Yellow Death

"Is there nothing we can do for her, Father?" "I'm afraid not, child. The boils have started - soon they will blister and burst, the pus seeping into her wounds. That is often the beginning of the decline. The Gods will have her soon. Best to prepare the baths for a last cleansing... and have the Sisters on standby."
The Yellow Death is an illness, or curse if you ask some people, widespread across the continent of Atlamoria. Though anyone can get the disease, only the poorest of the poor, the ill, infirmed and elderly, pass from it. It is contagious and seems to transmit through touch, from bodily fluids or particles inhaled. 
The priests and pious folk know the disease by another name: Dawalu's Spite. Dawalu; God of Society is the patron lord of all civilization, all cities and towns and gatherings of people. Though the God has always been revered by both the common and rich alike, inclusive with his love and worship, some amongst the holy circles have started to whisper that this plague, which only affects the poor, the desolate, the homeless and the downtrodden, is a curse from the afterlife, made to rid the world of the lowest societies, to purify the realm and remove the undesirables. The most steadfast of Dawalu's followers rebuke this name and this accusation, fighting that their God has nothing but love for all of society, the high and the low, and would never try and purge the lower class. Yet rumors spread quickly, and with nothing else to blame, the commoners have taken to the belief that Dawalu; God of Society must have sent the plague Himself.
The woodland dwellers, elves and tribal folk of man and beast, shake their heads at the thought that this sickness is a curse from the Gods. Rats and other small insects carry disease, it is well-known. This plague is only the latest in the long list of epidemics that have occurred over years, and eventually too will pass. The best way to avoid getting sick is the simplest: stay clean, and stay dry. The slums of the cities, where the Yellow Death seems to breed and transmit so easily, are uncared for; tightly packed homes filled with unwashed denizens and widespread illness, people sharing beds and baths and food improperly cooked, with rotten homes falling apart, the perfect spot for rats, bugs and other household pests to dwell. If everyone would take some more time to take measures against these conditions, with basic health hygiene, proper food storage and routine pest control, the disease would eventually run its course and die out. 
The dwarves have their own theory. Approximately fifteen years ago, The Stone City of Khazrak Dolmen formed and funded a massive mining operations in the far southeastern reaches of their continent. Partially unearthed through an exploratory mining expedition scouting for new mineral deposits, the team located an ancient structure underground. With the assistance of the crown and a mass amount of gold spent outfitting and preparing the team, the miners uncovered an enormous underground civilization, lost to the ages and buried beneath the earth by stone, wind and sea. Untouched for thousands of years, the dwarves prepared teams of adventurers to delve into this lost city and uncover its secrets. When the team emerged, it was seemingly in good health, no ill effects or conditions apparent. Now that this Yellow Death seems so prevalent, the dwarven lords cannot help but to wonder - was it their actions that unleashed this on the world? One dwarven researcher tried his best to track down the original dig crew of the expedition, to check on their health and status in an attempt to disprove this rumor - only to find that all the miners had died from the same unknown disease.
The disease comes in four phases. Phase One is known as 'contamination'. Within twenty-four hours of initial contamination, the infected will start to experience a tickle in their throat causing a cough, redness and swelling of the face, hands and feet, and slowly increasing fatigue that does not improve with sleep. The breath also becomes sickly acidic in smell. Phase Two begins one week after contamination, and is known as 'the agitation'. The dermal redness spreads down the victim's extremities, an incessant itchiness that troubles the victim day and night with no relief. So desperate they become that they tear their skin apart with nails trying to gain a moments respite from the discomfort. These open sores and wounds, coupled with the generally unclean surroundings that the poor live in, lead to infections and disease from other sources. The cough also worsens, leaving the victims wheezing and short-of-breath. A fever also begins. Phase Three is known as the 'decline'. The decline usually begins two to three weeks after the agitation. Boils and blisters start to break out all over. The body begins to lose its natural ability to heal wounds, leaving the perpetually open wounds bleeding and oozing all day long. Pus begins to form in blistering bubbles; when they burst on their own, the pus seeps down into the open wounds and leaks into the bloodstream. Limbs quickly lose their feeling, leaving the diseased bedridden and unable to move. Bowels loosen, the fever grows and leaves them dizzied, delirious and confused, and the cough has worsened to the point that mere whispering hurts the throat. This makes food difficult to keep down. The decline usually only lasts for a week or so at maximum, for Phase Four settles in quickly: the 'end'. The end phase sees the victim's eyesight fade, as the infected blood circulates through the body. Limb paralysis fully sets in. The diseased can no longer eat, for their throats have been torn raw. Breathing becomes weak, shallow and halted. The fever boils the body. At this point, death is more of a mercy than treatment, and finally the victim will give up fighting and succumb to either the fever, infection, starvation or suffocation.
The Yellow Death must be combated as quickly as possible if one wants to have any hope of fighting it off. Most people by day three of contamination will have some semblance of knowledge to what they have become infected with - another reason that the uneducated masses suffer more than the higher class. Treatment for the contamination phase is relatively cheap. Most alchemists, herbalists and magic shops sell the potion remedy for the Yellow Death, easily dealt with if caught early. The agitation phase becomes a bit more tricky to ward off. It may require an extended stay in a hospital wing or in a healer's care. Regular magical purging to ensure all infection in the bloodstream is being cleared regularly, with alternating hot and cold baths to keep the body clean. The boiling hot baths cleanse the wounds and burn away illness, and the cold baths break fever and work to help clot the blood and prevent wounds from oozing. Past the agitation phase, options become extremely limited and treatment efficacy lowers significantly. It is not unheard of for someone to recover from the decline phase, though they are few and far between. It is often at this time that the family will say their goodbyes, while their loved one is still conscious enough to realize it.
Those who have passed from this disease are known to have died a 'Pauper's Death', for only the poorest cannot afford treatment. The Sisters of Saraneth have been seen to don bony white skeletal masks and gloves when disposing of individuals killed by the Yellow Death, so as to not suffer the same fate themselves. The bodies are burned in a mass grave far outside the city - with no exceptions. It is the only circumstance that The Sisters of Saraneth are permitted to disregard the wishes of the deceased's family, for improper disposal of the corpses can lead to further contamination. They must be cremated far from civilization, so the spores will not transmit over the wind, and made to sit for a period of five days before the Sisters can come cover the ashes with dirt, to prevent spreading or accidental ingestion by animal life. It is unknown what effect, if any, the Yellow Death has on wildlife.

Type

Magical