Leukodaemon

The name Leukodaemon might be considered a little on the nose, given that the Greek "leukos" means "white," or "clean". Even more interesting, it appears to share the word root with leukocytes, the human body cells responsible for protecting it against diseases. As you'll find, the Pestilence Daemon is the exact inverse.

With a skull for its head and wings of a vulture, the leukodaemon is a manifestation of evil, a being who previously succumbed to sickness. As such, it works relentlessly to spread any plague wherever it can, being much more inclined towards working with others of its kind than most daemons.

Its abilities fit the creature thematically quite well. It can sense any diseased creature and know what kind of sickness ails it. It has an aura that makes everyone within it more susceptible to contract an illness. Most of its attacks inflict the Daemonic Pestilence on the target and, better yet, the daemon can speed up the progression of any malady currently affecting a creature.

All things considered, the leukodaemon is a good choice for when you need a plague-themed monster to center your game around.

- Max

Hook 1 (Max) - The Plague Within

Something was afoul in the air for a long time. No one was willing to admit it, but everyone felt it. Now, it is too late.

It started with the animals. They fell silent and catatonic in unison, all overnight. They refused food, didn't move, and not long after, they started dying by the hundreds. There were far too many carcasses to manage, so soon they started rotting. Then the crops failed. And reserves began to spoil.

The buzzing of flies became constant, as their fat little bodies clouded the skies. Starvation followed. Now bodies of men, children, and women littered the streets, as fights for what meager food anyone might have left ensued.

Scavengers are circling the cities, towns, and villages, feasting on the cadavers. Prime among them are pale vulture-like monsters, putrid flesh peeling off their bones, the stench of death and decay following where they go, carried by the winds as they beat their dark wings.

More and more of them appear by the day. With each new arrival, they seemingly grow hungrier, eager to make sport of the remaining survivors. For things are about to get much worse. In five days, the black moon will rise, and they shall bring forth their greatest gift.

A plague unlike any seen before.

Hook 2 (Nemanja) - A Benevolent Nightmare

A thousand and one years ago, several spirits of the forest, young demigods, and other such powerful entities, decided to do an experiment: could a society guided by extreme fears prosper? Thus was Isla Dittatora born in the secluded archipelago of San Ovejas. The "gods" took on horrible forms and started haunting a town that had just begun to grow, as the advent of new irrigation technologies promised an Age of prosperity. The deities would appear before the locals when they were about to drink infected water, dye their clothes with toxic compounds, tame beasts that can not be tamed...

And the locals learned to respect their gods' guidance as wise and infallible. Over time, the mighty polis of Tonta grew into an advanced society, that traded with faraway lands and was well respected.

Tonta's golden age would abruptly end in one fell swoop, however. A barbarian from the Northlands was on his way to the city-state when he saw a dark, twisted creature with the skull of a horse in place of a head appear before him and speak to him in a raspy voice, telling him something about his method of curing meat. The barbarian did as any man worth his salt would do and split the fiend's head in two without blinking.

Unfortunately, said fiend was an entity known as The Lord of The Flies, a spirit of the earth that fought against the advent of plagues and diseases within the city. Soon enough, the ships from Tonta started bearing plague rats and the stench of deaths, and a certain barbarian was said to be on a quest to revive a god...

Hook 3 (Reece) - The Plaguesingers

As the Yellow Plague strikes down one in every four that catches it, the food crisis grows ever more urgent. Without farmers to collect the crops in the outskirts, the capital is struck with both plague and starvation. Those that are able to gather their meager crops are devastated to find much of the grain spoiled and ridden with weevils. The Church no longer attempts to send its clergy to treat the sick and dying, preferring instead to sequester themselves within their monasteries, away from the disease.

There is a story or a herald of this new end times. A bird-headed creature is seen out in the fog of the early mornings each time before the plague strikes a new city or town. Hearing tales of the creature, some have begun to craft masks after the creature's likeness. These fanatics have begun to worship the creature, hoping to find salvation in appeasing it.

Just as the plague worsens, a tide of people wearing these masks roves from city to city, singing The Plaguesong and turning the people against The Church, killing the clergy in retribution for abandoning them.

Little do the Plaguesingers as they are called know, the creature they seek salvation from is the cause of these nightmarish times. A demon hunter and a rogue priest of The Church wishes to stop further destruction, though they must face off against both the Plaguesingers, the angry commoners, and lesser fiends in service of the creature that is the cause of all the strife.

They could use some help.