the residents of it were dying of plague

[EngLearner]

I wrote the following as a context for one of my earlier threads:

There's a village. A long time ago, the residents of it were dying of plague and because of that they made a deal with a mysterious creature named Ogre who made them immortal...

There are these four versions that I'd like to consider:

1. ...the residents of it were dying of plague...
2. ...the residents of it were dying of a plague...
3. ...the residents of it were dying from plague...
4. ...the residents of it were dying from a plague...

Which of them would be correct in this case?

 

[emsr2d2]

I wrote provided the following as a context for one of my earlier threads:

There's a village. A long time ago, the residents of it were dying of plague and because of that they made a deal with a mysterious creature named Ogre who made them immortal...

There are these four versions that I'd like to consider I'm considering:

1. ... the residents of it were dying of plague...
2. ... the residents of it were dying of a plague...
3. ... the residents of it were dying from plague...
4. ... the residents of it were dying from a plague...

Which of them would be is correct in this case context?

Note my changes above. Remember to put a space after an ellipsis. As they stand, I wouldn't use any of them because I find "of it" unnatural and unnecessary. Just use "the residents" or my preference "the inhabitants". Having said that, I'd use either 1 or 3 if you're talking about the Black Death (bubonic plague), and 2 or 4 if you're talking about a fictitious plague.

Also, opening with "There's a village" as a standalone sentence is very odd. Try opening with "A long time ago, the inhabitants of a village were ...".
I'd use "at risk of dying" unless you're saying that every single inhabitant was already infected.