Agent of Dread

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

There is a difference between feeling fear and wearing it. The timoramancer who has walked far enough with Dread understands this distinction intimately. They have felt it press against them from the inside long enough that they have stopped resisting, opening themselves to the terror and dread they so acutely feel from all around them. Agent of Terror is what happens when they stop resisting entirely. When they open themselves to Dread and let it settle over them like a second skin.

The timoramancer does not change. They do not transform. They simply become, for the duration, a thing that Dread has claimed, and Dread makes sure everyone nearby knows it. Every target within range feels it simultaneously, an irrational and unshakeable certainty that something is deeply, fundamentally wrong with the person standing before them. Not a threat they can fight. Something older than that. Anyone, everyone - friend or foe with no exception for power or status for Dread cares not of relationships or status, must make a Normal -2 Mental Balance check whenever they are within 4 spaces of the timoramancer. Should they fail, they will have to flee - their first action being a sprint at 2 power cost to double their movement range and get away from the timoramancer. If they are trapped and cannot flee, they will fall into a panic attack and be stunned until the timoramancer moves more than 4 spaces away from them. Should they succeed they will be fine - for that round - only to have to try again the next round if they are still too near the timoramancer. Should they be attacked by the timoramancer they will be too afraid to evade or defend if they fail their Normal -2 Mental Balance check, taking the full damage of the attack. 

During the spell's duration Dread prevents emotions from reaching the timoramancer, and it is a good thing that it does so. Dread knows the timoramancer perhaps better than the timoramancer knows themself, and knows well how easily they can crumble under the weight of the fear they feel from others. Perhaps this too is why the timoramancer chooses to become Dread's agent - they are tired of feeling so much fear. Once the spell ends however, Dread retreats deep within the timoramancer's runic soul and leaves an opening - one that for the next round leaves the timoramancer dazed, overwhelmed by the returning emotions.