one .. one of my players created a limerick made me laugh! The provide provide dice roll options for those players that may not be puzzle-inclined with the exception of the last one. What I did is had those that were not limerick-inclined do a group Performance check contested by a D20 roll to see if they are able to make a laughable limerick. That seemed to meet the spirit of the adventure, the designer does kindly remind you to "feel free to work with them (players)". That's crits in my book.

As a DM, I will say this module is an enjoyable read, but I think it may rely too much on external references rather than module sidebars to help DMs capture Red War elements, and the ongoing evironmentals are too much. I would like to have seen an 'Adjusting the Adventure' sidebar to mitigate those effects for different APLs.

There are more Exploration and Social Pillars of Play here; and under the direct umbrella of the Red War, I did not think that this was possible; however, the adventure does a good job of presenting them. Overall, my players did have a good time. Lastly, Thayan Peace Keeper ...T.P.K. Pretty clever. I look forward to seeing more adventures from Dave Hopkins in the future. Good Gaming.

This adventure is a good follow up to the first and seems to be written a bit more palatable than its predecessor. Its Call to Action is clear: LOCATE.... and ESCAPE; It seems to rely on the DM having knowledge of Belleview in DAGON 01-01, especially as a source to NPCs which can locate the underwater and shoreside entrances into the sea caves. But that can be overcome fairly easy.

After that things are easier to navigate with the Scenes matching up perfect with the map provided in the Appendix 5, and the adventure begins to pick up more speed leading to following the series antogonist into Episode three and into something that I haven't seen since I ran 'Rage of Demons'; in fact, it's premise may seem familiar to some DMs (sorry won't spoil it). You may need to improvise information on the Underdark Lake.

There is an option for Kraken Madness that I did not use, but gives DMs another interesting environmental to add to the adventure, and rather than refer to the DMG for the Madness Tables, it actually provides them in the appendices ..big wins! The Map in Appendix 6 is challenging to determine the scale. Both of the maps are well done though.

Like its predecessor, there are new NPCs, but other than being the captives in this adventure, it is uncertain whether they are involved in further adventures in this series. I can appreciate that the designer did this. I enjoyed prepping this adventure, and look forward to a follow-up effort by Emily Smith. My rating was based on this being the first effort of this designer that I have purchased and not having anything of the designers to compare it to. Good Gaming!

The adventures overlying arc is swept across several adventures in the series, but the cover suggests as much. I really enjoyed some of the elements of this adventure! Instead of Adventure Hooks, it is already suggested that the characters know each other through some "group adventure" hooks. While this appears to take agency from individual players, it could be an easy "in" for DMs that have indecisive players, or those that would prefer press beyond this subtlety into the Call to Action.

Right off the bat the players are provided the adventure's magic item, which might be construed as an adventure "faux pas", but the adventure is filled with other uniquely highlighted treasure. The whole town of Belleview, is worthy of a map (which the adventure surprising does not have), and quite the bit of NPCs to have to give the town life. These NPCs appear in future adventures, dso if you are running this series of adventures, you might want to give some subtle agency to those NPCs tha tthe players do not directly interact with. I was a bit puzzled that a town that is described as having rum as its chief export has sugar cane fields, but no means here in location descriptives where the sugar cane is processed; however, the designer provides more than enough to create a "Belleview" of your own!

I can definitely see Part One going over time for your more RP inclined players, and maybe too short for players who are gravitiating directly to objective completion. The adventure's climax presents a colorful enemy and leaves you with a cliffhanger that (hopefully) has your players looking to set up it's follow-up adventure with you soon! Since this is the first work from this designer I have purchased I cannot base my rating off of previous efforts and will not compare it to others.

I had the opportunity to run this adventure at Extra Life Omaha 2019, and the players had a good time! The story involved tortles; something you don't see too often.. and also involved an area of Faerun where we dont see too many CCC-Adventurers League Adventures .. the Evermoors! I brought The Rickety Crossing a bit more to life with the addition of a Black Swampy Ale, slow-moving tortle service, and meals that looks like swamp grass on mucky muskee. I also made some adjustments to make it more in line with for the kids... After rescuing folks in Millton, they decided to give the migration chase .. what I did for added effect was have them come across a massive migration of 30-40 tortles, but when set upon, only a few tortles actually attacked- a mix of two of the last encounters in the last part. Tortle Druids that can wild shape was fun ... they did not like seeing one of them turn into a ...? I'll leave that an enjoyable part of this mod that makes the adventure worth picking up. There are some formatting errors, but those aren't enough for me to not be willing to present this again at another event-it was a good time and a good choice for our Extra Life Omaha 2019 events!