Slowing

"The slowing is a blessing from the Archduchess. If you are reborn out of favor, your flesh will be hard. A stone shield to protect your loved ones."
~Oderic Darkmire, Prunyn peasant

Transmission & Vectors

Drinking the water in Prunyth will slowly bring on this condition. Most visitors will never feel it and make a full recovery, but lifelong consumption of the water will have the cumulative effect.
Drinking the water of the Gorgon Pools will bring the condition on quickly. Depending on the pool, possibly a matter of hours or even minutes.

Symptoms

The first symptom is soreness, followed by fatigue. Swelling and grating of the joints follows until arthritis sets in. At this point the skin becomes harder, and the victim becomes heavier. Eventually, they become entirely petrified, a statue forever.

Game Statistics

The rapidity of the condition depends on the source. It is therefore expressed in stages rather than increments of time. The effects are cumulative.
Stage 1: Victim makes a Constitution save DC 13. Failure means the condition has begun, and they begin to feel aches.
Stage 2: Victim must make a DC 14 Constitution Save to gain any benefit from rest.
Stage 3: Victim's movement speed is reduced by ten. They can no longer take reactions.
Stage 4: Victim's movement speed is reduced by another ten. They gain +2 AC.
Stage 5: Victim's movement speed is reduced by another ten. They gain another +2 AC. They cannot take bonus actions.
Stage 6: Victim gains one level of exhaustion per day. When they die, they become a petrified statue and die.

Treatment

Medicines can treat the condition and slow its progress. The main cure is to simply stop drinking the toxic water.

Prognosis

If a victim acquires this condition in the normal method of slowly drinking Prunyth water over time, then simply ceasing consumption of the water will result in recovery.
If the condition is acquired from a gorgon pool, the prognosis depends on the potency but some are strong enough to kill with a wineskin.

Prevention

If the water is boiled and treated with an alembic, it becomes drinkable and leaves behind pebbles.

Cultural Reception

The Prunyn people see the condition as a natural part of life.

Type

Supernatural

Origin

Magical