Dancing Plague

The Dancing Plague is an endless curse that befalls individuals who hear the tune of Aubin Grant. While it has largely been forgotten by Aedelor, instances of it arise every century or so.

History

A bard from Rivermeet in Gilramshyre named Aubin Grant was investigating the disappearances of children and animals in the west side of the city in 99 DC. He discovered that a malicious hag from the nearby forest was responsible and successfully slayed her. A decade later to the day (although this significance was not apparent at the time), Aubin received a divine missive from a messenger of Sonatomos. The missive instructed Aubin to write a new song, travel the world, and spread the song of joy to as many people as possible. The missive gave Aubin divine inspiration for his song. Over the following decade, Aubin traveled Aedelor performing the song in many major cities at the time.
In 119 DC, the messenger returned to Aubin and said that Sonatomos was pleased with him, and invited Aubin to meet Sonatomos. Pleased with himself, Aubin accepted the invitation but, once transported, quickly realized something was wrong. The messenger revealed themselves to be Gramdol  all along, who had taken Aubin to meet with Pyara. The meeting understandably drove Aubin mad as Gramdol cackled and explained her plot for revenge for slaying a hag all those years ago.
This coincided with a magical plague that swept across Aedelor, known by many names but most commonly called the Dancing Plague. Many people in the cities Aubin had visited spontaneously began to dance while humming or whistling the tune that Aubin had spread. The dancing became compulsive and unstoppable. People had difficulty eating and drinking, and would not stop dancing even to sleep. People began to die of fatigue and hunger after weeks of constant dancing. The Dancing Plague led to the death of hundreds of people. The vast majority of those afflicted were saved by clerics and other kinds of divine healing, though many were left disfigured or injured from their exhaustive dancing.
The tune responsible became outlawed in places where the plague broke out, remaining illegal to hum, whistle, or sing it to present day. Every few generations, people unaware of the song come across it or are tricked into singing it and another epidemic of Dancing Plague occurs.

Type

Magical

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Rare