[Balanor]

Messengers travel throughout Thay with the glorious news: many of the once-free towns of the Wizard’s Reach have been conquered and are under the control of the Thay and the Red Wizards! Under the command of the valiant Tenslayer Hargrid Tenslayer of the Lapendrar; mercenaries, the legion of the Lapendrar, and their salamander and efreeti planar allies summoned by the zulkirs of Conjuration and Evocation, all rallied at the Keep of Sorrows. After inspection by the tharchion himself, with the lords of the efreeti and salamanders looking on, the armies split and marched south and east into the Wizard’s Reach.

The closest towns to Thay, Murbant and Thasselen, both fell on the first day of the invasion. Murbant put up no resistance, having no city walls and few mercenaries to protect it. The mayor surrendered the town without a fight and its streets are now patrolled by legionnaires of the Lapendrar legion.

Thasselen however, put up considerable resistance. Led by the ‘expendable’ mercenaries and assorted legionnaires who heeded the call to arms, the town was taken in fierce fighting and at great loss to the salamanders and efreeti who helped with the invasion. Ultimately though, the power of Thay was no match for the defenders and both the captain of the town guard and lord charged with the defense of the city were slain for daring to oppose the inevitable.

Even now, Tharchion Tenslayer lays siege to the city of Escalant further east with the bulk of the invasion force, and divisions have already split off from it and have begun heading further east along the coast. It is a glorious moment for all of Thay, so long thwarted in its attempts to claim the cities and realms that have long defied it. Surely the Zulkirs of Evocation and Conjuration, and Tharchion Tenslayer, with such a carefully thought-out battle plan will continue to bring glory and many victories to all of Thay!