Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

If the gas was still dangerous, then Ssarak did not yet have the ability to approach, though he did not feel that he needed to. With some fortune on Ssarak’s side, his opponent attacked one of his doppelgangers first. In keeping with its purpose of buying as much time as possible, the doppelganger went to parry the incoming attack to the side with its shield, as opposed to dodging or blocking outright. The primary purpose was to introduce as much uncertainty as possible into Ssarak’s opponent. The fact that his weapon was on a chain would reduce the feedback he could feel from the hit, and make it that much more difficult for him to notice any subtle errors in the doppelganger magic. There was no guarantee that the Esyire would not figure it out regardless, but Ssarak wanted to put as much doubt in his mind as he could.  

However, anything done with Ssarak’s doppelgangers was just to buy time. His true attack would come through another source. Ssarak had gathered so far that his opponent had some protections from illusions. As such, Ssarak decided to take the approach of using another aspect of psychomancy to assault his mind more directly. Instead of attacking his perceptions, Ssarak focused his mind on attacking his very emotions. 

If he wanted to cripple his opponent, then trying to force him to feel pain might have seemed like a reasonable approach. However, this Esyire was obviously a trained fighter, and warriors tended to become accustomed to pain. That was not to say they were immune to it, but a warrior was better able to ignore pain than most others. As such, Ssarak decided to try to enhance one feeling that no warrior would expect to feel in combat: pleasure. To begin his mental assault, Ssarak tried to make his opponent feel as much pleasure as he possibly could, to overwhelm his mind and body with pure ecstasy. If he succeeded to the extent he hoped, it would be immensely distracting, and entirely contrary to any feeling one would expect to feel in a fight. 

The next step of his attack, if Ssarak was able to follow through, was to have his doppelganger stare into the eyes of the Esyire, then delve aggressively into his thoughts. In the Esyire’s compromised state of mind, Ssarak hoped to ferret out memories associated with the sight of Ssarak. He wanted to find memories that could clue Ssarak in on the Esyire’s motivation for this theft against the College. Was he a mercenary just looking for payment? Was it out of faith in a religion, or some other organization that supported Kudd, or perhaps was is personal against the College? If Ssarak could get a sense of his motivation, then further psychological attacks could be easier.