Agreed - this prologue also should get you from lvl 1-3 or somesuch... that way, the "expulsive" starting set piece wouldn't feel that charring.
You know I would be cool without it not even resulting in experience and just pure flavor. You and your low level loser friends preparing for what you imagine to be an adventure, getting your gear together, putting a plan together that introduces you to the mechanics of general game play, then maybe resulting in a small skirmish interrupted by the Illithids. An hour or so of content just as with Candlekeep. Cut to intro, resume with the content given in EA.
