A plague that spread rapidly all across the lands of Lordaeron, the aftermath caused a devastating blow to the human race as they lost nearly all of their kingdoms to the dead and those that survived the battle had to deal with the Burning Legion, those that have survived the war are now scattered throughout Lordaeron, calling themselves the Scarlet Crusaders battling against the Undead but they are losing and there is no way they can retake their land from the Scourge.
This takes place before the Lich King spreads his conquest all over Azeroth, causing the Horde and the Alliance to side together to attack Northrend but now it's set between the humans and the blood elves against the new undead called the Forsaken, the humans from the west do try to reclaim their lands but the way things are going they cannot succeed on defeating them but they will not abandon their people so they will bring forth a strong paladin from Theramore island, a male paladin named Darren Blackwith that will soon become a Scarlet Crusader to join the war against the Scourge, he wishes to end this because he wanted to do this to the one he fell in love with a while ago, a night elf woman that had to watch her land be corrupted by a deadly blight, he was with her a few times alone privately but now he must head to a ship and sail back to Lordaeron and a couple of soldiers to end this war between the Forsaken and the Scarlets.
They land the ships on the coast of Trisfal Glades in the north; there he will have to send his soldiers through the land towards a town called Hearthglen to join with the others who have retaken that place from the Scourge during the civil war between the Scourge and the Forsaken. He and thirty soldiers that volunteer to join this fight heads to the town to regroup with another hundred people they prepares a defence against the Forsaken as soon they will prepare an attack on this area.
Darren was wearing heavy plated armour like the Scarlets, silver with red and a red cape attached to his armour, his soldiers behind him also wore Scarlet armour just to blend in to make sure the Forsaken doesn't know they came from Theramore.
He and his soldiers made it through; he stands at the front of the town looking at the destruction of this place then back to the one in charge of this operation. "Who's in charge?"
A footman walks over to Darren. "You're Darren? You're in charge now... the captain is dead."
Darren takes off his helmet that had wings on both sides to it; showing his face to the soldier, he had short blonde hair and blue eyes. "What do you mean he's dead? Explain what has happen..."
He looks back and starts walking inside the town, he and the others walks through to set up. "He wanted to scout the area, he saw the dark ranger and thought he can take her but he was wrong..." he said while they were walking "They were ambushed, no one survived it. It's just us now."
"I guess i have to take care of this... this is why I'm here, to take care of the situation..." he looks at the footman "Secure the area, if there is an army coming then warn me and prepare for battle, no one leaves this place until i give the word."
He nods and runs to his post, others started to head to their post while some try to nurse the others that can't pick up a weapon to fight. Darren heads to the others to hear the situation going on but soon one of the scout's runs towards them telling them that an undead force, the Scourge is marching towards them from the south, they want Hearthglen before the Forsaken gets there. The Forsaken is elsewhere at the moment but once they are done they will head to Hearthglen after the Scourge attack but right now it's between the Scarlets and the Scourge.
Darren orders those that are outside of the town to return back and prepare a defence around this whole area, they hope to defend this position against the Scourge then head out of there before the Forsaken gets there next; the only thing they are worried about is just how many dead corpse will be marching towards the town.
Darren "I want all infantry into positions now!" he said while walking towards one of the areas "get the ranged attackers inside the buildings and in high ground, do not pursue the enemy, let them come to us!" he draws his great sword and stands on the positions they need to defend.
It was getting dark where they were and only two areas for the dead to storm through this town while the other areas were blocked by the debris. The Scarlets held their position and waits for the dead to reveal themselves, after a few minutes of waiting they reveal themselves to them. Skeletons charges through the night, clashing against the defenders while the necromancers and spider creatures stayed behind, ghouls would just jump over them but they got shot down by the archers, they began to fire back at the ranged creatures while the melee fighters deal with the ghouls and skeletons. Darren's side was dealing with ghouls and large creatures of abominations and undead ogres, they smashed through their defences but some got killed thanks to the archers, Darren would charge through and strikes down one of them to the neck, causing it to fall back then orders his soldiers to push forward and kill the others before the rest of the dead storm through.
The Undead broke through their defence but they continue to fight back until they are all dead but soon Darren quickly called a retreat back into the middle with all they have to make a stand against the dead, they poured through the entrances and into the open area where Darren and the others charges towards them clashing through them as they cannot lose this fight against the Scourge. They fight until the sun rises and finally victory was on their side as they survived the onslaught. Darren stands on the dead ogres looking out at the dead bodies everywhere, he couldn't celebrate anything as this wasn't a victory for him, they may have won the battle but there is no way they can win the war against the dead.
The Dark Lady Sylvanas stands on the cliff looking out at the town, she saw the battle and the victory the Scarlets had done in order to survive, she slightly smiles for a moment then a banshee would be behind her.
"Shall we commence the attack?" she said to Sylvanas
She turns back to the banshee "No... let them be, they done us a favour." She looks back to them.
Darren would look around the place and then looks up seeing Sylvanas standing there looking down at him, he stares at her for a moment and so does she but she turns back and walks away, returning to the capital along with her forces.
"The Dark Lady..." he mumbles to himself then back to the others "Alright..." he jumps off the ogre "We need to get out of here before more come, we regroup with the others alright, so let's go!" he place his sword away and helps out those that need help.
They prepare a caravan and started to head out at dawn, they left their dead behind and started to moved off the roads, heading to the city of Stratholme there Darren and the others will unite with whoever is inside the destroyed city, with that they will be able to finally take a break from the undead as they will not attack the city, not yet anyway but once they fled the town the Forsaken moved in and have taken control of Hearthglen without dealing with any resistance.
The gates of this city were opened as they were expecting them; they let them all through the city to get some rest. Inside the city the walls were still up but the inside of the city was all destroyed thanks to Arthas when he faced a Dreadlord long ago when he was a paladin but now this place is one of the surviving areas for the Scarlet Crusaders. They were able to defend this place against the Scourge but they had a few setbacks time after time when they wanted to go on the offensive but they kept getting pushed back into the city like a rat stuck in his hole because of a cat nearby. Darren walks through the city and moves towards the main building where the one in charge of this place lies and where Darren would get new orders from him, the one in charge of the whole Scarlet operation named Saidan. He was expecting Darren to come here with whats left of the people that survived Hearthglen.
"We have been waiting for you Darren, thank you for being here." He said as he looks up seeing Darren
"I was called from Theramore to help the people of this city; i am ready to fight the Scourge." Darren stood strong while holding his helmet on his left hand
"We will be fighting the Forsaken, they are the top priority but for now the Scourge has been attacking out positions so it's up to you to take care of the Scourge while i deal with the Forsaken myself."
"Then what shall i do to defeat the Scourge. Where do i go?"
"You are going to Dalaran; there you will meet a blood elf and a few of his people. They are getting ready to reclaim Dalaran but they need reinforcements before they are able to siege that place"
"Very well then, i will take my men and move to the-"
"Your men are staying here." He interrupts Darren "I need only you there while your men stay here and defend the area, there is already a group heading to the elves right now but you need to regroup with them before the Forsaken destroys them."
Darren would nod and place his helmet on "My men are now yours, take care of those brave soldiers for me sir, i will be back." He turns back and walks out of the room, heading back in the streets where he will return to his soldiers to tell those whats happening.
Darren would take a horse and rides out there, heading to the south and avoid the roads. He kept getting delayed as there were some undead scouting parties here and there, causing him to fight them so he can press forward to meet the blood elves. He made to a small camp that was waiting for him, almost fifteen Scarlet warriors standing ready then with him there they march to the front gates of Dalaran to meet with the blood elves.
The city of Dalaran was destroyed, all in ruins and no mages survived the war. Darren looks out seeing the city in ruins noticing a few demons patrolling inside while there are many undead creatures living inside, knowing this maybe harder than he thinks. He takes his soldiers towards the rendezvous point but instead of a blood elf he spots he discovers someone else that he and his people didn't expect would be here in the middle the plague lands. A dragon Consort to the queen of dragons named Korialstrasz or in other words named Krasus.
"Krasus... i didn't expect you would be here helping us." Darren said as he walks over to him and shakes his hand.
Krasus does the same thing to him "I came here to help the human race defeat the undead, after all they spread a blight through Ashenvale so my queen ordered me to avenge the fallen by coming here helping the Scarlets retake their lands from the Scourge."
"It's good to see you here." He looks back at the city of Dalaran "We have to siege that place now before the enemy calls for reinforcements. Are you ready?"
Krasus would nod then starts to walk a bit away from Darren and the others. "I am ready." He then suddenly transforms himself into the red dragon then takes flight, flying around in the city.
Darren would side with the blood elves that came here and together they got a formation at the ready, they cut through the city like an arrow hitting a tree. Krasus would send fire to the defences while he flies around the city to help them from above and would also send fireballs down at the demon doom guards before they prepare to charge at Darren, he destroys them and with that they pushed through so quickly, already halfway in the city they would take a break for a moment and let Krasus damage more of the enemies defences before going forward. Krasus fires more fire down at the enemies bases and some demons included, soon Darren would press forward as the dead march towards them well whats left of them anyway but they couldn't defeat Darren and his forces, with the magic the blood elves possess and the melee fighters from the Scarlets they pretty much defeated them so quickly but the Dead hasn't lost this round yet as whats left of their army forms together at the end of the line as a Death knight stands before the invaders, preparing to defend this place as he rules the ruins of Dalaran.
Darren would stop and hold position as he figured out that the enemy is retreating further within to make a stand against them. "They're pulling back, that means their leader is ready to take us on."
Krasus would fly above them and transform himself back to normal. He lands in front of Darren "A Death knight stands before you and your victory over this city, you better be ready to take him on cause i can't go further in but i can take care of any infantry you missed. It's all up to you now."
"Thank you Krasus for what you have done, i will take care of the death knight myself and we will finally get rid of the Scourge soon if this keeps up."
Krasus would nod and turns back to dragon, flying back in the sky and eliminating any defences and any forces he can find to clear a path for Darren and his forces to march. They run up the stairs to the upper level and march through towards where the undead are defending, Darren would signal his people to stop and let Krasus appear to the side burning the undead he can take out. Once he stopped with his fire Darren would rush through striking down the rest of the dead, moving through inside the building but would stop and slowly walks through just in case an ambush is getting ready for them.
They continue to move forward but suddenly the dead sprung the ambush on them, they strikes through their lines quickly, attacking from all sides but they fight back and push them away for Darren to get through them to meet the death knight, he suddenly appears in front of Darren and swings his sword in front of him, causing Darren to block it but causes him to lose his footing, he crashes back against two humans but they helped him up by pushing him back towards the death knight, they clash their swords together in the middle of the room but Darren starts to attack rapidly at the death knight, he continues pushing him back away from the others he keeps swinging his sword but couldn't get a hit on his body. Soon the death knight's sword glows green and was about to swing his sword back towards him but he would evade that swing, it would send a strange green and blackish skull out of his sword, going towards the others and exploding during impact, taking out almost five people but Darren would then swing his sword to the side of the knight, striking off his hands and then beheading the death knight once and for all.
The dead flee in terror but they too were slaughtered by the might of the Crusaders. They all cheer in victory then heads outside where Krasus was waiting for them in human form, Darren walks of there also both of them had a smile on their face as they have taken the city of Dalaran.
"Great job you did here." Krasus said to Darren "The wizards will soon come back to take Dalaran, i will protect this city in case reinforcements arrive."
"You're the one that saved us. We should we thanking you."
"True but once i am done defending this place i must return to my queen and then return to Theramore to report to Jaina and tell her whats happening here on the front."
"Krasus... before you go could you deliver a message to someone in the Alliance?" he said as he takes out a scroll he wrote during the time when was on that ship.
"Who is the person i should give this message to?"
"Her name is Mileria Moonseeker. A night elf Sentinel, please give this message to her only."
"Hmmnn very well i will give her the message." He takes the scroll and places it away "But it will take a week before i get to Ashenvale forest."
"I know." Darren slightly smiles "I just want her to know how I'm doing here."
"Well good luck Darren, i will give this to her don't worry." He turns back and takes flight. He flies above the clouds and remains hidden for now on
Darren would soon order the blood elves and the humans to return back to the north while the wizards return to their city to maybe rebuild it but this time they won't let the Scourge take this city again from them. Darren would have to take a two day march back to Stratholme and hopes that this victory will spread throughout the lands telling that the Scourge will soon be over.