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If you have a habit of picking up stray Pawns in Dragon’s Dogma 2 (maybe based on appearance), then this can happen to you. Dragonsplague is a surprise mechanic in Dragon’s Dogma 2 that will turn your Pawn into a Queen that will slay… literally; they’ll massacre the whole town while you sleep like a baby. Such a harrowing case of Pawn rabies can be devastating to your playthrough and savefile. So here’s how to prevent, stop, or recover from Dragonsplague in Dragon’s Dogma 2.
What Exactly is Dragonsplague
Simply put, you can treat Dragonsplague like some kind of rabies for your Pawns, as we mentioned above. It’s not clear where it began, but your main Pawn can contract it if you bring in another Pawn with Dragonsplague (either player-made or game-generated). This happens if the online Pawn-sharing metric is enabled.
As soon as you bring in a Pawn with Dragonsplague, you’ll get a message explaining Dragonsplague, but it doesn’t really tell the full story.
Around seven days after your Pawn contracts the Dragonsplague, they will go on a murder spree as soon as you rest in a town’s Inn. They’ll murder nearly everyone except you in the immediate town’s vicinity. That includes the important quest NPCs. Real ice-cold gangsta stuff.
How to Prevent or Stop Dragonsplague
You can avoid Dragonsplague even before you bring any new Pawn. For starters, it appears Pawns recruited in Riftstones are less likely to be carriers of Dragonsplague. In any case, here are some telltale signs that a Pawn or even your main Pawn has Dragonsplague.
- Check their eyes. If the Pawn’s eyes are glowing red, they likely have Dragonsplague unless you actually set their iris red in the character creator.
- If you see their face grimace or twitch while they’re idle, they probably have it. Look for an angered or pained expression outside of combat.
- You can check their eyes or face by talking to them or telling them to ‘Wait.”
- If the Pawn starts disobeying your orders or starts barking rude remarks, that’s a sign.
If a random Pawn looks like that, then don’t hire them. But if it’s too late and if you see your main Pawn with these signs, then you can take some drastic measures to halt the Dragonsplague’s progress.
Consider these actions against Dragonsplague-afflicted Pawns (including your main Pawn, no exceptions):
- Throw them off a cliff to kill them (don’t revive them while bleeding out, of course). The next time you bring them back via Riftstone (if they’re a main Pawn), they’ll be cured of Dragonsplague.
- If you’re unsure, throw them off a cliff anyway and just fetch them back from a Riftstone; the main Pawn won’t mind.
- You can also drown them.
- Avoid resting in Inns or populated areas if you get the Dragonsplague warning message.
On the off-chance that you let Dragonsplague progress to the point where your Pawn kills everyone, don’t worry; they’ll be cured after that since they’ll also die while carrying out the massacre. On the bright side, at least they didn’t harm you.
