Thanks for the thoughts. I am going to try my way and see how it works.
As a clarification, I'm not doing this to try and protect the PC's perse, but more to enhance the whole "play to find out" type playstyle. Just in playing through Chariot of the Gods I noticed there were multiple times it would have been reasonable for the NPC to panic, but also not panic. In other words, ambiguous. At those times -and admittedly this may be my own personal weakness- it was difficult for me to determine if my desire to cause/avoid panic was in the best interest of the overall story.