Places Forgotten

This spell is a part of the Currents of Time spell chain and is found in the Currents of Time rune stone.

When people think of Rumination and Memory, they often think of them as two completely different symbols, expressions of the runic element of time shown differently. Memory is cast as the positive symbol - the holder of perfect memory and chronicler of historical fact. Rumination is cast as the negative symbol - the judge of time who condemns and never lets one forget their past mistakes. The praeteriamancer however knows differently, they are both simply two sides of the same coin. Memory may indeed be the light symbol and Rumination the dark, however they both are two faces of one power - Past Time, Praeteriamancy expressed differently yet all coming from the same source. Where is Rumination if there is no memory, and where does perfect Memory come from if there is no Rumination to force it? 

Places Forgotten is the runic manipulation that best showcases the duality of praeteriamancy. It is the power of Rumination yes, but expressed through the withdrawal of Memory. When the praeteriamancer casts Places Forgotten, it is as if Memory and Rumination agree. Memory walks away, and Rumination lets go of the target. The target is suddenly, completely, without context. They know they are somewhere. They do not know where. They know they were doing something. They do not know what. The battlefield around them - the enemies, the allies, the ongoing conflict that seemed so urgent a moment ago - exists without any framework in their mind to explain why any of it is happening or what their role in it might be. 

The target must make a Hard Insight check to recover where they are, and then a second Hard Insight check to remember what they were doing. Any spell currently being cast is immediately interrupted - the casting requires knowing what you are trying to accomplish, and that knowledge is temporarily gone. Should the target fail to recover their bearings they leave. They do not flee nor are they surrendering. They are simply departing with the quiet purposefulness of someone who has concluded that wherever this is, they have no business being here and should go find somewhere they recognize. The praeteriamancer finds this particular spell quietly devastating. It does not hurt the target. It simply takes away the one thing that makes any action possible, knowing where you are and why.