The Gilded Rune

The Gilded Rune is a standalone novel by Lisa Smedman, published in 2012.

"A plague that turns dwarves to stone...

A race of people, said to be forged from precious metal, face a devastating disease. Stoneplague. Once afflicted, the suffering is agony. Eyes become opaque and glassy, skin flakes off in scales, bones fuse into an immovable skeleton, and blood turns dark and muddy. Death comes when the heart stops beating and hardens into stone. And the plague is spreading.

A dwarven soul in human form...

Torrin Ironstar is a delver, an adventurer whose daft quest to find the Soulforge in Faerûn invites ridicule and scorn. But he's used to that. He's an outsider, a human who believes he's really a dwarf, right down to the silver hammers in his beard.

An impossible puzzle..

The other citizens in Eartheart shun him, suspicious of his true intentions. Little do they know, Torrin holds the key to the cure, if only he can figure it out in time. But time is running out."