Realms: In The Beginning

In our inaugural adventure in the young Realms:

A series of brutal, gory murders terrorizes a small village in Halruaa, and our heroes investigate. Finding tracks leading from the most recent kill westward, they pursue the killer deep into the Akhkaur Swamp, and into an ambush! Native bullywugs, led by a pair of sinister and deadly yuan-ti halfbloods, surround the party. During the fight, Martin catches some of the yuan-ti speech, and learns that they have been ordered to capture the party if possible. Our heroes narrowly prevail, slaying one yuan-ti, and the other flees.

Now hot on the trail of this second yuan-ti, the party comes at length to a twisted, foul part of the swamp. The yuan-ti's trail leads directly into an underwater tunnel. Warned off by an acrid odor, the slowly decaying bodies of three bullywugs in a nearby pond, and a complete lack of other life in the area, they retreat, deciding to find the bullywug camp and glean what information they can there.

Locating the camp and capturing a guard pose little difficulty for the experienced rangers, and soon the party has a guide. Their prisoner leads them across the marshes into deeper water, and finally to a dock pointing into the River Ghalagar, which cuts across the center of the Akhkaur. There they found a yuan-ti slaver galleon, apparently deserted. Boarding, our heroes find signs of recent occupation, several slave cages, lodging for several yuan-ti (including a dread Abomination), and captain's quarters.

And in one of the cages, bound and dehydrated, they find a captured human. A mage of some kind, from the looks of him. With a certain light in his eyes, usually reserved for Player Characters...