I have played and run this adventure now, and can comfortably say it's on the whole a delight. Despite having the same attitude for packing as many things into it that other scenarios employ, it's somehow not egregiously long? When I played it we ran for about 3 hours and when I ran we were closer to 4.
On the whole I think the scenario thrives on it's facetious humor, between Captain Chun's eye-rolling puns and the reveal of lady Tevenig's special delivery, I think it's a joy through and through.
The scenario features two severe encounters, which is abnormal for society adventures. I actually agree with this decision, though the second one is a little lacking compared to the first. The first severe combat is reasonably difficult, even my party composed mostly of high tier characters in a low tier game struggled. I think that Vordine's are a more interesting monster than I initially gave them credit for, and are a worthy but fair replacement for the Barbazu.
The final fight of the scenario feels a little underwhelming, for one where it's preceding fight feels very thematically apt and narratively relevant, the final encounter does feel as though the enemies jumped directly out of the NPC core to attack you, it could have used some more thematic flair I feel. It's also a significantly easier encounter in my experience, that could be in part because NPC core creatures seem to be more focused on being "neat" than "challenging", not that it's a bad thing per se.
While I'm not too fond of the violent way the scenario's protestors behave, especially considering what they're protesting, I am willing to make a separation on account of the situation's absurd humor. I don't know if it's intentional, but the fact that you have to deal with protestors throwing cobblestones and then later in a chase come across a bumpy road missing it's cobblestones is an absolute riot.
The chase encounter itself I think is not a wasted inclusion because of the absurd, unserious way it conducts itself. While the choice of paths isn't of much consequence ultimately, it's pretty neat, and the fact that the choice determines where the last fight takes place is likewise a nice touch. I think overall, more society adventures should have more "little choices", like the choice of whether to allow the delivery to go through or not, I suspect it's difficult to write in choices like that and not have one more prominently chosen than the other, however.
I overall think this is a nice addition to the season 7 collection, I hope that this season keeps it up narrative-wise. Previous season have had strong starts before forgetting the plot halfway through, and I hope that is not a fate that befalls this one.
Good job Matt :)
