Curse of Stone

'Movement is limited. Flesh cracks and breaks with movement. I feel nothing in the dead flesh. Agony radiates from the living as it is consumed. I seek an end before it gives me one.' - Account of Victim

The Curse of Stone afflicts living creatures who are regularly exposed to earthsap. This kind of stone moves and flows like liquid metal and holds great magic potential. It is often collected by Iron Gnome Engineers and Dwarves and used in gadgets and machines they craft. The challenge is that the earthsap only appears around rifts in the veil between the earthen plane and that of the material world. This means the only current known location to attain earthsap is Dhun Khenil, a violent battlefield of tunnels, chambers and factions.

Causes

The Curse of Stone is caused by coming into direct contact with earthsap and is most commonly found amongst Scuttler. Earthsap moves and slides like oil across and through stone, turning the stone it passes through into seams of mixed metals. However, if it comes into direct contact with living tissue it turns it to stone. There are two forms of this infection that people refer to as 'living' and 'dead'.

Living

The 'living' form of the infection is contagious and lethal. It is caused by some earthsap finding its way into the skin and body of the person exposed to earthsap. This earthsap then moves continually through their body, gradually turning their living tissue to stone. The speed of this degeneration depends on how much of the earthsap enters the body. This transformation can be in a matter of hours, weeks or years, though usually the infected would die before a full transformation, as vital organs turning to stone would cause death before then. If another living being touches the stone-turned part of an infected creature they have a chance of contracting the disease. This occurs if even the smallest fraction of earthsap moves from one person to another. There are many factors that dictate how infectious someone is and it depends on how much earthsap originally entered their system, how long someone touches an infected and luck (if the earthsap is currently near the location of contact).

Dead

The dead form of the infection is not lethal. It is caused when earthsap touches their body, turning it to stone, but for some reason does not enter the body. This is a much rarer case of the infection as earthsap seems attracted to living tissue more than non-living objects. Though even without an active infection, few believe the claim and would shun them from society for their own safety.

Symptoms

The first telltale sign of infection is cracked stone-like flesh. This can be as small as a pin's head but will grow from the original point. It is never known which way an infection will spread, whether along the surface first, deep into a creature's body, laterally or vertically along limbs. As this spreads there are several symptoms that manifest, though all are physical:

• Pain: As the earthsap consumes flesh it causes intense pain to the victim, though the flesh that has turned to stone feels nothing.
• Rigidity: Limbs and joints begin to seize, moving slower in infected areas. Though they never seize completely, even when entirely replaced. No one knows why but it is as if the earthsap's magic keeps them active until the creature dies.
• Stone Flesh: The stone most often remains attached to the body, creating heavy limbs of stone that feel no pain or heat. 

Treatment

There is little treatment against the earthsap, only action to take against it. Usually Scuttlers cover themselves in stone or iron clothes, even in the hot and confining environments of the earthen tunnels. This clothing gives the scuttlers time. If touched by earthsap they can quickly discard it and hope it slows the earthsap's movement down enough to keep it from their flesh. Other treatment involves quickly removing limbs that are infected, preventing it from spreading further into the body, though this only works if legs and arms are the original site of infection.

There have been some magical treatments that seem to slow or completely quieten the infection with varying success (depending on the quantity of earthsap) and other treatments involve holding other items or animals near the surface of an infected site and hoping the earthsap jumps to them. This has varying degrees of success as it depends on finding a more attractive material or surface to the earthsap. More success has been found holding animals to the wound, as it seems equally attracted to their living tissue than inanimate objects.

A Tale of Venya

Learn more about the world, its history and the factions here.

Statues of the Dead

Within tunnels and halls of Dhun Khenil stand cracked statues of the victims of this degenerative affliction. For it is not just the Iron Gnomes and dwarves who battle for the city that suffer from the curse of flesh, but also their allies from the Unitum Pact involved in retaking the city and animals and beasts have been afflicted. Luckily for the iron gnomes this particular affliction has also targeted agents of the Shadow Conclave and Dark Dwarves that are warring against them for the city.

When the infected creatures die the earthsap consumes the rest of their tissue then passes back into the ground to continue its oddly sentient life. This means that people often give these statues a wide berth, for they don't know if the creature has been entirely consumed, or if earthsap lingers in the statue's still limbs, awaiting their touch to jump to them. This means many of these statues are left largely untouched, only ravaged by the weather or falling earthquakes.

Some refuse to the await their death in such a dark place, and wander into the sun beyond the city's gates. Here they stare across the Sabal'Har Desert with the Flametip Mountains to their back, and end their lives on their own terms. Upon the slopes of these mountains sit the dead watchers. Creatures turned to immortal statues and left to gaze upon the land below.