Pestilenza

1 A Catacombs contract leaves an aftermath

When a settlement-origin Catacombs contract ends without successful resolution, the game rolls its aftermath parameter. A claimed contract missing its deadline, an unclaimed contract expiring, and Competition removing an unclaimed contract can reach this check. The player need not have accepted the contract.

Only if no negative situation is active or queued there can a successful roll queue Pestilence. It binds the origin settlement and dungeon saved by that contract; fixed-map relations establish possible origins, while the save supplies the actual binding.

2 The situation activates

A later situation update activates Pestilence when it is first in the queue and no main situation is active, schedules restocking, and applies its medicine-trade and contract-reputation modifiers. If its linked problem was resolved while queued, validation discards it instead.

Daily validation skips the player’s current settlement, while transitions and some sleep updates can process it; leaving town is not the only activation path.

3 Sick beasts and rotten forage appear

Eligible beasts generated in the affected area contract Pestilence. Its effects are Health Restoration -5, Energy Restoration -10, Healing Received -25, and poison damage equal to 5% of the target’s damage. It has no ordinary duration. The diseased beast itself can also suffer Poisoning: each check draws an integer from 0 through 100 and succeeds when it is below 2. This check affects the disease carrier itself. The Ancient Troll does not retain this disease effect.

Each berry at harvest and each mushroom at pickup is checked separately for replacement with a rotten item: each check draws an integer from 0 through 100 and succeeds when it is below 50, and a matching rotten version must exist. Eligible surface village residents also keep Coughing until the situation ends. The reviewed evidence does not establish transmission from villagers to the player.

4 Deliveries may deteriorate

Pestilence has no fixed-day expiry timer. Daily economic checks can progress through these stages in order: Delayed Deliveries, Disrupted Logistics, Supplies Shortage. They replace one another in a single economic slot.

5 Resolve the linked dungeon contract

Successfully settling the contract for the same linked dungeon clears the connection, and background contract completion has a clearing path too. A different dungeon cannot substitute for this connection. A later situation update then removes Pestilence and any no-longer-applicable economic stage, schedules restocking, and recalculates modifiers.