A great module (got it a while back but just never wrote a review). I've not done the sequels, but everybody's always had fun going through this adventure, and it's fun running it as well. The fight at the end is appropriately hard given the boss, but I always liked that.

This is a favorite AL module in my local group, and I've run it a couple times now myself. You may need to expedite things or move your group along to get everything fit into 4 hours. It's not very roleplay heavy, but I think the mechanics and combat make up for it. This is a great adventure for folks who are either generally new to D&D or have a bit of experience but are maybe a bit rusty on the mechanics.

I'll offer up some feedback for DMs (spoilers, obviously):

• Grey oozes being able to degrade weapons and armor is hilarious, so definitely keep that mechanic in. It forced my players to switch it up and use either unarmed strikes or worse weapons to not have their main ones be degraded.
• I ran this for a group of 7 people who just met the "average" APL. For the fight with the gelatenous cube, I had an ochre jelly join the fight as well behind the party in the tunnel, creating some panic but giving everyone a chance to try something to get out. (I lowered the ochre jelly's health by about 50%.) I did this to balance out the action economy. It was also a good way to teach newer players about some mechanics not often used (pulling someone out of something and into an open space, being consumed, etc.).
• The fights do a pretty good job of helping players understand that enemies may have their own weaknesses/abilities depsite being of the same "type".
• Fenaria can be mean. I almost knocked most of the aforementioned party down with a good hit from Shatter due to them being grouped up with the gibbering mouthers. I was a bit kinder than I needed to be with the final fight and resorted to being more defensive/conservative, but I think it helped keep the fight balanced.

Overall, great adventure that doesn't need many ad-hoc adjustments. I'm excited to keep running it in the future!

Fantastic story! Great art! An interesting villain with a motive! Challenging combat! Give your players a tier one adventure to remember!

I really enjoyed runinng this campan and is extremely friendly for new GM's

The backstory is good, if completely at odds with the tone of the art. The challenge level is good. The add on map pack is a nice touch. New favorite Tier 1.

The rough bits:

• You can't copy anf paste much of anything from the PDF, making it an absolute bear to fully integrate into roll 20 handouts. It was a real pain converting everything.
• The map pack overlays parts of the original map halls with filler, so using them as overlays requires some editing.

Thank you, looking forward to the rest of the story.

This is a combat-heavy but well designed module with a lot of monsters you don't often see in T1 mods. The fights are very challenging, especially the final encounter, but that makes it all the more thrilling if the players win. Besides, under season 9 rules, PC death at Tier 1 is not much more than a slap on the wrist, so why not challenge your players? I ran this for a group of very mixed levels (2 level 4, 1 level 2, 4 level 1s) which was not ideal but everyone still had fun although 2 PCs died. I was sure they were going to lose the final fight but a lucky crit by one of the level one PCs combined with a series of bad rolls by myself led to an epic win, and it felt like the party had really accomplished something difficult.

good module but incomplete colour map pack that only covers some rooms.

This mod is awesome th both play and DM. The reward is worth it and the main villain is more fleshed out than most other T1 mod villains. I do hope we continue to see where her story goes.

A real punisher for tier 1 but lovely to get players into the time crunch of saving others, seeing higher level casters next to their own struggle. Waiting for more to come of the module sets and the sweet thrill of defeating wizards.

I agree completely with Jia J. T.'s review. I'm the "overflow DM" at my LGS and I ran this for 3 experienced & 2 new to D&D players and I'll be honest, without adjusting the encounters it would've easily been a TPK. At one time 2 of the players were engulfed by the Gelatnious Cube (both first level) and it was entirely dumb luck rolling mostly ones on the 6D6 damage that they didn't die outright. As other reviews have said, the plot hooks are very lacking and heavily rely on players being in a Faction and even then aren't very strong.

I will say that all of my players had an immense amount of fun playing this module, even though their characters had no idea why they were on this quest (Especially because the only NPC they saved was the Baker, so they didn't find out about any of the backstory in the sewers). And to top it off, the 3rd level Sorcerer rolled a Natural 20 to hit Fenaria with a chaos bolt in the third round of combat dealing 36 points of damage, forcing her to lose concentration and bringing her below 10hp.

Overall story is good but the hook are quite weak though S8 changes made many older hooks meaningless. Throughout the module, the most asked question is "Why are we doing this again?" (more from factionless players but even Zhentarim players questioned the motive because it was not accordance to Zhentarim tenants). Basically, the module had too many plot holes for my players.

Combat balancing was quite inconsistent, some fights are way too easy while other were way too hard. As a DM I had to redo many of the fights to cater to my players (run twice for a group of fresh players and another group of experienced players).

Having part 2 and part 3 of the trilogy come a year later is... not the best.

Edit: Meant a 3 not a 2.

I ran this adventure for a group of teens at our library, and it contains a lot of helpful information for DMs without overloading us (as can often be the case).

The DM supplement sheet ("cheat sheet") was beneficial since it gives brief instructions for how the different parts of the adventure meld together, as well as highlight what to emphasize and what the BBB's tactics and defenses are.

Well written, easy to play and an enjoyable use of enemies from the MM that might not otherwise get much time in the spotlight.

nice adveture with a great story. I always love when a party fights a actule advetuer thath nows what thier doing.

Had a great time playing this adventure! I am very excited to play the next part/s of the series!

Really enjoyed this part of the adventure and looking for more. Can't wait. Interesting encounters, nice maps, and well written. The players loved the final written scene. So far in the 2 play throughs they avoided the final fight, probably lucky for them really.