From publisher blurb: "Beyond the Forest of Night" is the second installment of a classic fantasy adventure series called Slayers of the Great Serpent. The vision behind the Slayers of the Great Serpent series is about creating a story about heroes and their great deeds, but also about making a world that is majestic and awe-inspiring. This is a quest that requires the party to travel far beyond the lands known to them and cross half the world, witnessing many bizarre and spectacular sights and facing many dangers. In this adventure, the heroes must cross the dangerous Snow Drake River at the only safe passage, a bridge fort that is currently besieged by an evil baroness. The lord of the keep tells them of a secret, but terribly dangerous, crossing point. The heroes also learn that the route to the port city of Syrn involves traveling through a vile and dangerous landscape known as the Swamp of Woe and Lost Hope. The only man known to have entered the swamp and returned to tell the tale is a woodsman named Byrnes, who is currently incarcerated in the infamous Prison at Burning Claw. The party may be tempted to free the unjustly held rustic in order to gain information about the horrid swamp. After making their way through the dreadful Swamp of Woe and Lost Hope, the heroes arrive in the bustling and hectic metropolis of Syrn. They make inquiries about obtaining passage on a ship heading to the exotic east, and are told of a captain who boasts that his route through the Spice Islands and bordering lands takes him within sight of the fabled nation of Xi. However, a mysterious carnival and a slave revolt complicate matters.