Avayevnon: Red Pestilence

[Seraph]

Red Pestilence

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   It was midday in San Riezco and the filthy streets were deserted.  The streets were always deserted as of late.  The people were under orders from Shardmoore not to leave their homes.  None dared; they feared a creeping menace in the shadows and right before their eyes, a fate unpredictable and deadly.  It could not be seen until its work be done, and by then it has passed and left only the corpses of those who would detect it.  Some called it an unholy blight, but all agreed that whatever it was, it must be avoided at all costs, but how can you avoid an enemy that does not live or die, who does not eat or sleep, who cannot be seen nor heard?

   The silence was rudely broken by the clottering of cart-wheels upon the uneven cobblestone of Via Pureza towards the afflicted home.  Ahead of the cart strode a tall man with black robes and a mask of a great ibis bird, its long bill stuffed full of hay and cloth.  Upon the cart lay three emaciated figures each a peculiar shade of deep red.  They were dead.  The ibis-masked man mounted the three roughly hewn stone steps to the modest and dirty doorway.  He took hold of his long straight staff and rapt upon the door with its end.  It was long and black with a silver censer at the end hanging from a chain of two links so that it could be swung lightly from side to side for blessings.  The door cracked open and a yellowish eye peered out at the priest.  The two whispered a few snatches of conversation and the door closed, removing the yellow eye from sight.  

   Some minutes later the door opened once more to reveal an aging man with a grizzly two-pronged beard.  He wore a filthy brownish jerkin over a tattered shirt more yellow with stains than white.  He walked hunched over from the weight of what was clearly once a woman.  She wore a fearful, pained expression on her lined and once beautiful face.  He skin was dripping red from every pore and orifice and the spots marked clean by the mans grimy hands shone eerie white, and beneath her skin could be seen a web of mangled varicose veins, as if whole blood vessels had ruptured of their own volition.  The smell of her was the unmistakable smell of blood, blood which had literally seeped like sweat from her gaunt and empty shell of a body.  Scholars and priests called this Cruentus Contagiumâ,¬'Laypeople called it Red Pestilence.  This was the plight of San Riezco.

Cruentus Contagium
Called Red Pestilence by common folk, this plague can sweep through cities and town, putting thousands in quarantine at a time and killing mercilessly.  Its victims sweat blood as their veins and arteries burst.  It is known to put entire wars on hold as both sides seek shelter from the predatory plague.  Battles and wars are lost by unfortunate armies caught in the path of the deadly contagion.  Some of the most desperate turn the plague on their foes, catapulting their sick and dying into enemy camps to infect their foes.
Red Pestilence is an unholy blight upon Avayevnon.  It was spawned by the demon Pazuzu, the worldâ,¬,,¢s most insidious foe and he sends it to wreak havoc on the land.  Only an act of faith can rid someone of the plague and holy water is employed as a defense.  Once infected, a victim is quarantined to prevent the disease from being spread to others.  Priests invoke the One God in their treatment of the diseased.  There have been stories of druids similarly able to cure victims by invoking spirits.  Such stories are unconfirmed.
Infection:  Red Pestilence is spread by rats and vermin.  It can be spread through injury by a bite in which the contagion is entered into the bloodstream where it causes the vessels to burst and the skin to secrete blood.  The plague can also be spread by contact with infected blood secreted from the bodies.  After the incubation period and a failed fortitude save the victim takes 1d6 constitution damage each day.  The DC to resist infection is 18.
Incubation:  Cruentus Contagium may lie dormant for as long as a ten-day once infected before the victim shows any symptoms of the disease.  Upon a failed fortitude save to resist the disease, roll 1d10 to determine the incubation period before the victim begins to take constitution damage.
Healing:  Ordinary use of the heal skill is insufficient to cure Red Pestilence.  A victim can only be cured of Cruentus Contagium through use of the spell cure disease, cast by a cleric or druid.  

[Wensleydale]

Awesome.

...

I want more of Avaveynon!

[Tangential]

That really does rock. I say this with bias because, with the same flavour, and nigh exact same mechanics I sicked this on my players.

Three months ago.

I guess that whole great minds thing is true after all.

[Tybalt]

That is pretty nasty. It needs a street nick though. How about "Bloody Pest"?