Wizards of the Coast has announced that the launch weekend for Dead in Thay, the next season of D&D Encounters, is May 10-11, with the season to run on Wednesdays from May 14th to August 6th.  The adventure by Scott Fitzgerald Gray, part 2 of the Dreams of the Red Wizards Sundering storyline, is directly tied to the previous adventure, Scourge of the Sword Coast (see "'D&D Encounters' Goes Digital").  It’s also loosely connected to Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle. 

In this adventure, the Bloodgate must be destroyed in order to stop Szass Tam, the lich lord of Thay and his Red Wizards.  Reporting results of the game will continue to impact the future of the Forgotten Realms. 

Dead in Thay will lead into The Tyranny of Dragons, a multi-platform event tied to the launch of the next edition of Dungeons and Dragons (see "'D&D: The Tyranny of Dragons,' New 'D&D Encounters'").

WotC encourages D&D Encounters players to use the D&D Next rule set, while producing the adventures so they can be played with any D&D rules (see "WotC Clarifies 'Next' Encounters").