The Final Panic

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

Panic, at its truest and most complete, does not need an external threat to be lethal. The timoramancer who has walked the full length of this path understands this. They have seen what fear does when it is given everything it needs and nothing to direct itself toward. It turns inward. It becomes the threat. And at that point, there is nothing left to fight except yourself.

The Final Panic is Dread given complete and simultaneous expression across every enemy on the battlefield, not as a building dread, not as a warning, not as an escalation. The full weight of Dread, all at once, everywhere. Every target is submerged in panic so total and so consuming that rational thought simply ceases to function. Each round the spell persists every target must roll a 1d6 - on a 6 the heart stops, the panic having found the precise threshold it was looking for. Every target must also make a Hard Mental Balance check at -2 against turning their own violence inward. Failing means they attack themselves with their full weapon and offensive power, their panic having decided that the threat is inside them and must be dealt with immediately.

The spell does not end cleanly. When the duration expires Dread does not politely withdraw. Dread recedes, slowly, leaving behind whatever damage the panic managed to accomplish. Those who survive carry it. The battlefield that follows is not filled with defeated enemies. It is filled with people who just spent several rounds trying to survive themselves, and everyone alive must deal with that horror by making a Hard Mental Balance check. Should they fail, they will be dazed for 1 round and filled with anxiety for the remainder of the battle. This is everyone, except the timoramancer, who has finally made peace with Dread.