Firstly great company personally i alway judge them by the maps first,what can i say simply fantastic.
Anyway down to the review.
The concept of the story is very good and fits the background of the city very well.I in my world i made the city the first point of contact in the new world however it was cut of eight months of the year for me once the players were there they would be pushed into getting involved.
Why i mention this is because the background clearly assumes that the players are outsiders. I also agree this is best for the story.
From a dming point of view the story is very linear. You have to do a to achieve b. Thats ok to a degree however it will not work for many groups. Without spoiling the plot it is assumed the players will need to visit a crematorium. The owner will not let them in so it is assumed the players will break in.
Thats a pretty big assumsion i knew my group would not go down this route so i made the victim the son of a blood senator and the blood senator could not be openly seen delving into his sons death because its a military matter however the group could so he gives them an arcane scroll and tells the group with this they will be able to examine the body.
I knew my group would assume it was a sealed letter of introduction however one glue given in the writing says the crematoriun owner likes high level arcane magic and i just put two and two together.
So as you can see there is a lot of work required however its a very good story and i like the fact that you scratch my back and i will give you some information is kind of fun. It gets experienced players out of there comfort zone by having do things they would not normally and if they wont then just bring the story to a close and they loose the contacts in a cut of city you ultimately got to take sides one way or the other.
By the way the maps are amazing and if nothing else it is worth buying.
The story needs work however its a very good idea so for that reason i score it a four however if you are a novice dm its at best a three.
I also think your scoring system should be out of four no sitting on the fence just a thought.
regards Sean

Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!]