As Dragon's Dogma 2 players desperately try to stop Dragonsplague from killing off NPCs, they're resorting to the only surefire cure - throwing their Pawns into the Brine

The Dragon's Dogma 2 community has been left shaken by the existence of Dragonsplague – a deadly illness introduced in the sequel that can result in entire towns being killed. Left unchecked, the contagious disease –  which can be spread game-to-game by hiring infected Pawns – has the potential to result in numerous NPCs, including important quest-givers, being wiped out overnight. 

Needless to say, it's a little bit concerning. While there have been reports of NPCs killed in a Dragon's Dogma 2 Dragonsplague calamity eventually returning and repopulating affected towns, as you'd imagine, most people are just trying to avoid it happening in the first place. How, you ask? Carefully looking out for symptoms, of course, such as red glowing eyes and a headache, and carefully curing affected Pawns by… tossing them into the Brine to bring on their instant death. Yikes. 

It might sound harsh, but at the time of writing, it seems this is the only way to guarantee that the illness won't progress if it's your own main Pawn who's been affected. Passing Dragonsplague on to another Pawn is another way to cure the original one, but when time is ticking and time spent with the illness brings you closer and closer to disaster, this probably isn't a method anyone will want to rely on. If you hire someone else's infected Pawn, you can apparently just dismiss them manually if you don't want to throw them into the abyss, but it seems most have taken the Brine-throwing route.

"CHECK YOUR PAWNS FOR DRAGONSPLAGUE. THROW ANY WHO SHOW SYMPTOMS INTO THE BRINE. DRAGON'S DOGMA 2 HAS NO MERCY," one player on Twitter pleads.

"As heinous a mechanic as Dragonsplague is… it's very funny watching everyone go into a panic," a Redditor writes. "We all went from loving our loyal idiots, to chucking them into the ocean at even the slightest hint of rudeness or reddened eyes. You asked me to slow down? Into the Brine. The light hit your eyes wrong? Brine. You yawned while we were idle and I mistook it for a headache? To the Brine with ye!"

Dragonsplague may be new to the sequel, but it's an idea that's been brewing in director Hideaki Itsuno's mind since the original game. He recently explained that it wasn't possible to implement the mechanic at the time due to technical limitations. 

Be sure to check out our top 10 Dragon's Dogma 2 tips to help you on your adventure.