Though some legends tell of master crafters creating lovers out of stone, this disease was named for such a fable. The disease turns its victims to stone and can be contracted by a not yet petrified victim, as well as during “spore” seasons in which the petrified victim gives off a fungal-like shedding that can further affect other creatures. These seasonal spores complicate attempts to unpetrify victims, which often leads to the destruction or entombment of victims that might otherwise be cured.

After physical contact with an infected creature, a victim must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or become infected. If an infected statue is sporing, a creature that comes within 20 feet of the statue must make the same saving throw. Sporing statues are covered with a flaky substance that resembles dried paint.

A victim begins to lose points from their Dexterity score at the rate of 2d4 per 24 hour period. If this results in a Dexterity score of 1 or less, the victim becomes petrified. Any means of unpetrifying the victim will also remove the disease, and infected individuals also can benefit from either any means that remove disease or that remove the petrified condition, both of which cure the infected.

There are dreaded tales of entire cities succumbing to this disease, drawing in the curious and the greedy, only to add to the grim menagerie of lifelike statues.