Fever fetish and gems of fire

[En Forcer]

Well, I made the mistake of equiping some rather useful and valuable Master Smiths (I'm playing ULM) with these little trinkets and I figured that I would run them down to 3-4 hp and then take them off and let them rest.

Well, the disease STAYS on the poor guys and I had 4 smiths drop dead in one turn (with their Last gasp completing various forgings) but I lost the items they were equiped with and have been at a loss on how to handle this.

I've made a few rings of regeneration but haven't had enough time go by yet to see how effective these items are. And I don't have the chalice available to me yet either. The only spell casters I have available (besides the master smith and my Pretender) are Druids.

How are you guys dealing with the fever fetish damage that accumulates?