Pestilence

First Appearance: “Deadwest Screams at Monster Man”

First Official Appearance: “Deadwest Screams at the Toxic Avenger Series”

A member of the Iron Horsemen of Doom, Pestilence is the herald to Mephitis, a centuries old deity of putrefaction who was imprisoned with his brothers (Acrimation, Slimdearth, and Oblethe) in the ass end of the Crossland’s underworld by their children of darkness. Locked away but not forgotten, there still exists factions of demonic followers who worship the fallen titans and commit their afterlives to aiding their return to absolute dominance over the Crosslands. With limited influence outside his confinement, Mephitis sought out the most corrupted soul in hell and bestowed him a fraction of his power to serve him in the underworld and beyond.

After countless lifetimes of prepping and planning, the old ones are closer to escaping than ever before. Their followers have finally found an unholy ritual powerful enough to break their shackles, and it culminates with the sacrifice of a specially prepared animal of damnation. The burden of throwing the Crosslands back into the Damned Ages was too great for the apocalyptic creature to handle, however, and he fled the underworld. With the ceremony on indefinite hiatus, Pestilence was unleashed upon the Crosslands with the rest of the Iron Horsemen of Doom (War, Famine, and Death) and rides non-stop until they retrieve the beast and complete their masters’ passage back to power.

Channeling his master’s energy, Pestilence’s biology is a toxic cocktail of every poison, disease, and virus known in the Crosslands. Pestilence is so consumed by his sickly features, he naturally emits noxious fumes that corrodes everything around him in a matter of minutes which forces him to wear a protective suit to keep the other iron horsemen safe. When in the heat of battle, Pestilence prefers to get up close and personal with his victims and feed off of their essence through his corrosive touch as they melt to fleshy pools of contagious waste. Though it’s not his favorite tactic, he’s also known to project sicknesses for short distances.

After being drawn to the chaos created by a nuclear explosion near the Howl-Inn Grub & Spirits, the Iron Horsemen of Doom found Billy on the outskirts of the disaster and pursued him until finally dragging him back to the underworld to fulfill the old ones’ prophecy. Moments away from releasing their masters, the unholy ritual was ruined at the last possible second by Deadwest and his gang who escaped with Billy back to the Crosslands. The Iron Horsemen of Doom returned topside to complete Billy’s sacrifice, but it was discovered Billy’s one weakness, a specially made dagger, could also be used to vanquish the heralds. Deadwest and Billy killed Pestilence along with War and Famine and secretly scattered the fallen heralds’ helmets to the far corners of the Crosslands for safe keeping. Death manages to escape back to the underworld where he continues to plot his fellow riders’ resurrection and Billy’s ultimate sacrifice.