Scarlet Onslaught The Scarlet Onslaught was once the Scarlet Crusade , and have traveled to the Dragonblight of Northrend in their hopes of defeating the Lich King . The Onslaught appears to care little about the original Crusade ' s wishes , as it employs shadow priests and even death knights into its ranks . Quotes from High General Abbendis in New Hearthglen imply that the Onslaught ' s goal is not just the destruction of the Scourge , but also of anyone that oppose them . History . At the time of the Onslaught ' s foundation , the Scarlet Crusade had been under constant siege , with the Alliance and the Horde attacking their forces at the Scarlet Monastery and in Stratholme . There was , however , one region of the Eastern Plaguelands which had been remarkably untouched by the plague that had despoiled the remainder of northern Lordaeron . This region was appropriately known as the Scarlet Enclave , consisting of the Scarlet capital of Tyr ' s Hand and the towns of Havenshire and New Avalon . These towns came under the protection of the Crusade forces stationed in Tyr ' s Hand , led by High General Brigitte Abbendis - the last survivor of the Crusade ' s original founders . All that changed with the arrival of in the skies above the Enclave . In short order , the Scourge had established a base camp in the Ebon Hold ' s shadow and began their campaign of destruction . As the death knights of Acherus began to march on Havenshire , Abbendis claimed to receive visions from the Light , instructing her to take the most faithful of her troops and journey to Northrend . This became known among the Scarlet troops as the " Crimson Dawn " , a revival of the Crusade and its " holy mission " . The Fall of the Scarlet Enclave . By that point , the death knights had laid waste to Havenshire and were now seeking to find out more about this " Crimson Dawn " mentioned in New Avalon ' s registry , taken from the town hall after they murdered New Avalon ' s Mayor Quimby . They discovered that a courier had been sent from Hearthglen by High Commander Galvar Pureblood , informing Abbendis that an army of Crusaders from Hearthglen and Tirisfal were being assembled to reinforce the Enclave and battle the forces of Acherus . One of the death knights , disguised as the courier ( having murdered the real courier , taking his clothing and Pureblood ' s message ) , delivered the message to Abbendis . Realizing that the Plaguelands were lost , Abbendis ordered " the courier " to return to Pureblood , inform him to turn his armies around and prepare for the journey to Northrend . She gave " the courier " a copy of her diary , claiming it would explain everything . It was at this point that she declared that the Scarlet Crusade was no more - that they were now the Scarlet Onslaught . The message never reached Pureblood , and his forces were annihilated by the Scourge as a result . With the combined army marching to their doom , High General Abbendis boarded her flagship , the " Sinner ' s Folly " , and set sail for Northrend , leaving the Crusade to its fate . Landfall in Northrend . Sailing across the North Sea for many weeks and losing one of her ships to the kvaldir , Abbendis and her chosen followers made landfall on the coast of the Dragonblight in southern Northrend . Their banner was planted on the heights above the Forgotten Shore , where they began construction of their capital , New Hearthglen . This , Abbendis declared , was the " Crimson Dawn " , the foundation of a new Crusade . Within a month of the Onslaught ' s arrival in Northrend , Abbendis received an unexpected visitor : Admiral Barean Westwind , the Scarlet fleet commander who had been believed dead on these shores many years earlier . Westwind claimed to be the only survivor of his fleet and assured Abbendis that he was not there to usurp her , but rather serve as her advisor . The Admiral - secretly possessed by the dreadlord Mal ' Ganis , thought to have been the first to fall to Frostmourne nearly a decade before - guided the Onslaught ' s actions from thereon out . Yet despite Westwind ' s assurances and the troops ' belief that he would bring them victory , Abbendis suspected that the Admiral was not as he seemed . . . Bases . The Onslaught primarily operates out of the city of New Hearthglen , located in the Dragonblight on Northrend ' s southern coast . There are two other bases in Dragonblight : The Onslaught Base Camp located north of the Carrion Fields beneath Naxxramas , and Scarlet Point east of the Crystal Vice . There is also a more secluded base , Onslaught Harbor , set on a broken island off the mountainous , western coast of Icecrown .