Deep Root Disease

Final stage of DRD (7th stage)

### Appearances:

World's Weirdest Animals, Camp Information Video, Lethal Omen Commerial, Wilderness Survival Guide, Deep Root Disease, Monthly Progress Report, Home Invasion Help, Crusader Probe Mission, Shifting Tendons, Extraction, Leak

Deep Root Disease is a disease in the GHE universe, transmited by Nature's Mockery or Woodcrawlers. The disease's origins can be traced back to the arrival of the Iris' entities back in the early 1900's. It should be noted that at no point does the infected person die, despite losing all resemblence to a human during the final stages of the disease.

## Symptons/Cure

Victims of the disease suffer from spontaneous muscular paralysis, hallucinations, a lack of dreams, muscle spasms, bulbs, feeling "new bones," and flesh decay. The only known way to cure the disease is by physically ripping out the roots from the body, as seen in "Wilderness Survival Guide."

## Early Stages

The first stage can be seen in the "Deep Root Disease" video by GHE, with the infected person growing bulbs on the skin. These bulbs are able to be pressed down within the first few hours of appearing, but start irritating the victim and inflaming during later stages of the disease. The next stage of the infection is referred to as "roots," as roots start growing under the bulbs, being able to freely spread in the body once coming in contact with bone. Once the victim is thouroughly infected they become Fake People.

## Fake People Stage

Once a person becomes a Fake Person, their mental faculties completely degrade. This can be seen in "Wilderness Survival Guide" and "Shifting Tendons," where the infected use their last sentences before the infection (phrases begging for someone to save them from the Woodcrawler) to lure any unsuspecting person. The body becomes stiff and locomotion becomes heavily impared. However, the body is able to easily to protect itself from basically all forms of blunt force, as seen in the Lethal Omen game, where the Fake People are able to take rounds from a pistol. It is also seen in Fig. 4 of "Shifting Tendons" where something begins growing in the insides of the body, possibly a Woodcrawler. This is what being a "vessel" refers to in "Camp Information Video", as the bodies become a literal vessel for something to grow inside

## Root People/Later Stages

The sprouting stage occurs, where roots grow out of the bulbs, being able to be seen on the exterior of the body. The outside of the body starts completely deforming, as the roots completely take over the body. The victim is now mainly made of these roots, but the disease doesn't end there. The victim proceeds to turn into Nature's Mockery, completing the cycle of infection and transmition of the disease. Whatever living inside of the infected starts hatching.

## Victims

The disease currently has the following victims:

* Barry Johnson - infected around June 10th, 1991
* Jack "Wylder" Dean - infected around May 7th-10th, 1993
* Adam Levitch - Men's Club Supervisor for Camp Moonlight Acres (CMA)
* Bethany Newman - Woman's Club Supervisor of CMA
* Alec Davison - Assistant Camp Administrator of CMA
* Truman Michaels - Head of Camp Satisfaction of CMA
* Dorothy Bates - Family Cabins Head Supervisor of CMA
* Unknown family seen in "World's Weirdest Animals" and "Home Invasion Help"

## Appearances

* "World's Weirdest Animals" - Shows an infected family already turned into Fake People. The people display odd behavior, such as what seems to be a girl levitating, people with very stiff movement (muscular paralysis), etc. The video ends with one of the Fake People pursuing the cameraman.
* "Camp Information Video" - Mentions the staff who are vessels, therefore meaning they've been infected with DRD
* "Lethal Omen Commercial" - Shows an amalgamation of flesh and roots, with what seems to be a person inside of it. This is one of the final stages of DRD of course. After spotting this, the player is confronted by a Fake person, implying that the two people are the same thing, just in different stages of the disease. One of the endings also has a Fake Person screaming for help, as seen in WSG.
* "Wilderness Survival Guide" - Nature's Mockery is one of the things advised to stay away from. Jack entails the insuing symptoms for those who are infected by Nature's Mockery, and advises them to seek medical assistance if they've been in contact with it.
* "Deep Root Disease" - Gives the viewer a broad understanding of the disease, but some aspects of the disease are left a mystery. For example, the way people are infected with the disease isn't very clearly described, as it only shows a man (who we find out to be Jack) being dragged out of a bed. This shows how one of the ways to be infected is via a Root Person, as confirmed in MPR. Another interesting section of the video is when talking about "Sprouts," the video simply cuts to a root sprouting from someone's body instead of a formal explanation of this stage.
* "Monthly Progress Report" - Shows a person infected with DRD right before they infect Jack.
* "Home Invasion Help" - The video confirms that Woodcrawlers are able to infect people with the disease, as the video is targeted to inform them on how to invade people's homes and transmit the disease. The last portion of the video shows a person invading a home, which turns out to be the same home in WWA. At this pointk the entire family has been converted into Root People, but they are still alive. The ending of the video shows the cameraman being attacked by a Woodcrawler, possibly the one responsible for infecting the family or the one that emerged from one of the chest cavities of the Root People.
* "Crusader Probe Mission" - Shows one of the Root People right before infecting Jack. This video gives a more specific date on his infection, that being around May 6th - 10th of 1993.
* "Shifting Tendons" - Shows a detailed account of DRD, with the infected person in question being Barry. The video ends with a creature emerging from his "chest" cavity, before the camp staff turn to safety protocalls.BulbFake PersonRoot PersonNature's MockeryExtracted root

## Trivia

* Woodcrawlers are referred to as "Nature's Mockery" in the very first GHE video, though they in actuality aren't the same organism.