Dragon’s Dogma 2 has many different dynamic gameplay systems including various status effects, one of which is the Dragonsplague. It is an incredibly dangerous illness that can transfer from one pawn to the other. Players need to be proactive in figuring it out otherwise they will suffer a major setback in story/quests and potentially ruin their save data.
Dragonsplague is hinted at in the game right from the beginning. If you keep an ear on what your Pawn says, you will learn that they mention a mysterious illness that can spread among the pawns. This illness is called Dragonsplague and it is one of the many debilitations that you can get in the game, except, there is no proper way to cure it.
What Is Dragonsplague?
The official description for Dragonsplague can be read in the tutorial menu. It explains the plague as follows.
Dragonsplague is a myserious illness that can only be contracted by panws. Unlike other debilitations, it is not recorded in the pawn’s Status. Afflicted pawns remain entirely unaware of their condition, and there will be no objective difference in their behavior. All that is known of the effects of this illness are that it can result in a devastating calamity.
Dragonsplague is contagious, and can pass between pawns traveling together in the same party. There are only two known ways to cure dragonsplague: the afflicted pawn must either bcome forfeit, or “infect” another pawn, passing the illness on to them.
Capcom had also teased this illness in a pre-release coverage: “Infected pawns display remarkable performance and become conspicuously strong in their speech and behavior.” This is a good hint on how to learn if our pawn is infected with the Dragonsplague.
How To Avoid Dragonsplague
The best way to avoid the Dragonsplague is to keep an eye on your main pawn as well as keep a look out for pawns when hiring them from the Rift. They will have glowing red eyes so you will be able to see if they are infected during nighttime. They will also have some odd behavior, e.g. refusing to follow your advice, or acting on their own, even if they are kindhearted. You will notice them acting sick as well. They will cough and put their hands on their head like they are having a headache, all of which are important signs to keep in mind.
Here is an example of an infected pawn shared by a user on Reddit.
The infected pawn needs to be neutralized so your best bet is to throw them down a cliff, or into the water. You also need to make sure that your other pawns are not already infected at this point. Avoid resting at any inn in a town when you have an infected pawn in the party as it can have a devastating effect. The entire town can be killed by this plague.
How To Recover From Dragonsplague
If you are hit by the Dragonsplague, neutralize your pawn as soon as possible. If you accidentally ended up sleeping at an inn and the entire town is now dead, you can hope for the best and pass time through bench for up to a week and most of the important NPCs will be resurrected.
You can also try to use an Eternal Wakestone that can be found by completing the quest with the Sphinx Riddles. This Wakestone has a limited range so while it might not revive everyone in a big town like Vernworth, it can work fine for smaller towns if you are in the range of the dead NPCs. Someone was able to use the Eternal Wakestone to revive 169 NPCs in their town, so there is supposedly no limit for it aside from the range.