Xancrown

After hearing about "The Demon Plague" a few times, the party finally met (and freed) a ghost named Feriae the Wise, who explains the following:

1. The Demonplague is very real. It is a plague caused by a powerful demon named Xancrown who is entrapped in a prison under the Luna Valley. People infected with the plague go through the following symptoms:
   1. They become a lot stronger
   2. They become feverish and then start to lose their wits,
   3. Finally they die and rise again as deformed, pustule covered zombies with demonic traits. These plague zombies are like rabid animals, attacking anything that moves - including fellow zombies - and spreading the plague to any who they don't kill directly.
2. The valley has previously experienced several outbreaks of this plague in the past.

Feriae the Wise was part of a Druid's Circle named Minas Herion who sacrificed themselves about 1000 years ago when they performed a ritual to summon a glacier into the valley, wiping out the population that was already being decimated by the Demonplague. By doing this, they prevented the plague from spreading to the rest of the world - which, by that point in history, was a lot more populous than it had been

The party have started to become aware of "The Demonplague". First mentioned by Harlyot Crushade when Cormir, Morthos and Drex met her in the basement of Fort Frostfell. She said she was working for a necromancer named Ralekai Gravemore - who had saved her life and persuaded her that she needed to protect the gnome Harlan Barrypot, who he had also rescued and tasked with researching anything related to something called “The Demonplague” that he could find in the basement library of Fort Frostfell. Ralekai had also recruited some hobgoblins and goblins plus an undead Wight (named Gothmog Plaguereaper that the PCs had already slain), to assist with the process of finding a cure for the plague. This involved the very questionable tactic of kidnapping people for research purposes into the plague and how it might be cured.

A later encounter with a bunch of cultists on the trail back from Fort Frostfell resulted in the recovery of a old book filled with goblin ravings, which, when translated constantly referred to the need to sacrifice people to a power named “Gartlemak” to gain protection from a “terrible plague”.

1. 1. The party met the ghost of Feriae the Wise in the basement of Fort Frostfell - a long dead druid who was part of a powerful druid's circle called **Minas Herion** who told a chilling tale about an ancient demon called Xancrown.
   2. Basil the Bizarre, although clearly mad, had murdered three people and had an altar in his basement and had raved about “a terrible plague that would return, turning its victims into zombies and demons!” He had an altar in his basement that had some abyssal runes that mentioned a demon called “Xancrown”, as well as some similar nonsense symbols that seemed to echo those found in the cultists goblin book. Basil claimed to have had a vision.
   3. Cormir, Morthos and Drex all shared a vision whilst unconscious at Fort Frostfell. The vision showed a kindly faced (*) old lady with twigs and leaves in her hair, who seemed to imply she was in the basement of Fort Frostfell somewhere and who needed freeing. (*) Only Drex thought she looked creepy rather than kindly faced... but then again, his standards aren't necessarily the same as everyone else's...  :-)