Ever since Dragonsplague was discovered in Dragon’s Dogma 2, players have been trying to devise ways to root out the disease and protect their other pawns from it. Some have even taken to throwing pawns off cliffs at the first sign of odd speech or glowing red eyes—which is a bit extreme if you ask me.
Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of ways to deal with Dragonsplague other than sending pawns away or killing them. Letting them stick around, meanwhile, runs the risk of them transforming into a dragon with the sole intent of obliterating everything nearby.
However, in a Steam discussion, some players are trying to devise a way to warn others about Dragonsplague without resorting to witch hunt-like activities. Migromul suggests that “any rotten food along with a thumbs-up or heart” would work to draw enough attention to a potentially dangerous pawn, but the warning would be better if they could spread the word of what these rotten items meant. Others, like Killer Beast 77, explain that they “give rotten flesh and dismiss pawns without a like or heart.”
It’s not clear if this trend has caught on, but a couple of people in the discussion did notice that this may be the reason why their pawns keep returning to them with expired goods. “Oh? So THAT’s why my pawn has a thumbs up and rotten food,” Bejo says. “I’ll do what is recommended here next time and share this info with my friends.” There is also a chance that players are using pawns like a rubbish bin and loading them with unwanted items, of which rotten food would likely be on the list. So, before you take lethal action against an innocent pawn, you may want to do a quick checkup.
It’s also important to note that if you do get a pawn with some rotten flesh, then act quickly. The plague spreads fast, so pawns could pass it on to one another if you’re not paying attention.
For now, while this form of communication is still new, it’s probably best to stick with watching for the warning signs of Dragonsplague, as they are pretty obvious. If you see one of your pawns coughing, clutching their head, aggressively talking back to you, or sporting ominously red glowing eyes, then chances are they have the disease, and over the cliff is the best course of action.
