The Tier 1 adventures of Season 9 of the D&D Adventurers League conclude with M.T. Black’s The Day of the Devil, a little romp in Baldur’s Gate about cultists, murders and – gasp! – devils!

The adventure has a 2+2 structure, that is, a two-hour adventure with two one-hour bonus objectives, and comes as close as any adventure I’ve run to presenting this satisfactorily. It helps that that the structure is quite linear, and the bonus bits just fit into the plot as extra options that add to and extend the story. They didn’t feel like you needed to run them, but neither did they feel tacked-on. That’s no small achievement, and one I applaud.

The adventure begins as the characters see one of the Dukes of Baldur’s Gate murdered while addressing the townsfolk. Soon, the characters deduce (or are told) that the diabolic cult is trying to murder all the descendants of the original Hellriders of Elturel, of which the Duke was one. They then race to defend the remaining descendants, who are amongst the refugees they accompanied from Elturel in the previous three adventures; the rest of the adventure primarily consists of battles against cultists (with a potential chase to break things up).

The battles and chase are entertaining to run, with a few complications thrown in for good measure. The initial battle against devils that appear at the murder site has a fleeing crowd complicating matters. A random table provides additional events to spice up the combat, such as citizens in trouble and requiring rescuing, which distracts the players from their main foes. There’s also the chance for a bit of planning before the cultist attack about how to best defend the warehouse the refugees are sheltering in.

The difficulty of the encounters is worth noting as, in the full form, there are three combats with no chances for short rests in-between. Especially with level 1 characters, you’ll have to be wary as it’s very easy to overwhelm the party.

There are nice touches of horror amongst the action, and the mere fact that there’s a planning session allows role-players a good chance to represent their characters.

However, not everything is perfect. There’s a systematic problem with the D&D Adventurers League adventures, particularly visible in the last three seasons, and it’s this: they assume the DMs and players are familiar with the current hardcover. What’s a Hellrider? That information isn’t given anywhere in this adventure. That the ruling Duke of Baldur’s Gate is missing and the other dukes are scrambling to control the situation? The adventure doesn’t tell you that either. I don’t think a lot of background information is needed, but its lack is something that made the task of running the adventure more difficult.

These details are especially needed when you can’t assume that the DM or players have run previous instalments of the series.

The presentation and layout of the adventure functions effectively, although there’s a lack of boxed text. I think that boxed text would have been especially useful for setting the scene for the Duke’s speech. I drew upon my experience running Murder in Baldur’s Gate to provide extra details and resonance, but more information would have been nice.

Overall, this adventure provides an exciting and entertaining challenge for the players; heavy on combat and action. It helps for the DM to be flexible in their approach – especially in the chase scene – but despite my niggles with missing information, I still highly recommend this adventure.