Kyuchokt (Kissed to Stone)

A recent addition to Baron Furkza's Museum of Mysteries is statue of a Hegyem  axeman running into battle. The statue is stunningly detailed, but otherwise quite bizarre. The axeman has a pained expression and is biting his slightly-protuding tongue, creating a tragicomical effect. The pose is just all wrong: The warrior's weapons are not heroically brandished, his posture is slightly stooped rather than tall and proud, and one leg is slightly bent while the other hangs in the air. Most people assume that the statue is so oddly posed in order to give the impression that the warrior is running into battle, but the real effect is to make the piece so unbalanced that it can't be displayed upright without a series of struts and ropes to counteract the forces of gravity. The most bizarre aspect of the statue is that it feels alive, giving off the sense of presence that you get when someone walks into the room when your back is turned to the door. The most common explanation of the bizarre statue is that it's not a statue at all, but a man who was kyuchokt, or "kissed to stone." The strange pose is simply the one he happened to be in when the condition reached its final stage and the reason it feels like the axeman is watching you is because he is.

Causes

There are many stories about supernatural entities like gorgons and basilsks who have the power to turn people into stone, but most attribute becoming kyuchokt to (slightly) more mundane cause: an alchemical mixture called "Medusa's Kiss" According to legend, Medusa's Kiss was created by one of the northern Dragon Kings to protect his most elite warriors in battle by giving their skin a stone-like hardness. Unfortunately, the potion sometimes worked too well, turning users into immobile statues.

Symptoms

Some people are extremely vulnerable to Medusa's Kiss, turning to stone the first time they use it. For most, however, the process is more gradual. On first use, the potion causes the user's skin to take on a grayish hue and toughen slightly for a few hours until the potion wears off. With each subsequent use, the drinker's skin becomes harder and more stone-like and stays that way for longer periods of time. After repeated uses of Medusa's Kiss the drinker's skin retains its stony qualities even without additional doses of the drug. Unfortunately for the user, from that point on the skin begins to harden on its own. As the skin hardens, the body becomes less flexible and movement becomes progressively slower and more difficult until eventually the victim finds themselves completely unable to move.

Treatment

Once a Medusa's Kiss user becomes kyuchokt, there is no known way to save them. The best that can be done is to slow down the progress of the condition by avoiding the drug. Some healers claim that profuse sweating can slow down the effects of being kyuchokt and recommend that victims seek out hot, humid climates to prolong their life.
Common wisdom holds that turning to stone places the victim in some kind of biological stasis that allows them to survive without food, water, and other human needs. The victim's mind, however, remains fully conscious and their senses continue to function. The sheer horror of being trapped within one's own body like that causes many of the kyuchokt to commit suicide before the disease runs its course.

Type

Supernatural

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Extremely Rare