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"Ah, Doctor Roussau! A pleasure to finally meet face to face."

 

Garrak becomes impressively effusive upon recognizing one of the Guild's leading faces in the world, as well as one of its preeminent scholars. He once again gets up and goes over to her, gently shaking her hand with his massive paw. His face, which normally has a look of at least mild irritation, is now beyond simply genial - he looks downright happy.

 

"Garrak Tearandrend, leader of the Oopardwei pack. I've written to you on a few occasions about possibly providing my firstborn son, Chavith, with a letter of recommendation to the Academy? His thirst for scholarly literature has been a strain on my pockets to sate, and he's halfway through your compilation on the symbolism of Elven ballads from the Third Age. At the rate he is learning, I think making a sizeable donation would be more cost-effective than continuing to homeschool him."

 

That's assuming the Academy would even consider admitting a gnoll, much less one from a group that openly identifies itself as a cult. Still, Chavith having a formal education would be an inroad to having the pack establish a land for themselves.

 

"Also, on your discussion of blinding a beholder, I might have an answer. But the procedure would be risky. You see, while typically I use my implant exclusively on myself..." He indicates the shining deep crystal that protrudes from his forehead. "I've also found that I can use it to temporarily apply a small variety of debilitating effects to creatures that I strike. And one of those is the capability of disabling the senses of my foe. Thus, it is entirely feasible that if I were able to land a blow upon a beholder, I could render it blind for a time." He pauses to once again swirl his wine. "However, I am quite aware of some significant flaws. Namely, my magic can only be transferred to another through physical contact, which would require me to close distance with the beholder. And the fact that, since it is a magical effect, I would have to be able to avoid the gaze of its central eye on the approach. Still, I could easily conceive of the possibility of somehow imbuing this negative enhancement into an object that could be utilized from a position of concealment."

 

Garrak briefly mutters a few words, and his crystal implant flares, before creating a small illusion to visualize his thoughts.

 

"My first thoughts go to the flashbangs that you are known for using to disorient your quarry, but I was thinking, maybe something with more range might be of use? Perhaps ammunition on some manner of siege engine for a preparatory strike. Or, we could resort to the classic reliable longbow arrow." His demonstrative illusion depicts an archer using a hill as cover and landing an arrow on a beholder while other figures - one notably resembling himself - draw the focus of the central eye and a majority of the eyestalks. "If worst comes to worst, I suppose I could collaborate with Bonaparte on an idea for tactically implementing a blinding strike. His blustering aside, he does have an apt mind for maneuvers."