Curing an affliction
To cure an affliction, take the Rest and Recover action during the Camp Phase (Camp Actions). During this action, you’ll burn charged Bonds. One stage of the affliction is cured after a certain number of charges are spent.
Burned charges are cumulative. For example, if a stage of an affliction is cured for every 3 charges spent, you can burn 1 charge over the course of three Camp Phases to cure a single stage.
The GM determines the number of charges needed to cure a stage of a particular affliction. Players are not told this information up front, but a well-worded lore bid might reveal these details. When Resting and Recovering, you tell the GM how many charges you are burning and hope for the best.
Burned charges cure the most severe stages first, whether or not the affliction has progressed to that point. To represent a cured stage, color a section of the circle in black. You will never experience the effects associated with a cured stage. The affliction is completely healed when all stages are cured.
_For example_
Certain things are healthful for curing an affliction:
Some afflictions have very specific cures (e.g., the poison of a basilisk can be cured by the gallbladder of a basilisk).
Bezoars and leeches (available at the Omphalic Market, see Bezoar) give charges for healing.
The Life spell reduces an affliction by an entire stage, perhaps curing it entirely.
Afflictions progress to the next stage at the end of each Camp Phase unless the stage above it has been cured. Essentially, afflictions progress clockwise, but are cured counter-clockwise.
In summation
Your affliction begins at stage 1.
During the Crawl Phase, you have the opportunity to search for healing items or chirurgeons to help your recovery during the Camp Phase.
During the step 1 of your next Camp Phase, you can Rest and Recover to burn charges in an attempt to recover from the affliction. These charges can come from charged Bonds or healthful items. These charges go towards curing the final stage first (sections are blacked out on the affliction clock in a counterclockwise manner).
At the end of the Camp Phase, your affliction progresses one stage (clockwise on the affliction clock). If the stage beyond it has already been cured, you remain at your current affliction stage.
If you cure the stage that you are already on, your affliction regresses by one stage.