Presence's Companion

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

Presence has always taken a shape. Not the same shape for everyone, that is not how Presence works. It finds what each person's deepest cautionary instinct looks like, the form that fear's protective voice has always worn in the back of a particular mind, and it wears that. The timoramancer who has worked long enough with Presence to call this spell has already met their companion many times. They simply never expected to be able to reach back.

Presence's Companion answers the call by taking form beside the timoramancer - their personal fear made manifest, their cautionary instinct given something close to a body. What it looks like depends entirely on the caster. A wraith. A spectral figure barely distinguishable from a shadow. An animal made of something that isn't quite light or darkness. Whatever shape Presence has always worn for this particular timoramancer, that is what stands beside them now, moving at their direction, loyal in the way that only something born from one's own deepest instinct can be.

It attacks with a formula that scales from the timoramancer's own connection to Presence - 1d6 multiplied by Arcana, plus Runic Power - the companion's strength a direct reflection of how deeply its creator has come to know fear. Those within 1 space of the companion must make a Normal Mental Balance check or be consumed by Fear and move away immediately, Presence's raw nature making proximity to it unbearable for those who haven't made peace with what it represents. It can move to wherever it is asked to, Presence has no limitations here. The companion cannot be harmed. It is not quite physical enough for that. But what it carries, the weight of someone else's deepest fear walking openly in the world, is real enough that nothing wants to stand near it. Nothing, except for the timoramancer who has developed peace with their Presence.