This was about as great as I could have hoped. It may take a little while to adjust to Blaine's style of DMing, compared to Sark's awesome (albeit shitty) DMing. But the new characters, especially Hug, seem like they'll be a lot of fun.
A couple of nerd complaints: Lyra had her sword AT LID'S THROAT, yet he somehow got the drop on her and knocked her out with one punch? How did that happen?
Also, does everyone realize they get to add strength to their attack and damage rolls? I never hear anyone mention adding modifiers to those rolls. Brian should have gotten a +1 to his battle axe damage with a 16 strength, right?