When Cyre began hiring Valenar mercenaries, Elsaral Quilath was one of the first war chiefs to respond. Eager to test his blades and lead his forces into battle, he did not accept the Cyran offer through messengers or intermediaries, or even by traveling to Metrol and speaking with the Cyran generals. Instead, Elsaral led his warband to the Cyre–Karrnath border and obliterated a Karrnathi advance unit before other forces could even respond to its presence. Urban legend tells that Queen Mishann herself received a special delivery: the skull of a Karrn general etched with the words “We accept” in Elven.
Elsara l’s warband, nicknamed the Dusk Riders by the amazed Cyrans, fought constantly throughout the war. Most of the time the Riders accepted assignments from Cyre, but at various points they took on limited tasks for other factions willing to pay. This situation continued up until the Day of Mourning, when the Dusk Riders were presumed lost en masse in the conflagration.