Alchemist's Curse

Origin
Alchemy has been the goal of many a scientist and mage over the centuries. Mstry of the elements and the power to bend them to the will of man was seen as an abomonation by people of god, though this stopped few alchemists from attempting it.

The Alchemist's Curse was devised by a preacher, enraged at the acts of hubris performed by the mages of the world. In a bout of madness and genious, he devised a fomulae irresistaable to any respectable scholar, but ultimately disasterous to any who attempted to divulge it.

Effects
This artifact is unique, in that it is entirely memetic. The furmulae itself is the artifact, in any written form. When written out, all metals around it become "infected" with a dormant form of artifact energy that acts like a bacteria, spreading through contact. Harmless in it's dormant state, the bacteria becomes active once someone observes the formula and tries to solve it.

Any attempts will cause the bacteria to begin transmuting the infected metal into a base gold state. Subsequent attempts to solve the formula cause the bacteria to mutate further, from gold to rust, then to any number of potential forms. Though there is a possiblity of the infection being mutated into a harmless strain, it seems pre-disposed to becoming strains designed to cause as much devastation to the society it is in.

Once the infected metals become active, the bacteria can be considered an organic compound and may be treated as such. It can be manipulated and altered on an atomic and chemical level, though it's nature as an artifact-bourne entity remains constant. Solving the furmula is possible, though almost impossible. Once solved, the artifact becomes inert, though it does not stop bacteria already active.

As any written instance of the formulae becomes an active artifact, each can be neutralized. "Gooing" a copy of the formula will cause it to fizzle and vanish, regardless of the means it was conveyed. Once the fomula vanishes, all infected metals revert to their base form. Because hundreds of potential written formulae can exist at any given time, and more can be activated at a moments notice, the artifact is impossible to contain.

The last instance of the artifact was in the town of Eureka, where it was solved and de-activated for the first time in recorded history. The inert formula was moved to the Warehouse to aid future recognition and containment.