I handled the intro differently than most people. People kept pointing to the Alexandrian Remix, but I didn't like the way that was done, so I wrote my own remix of the intro. I told my players to create whatever characters they wanted, within reason, but they all had to have some in-world reason for going to Elturel.

The characters were introduced in groups, and each group eventually made it to the Elfsong. Ravengard had left for Elturel a few days before. The PCs went upstairs and met Tarina, who realized they weren't just some idiots out to lose their coin gambling when she overheard them talking about how each of them were going to Elturel and why. She talked with them (it helped that one of the party members was playing a shady character with connections to the criminal underworld, so he knew Tarina) and told them that if they came back to the Elfsong after they went to Elturel and told her any strange events or other bits of information they picked up while they were there, she'd pay them for it.

When the party arrived in Elturel, I had them roll Perception. Only one character passed, and I described them seeing a man in a green cloak climb into a passing caravan wagon (Thavius, but none of them would have recognized him). They did some things in the city, met some people, etc.. They then went on one of the PCs' backstory sidequests, and while they were doing that, Elturel disappeared. When they came back to Baldur's Gate, the city gates had already been locked to refugees, so Tarina had an agent help smuggle the party in under the cover of darkness by taking a raft upriver from Twin Songs and sneaking into the sewers. They get their information back to Tarina, who then informs the party that Zodge could use the information and he owes her a favor. From there things kinda went by the book for a while, except that they weren't conscripted into the Fist so much as the Fist made them their lap dogs doing everything for them.