Emotional Tearing

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

Nightmare knows where conviction lives. It has always known - the part of the mind that holds the answer to why, the thread of identity and purpose that makes someone more than just a body going through motions. Nightmare finds that thread and pulls.

Emotional Tearing is not a subtle spell. It is Nightmare reaching into the target and actively working against the emotional architecture that holds them together, sending feelings that cut directly against who the target believes themselves to be, what they believe they are fighting for, what they believe matters. The target does not suddenly stop believing anything specific. It is worse than that. The belief simply... loosens. The conviction that drove them here, the passion that sharpened every strike, the sense of self that made them dangerous - all of it becomes uncertain, remote, difficult to hold onto. Nightmare does not replace these things. It simply tears at them until they fray.

The target is inflicted with Loss of Self for the duration. They are not broken, not destroyed, but hollowed in the specific way that Nightmare prefers. They will still fight. They just cannot remember, clearly, why it seemed so important.