The elf stoically keeps his face expressionless and his thoughts to himself when the Count rebukes Lyntern and sends him away. If needs be, they can seek the boy out later and find out what he knows of the legends. When Rissa gives the cue, Lucien opens the scroll case, extracts the letter, and hands it to the Count. "It would appear to be correspondence with your ancestor. From what we know, there is enough to match a few of these names to the legends."

"The Gleaming Glade?" Count Parlfray asks with an amused look. He takes the scroll and reads it over then hands it back to Lucien. "Well, I don't put much faith in those stories," he says, shaking his head. "Now, if you're in need of more work, a pack of wild dogs, potentially rabid, have been sighted in the Redwood. I'm looking for someone to exterminate them lest the berry harvest be compromised. I could pay you 10 gold pieces each for the work, which should be quite easy for a group as skilled as you."

"But..."

Rissa trailed off, her face an impassive mask.

"Yes, yes, we would be up to the challenge."

She brought a hand up to wipe a lash from her eyes, clearly unconscious of the gesture.

Lathan frowns at the count's job proposal. Hunting rabid dogs?

"Sir, isn't that the kind of task that could easily be performed by your guards or some local hunters? I appreciate the job offer but I don't see why you need us for that job, especially after we've uncovered this scroll.

"Speaking of which, do you know anything about this 'Spire Keep' that is mentioned in the letter?"

Count Parlfray shakes his head and raises his hand, then says, "I don't know of any 'Spire Keep' in Haranshire. If you'd prefer to go off galavanting and looking for ancient legends rather than accepting a well-compensated, simple task, that's up to you. I can find someone else to take care of the dogs.

"I'll let you decide among yourselves what you'd like to do. Whatever you decide, send word to me before you leave the keep." He then turns and leaves with his servant and guards.

Lucien watches the Count carefully as he barely glances at the letter and hands it back. He sees something in the man's eye when Lathan mentions Spire Keep and it is enough for him to hold his tongue and not mention the pack of rabid dogs that the group had already dealt with in the area during their efforts to deal with the giants.

Instead he watches as the Count leaves and, once he is out of ear shot, turns back to his companions. "I don't know how keen any of you are to hunt down rabid dogs, but for my part, I want to know more about what is going on here." He keeps his voice low as he speaks knowing the even open halls like these often have ears.

"The Count knows more than he cares to share about Spire Keep and his ancestor. I don't know what it is that has him so closed lipped that he won't even tell his own son, but I would rather we spend our time investigating that mystery." He pauses to let the others offer their feelings on turning down the job.

"If it's going to annoy that guy, and get us paid, you had me at not having to deal with dog slobber again." the dragonborn replied dryly.

"I'm for it if you have a place to start, do you?"

Rissa said, surprised that they were turning down what thus far had been pretty profitable work.  They hadn't been around long enough to really grasp the details, but they didn't want to let that much on to the others.

"I have a feeling the son knows something about this," Lathan offers. "Let's start with talking to him. Of course, we'll need to find a time and place away from the ever-watchful eyes of his father."

Lucien nods in agreement with Lathan. "I agree that the boy is the best place to start, but I don't think we're likely to get paid for prying." He addresses the second part of the statement to Terminax.

He considers their options on that front for a moment before speaking again. "I doubt it would please the Count, but we could just go seek the boy now. Given the Count's attitude thus far, he isnt likely to be actively watching the boy himself though there may be a servant who would report to the Count if we started wandering the keep. We could instead use one of our familiars to track down the boy and deliver messages. Either as owls from the outside or, after a brief ritual, as rats from the inside."

"Been meaning to learn that ritual anyway." Terminax readily
Agrees.

Lathan shrugs. "I don't care how we get to him but I do think the boy will be able to help us, so let's talk to him."

Rissa nodded and moved to go.

Lucien leads the way out of the keep. On the way out, he finds one of the Count's servants and asks them to inform their master that the group will not be taking the job to deal with the rabid dogs. "Please thank the Count for his patronage and tell him that should a more pressing danger present itself, he may call on us."

Once outside the keep and out of earshot of the gate, Lucien summons his familiar back. The owl appears in the air nearby and alights on Lucien's shoulder. "The initial ritual is a little more complicated. Let's find somewhere slightly more comfortable so that I can show you how it is done. In the mean time, my familiar will search for the boy's room." He conveys the instruction to try and locate Lyntern by searching the windows of the keep and the owl departs.

"Works for me." Terminax says, following his lead.

The party spends some time resting outside the keep. Terminax scribes Lucien's find familiar spell into his own spellbook while Lucien's owl locates Lyntern's room.

Terminax will also be interested in spending the rest of his money on buying the components to cast the ritual twice, if opportunity allows for it. He'll also cast it if it won't interrupt our plans, practicality allows for it.

When his familiar returns and reports that he has found Lyntern's room, Lucien relays that information to the others. "Now the question is, should we just write him a message? My owl can carry it to him. If we're feeling particularly adventurous, we could climb to the window. I have a grappling hook somewhere." He rummages through the myriad pockets on his person until he pulls out a grappling hook.

"Grappling hook? Well, looks like I'll get to try out this Feather Fall spell sooner rather than later." Terminax says with a grunt.

"Say, you wouldn't by chance happen to have the incense and junk needed for me to summon a familiar, do you? I'll pay you back as soon as we get somewhere that's got the stuff... I suppose that would be one of those smelly shops with the names that dislocate your jaw every time you try and say them out loud?"

"Send him a message," Lathan says. "Climbing into the keep to see the count's son seems like a bad idea to me. Perhaps we can get him to meet us somewhere."

Lucien pats down his pockets and even pulls a few odds and ends out of some of them as he checks for something. "I actually don't think I have anything to write with or on believe it or not. Anybody have pen and ink?" He pulls out some chalk. "I don't think I'm the most eloquent writer. Anyone feel up to composing something? I think we might start by extending the carrot, so to speak, and offer him a bit of what we have learned about his ancestor. From the sounds of things, his father has intentionally hidden things from him, but he's interested in spite of all that. It shouldn't be too hard to get him to talk." The elf makes it sound like they will be interrogating the boy, which probably makes a strong case against him writing the letter.

"Why not just say, "You're dad is not interested in paying us to investigate what we've uncovered. if you are, send back a time anf place where we can meet. Hugs and Kisses, the mercenaries that lije getting paid for gigs that are more interesting than dog hunting." the Dragonborn says as he continues to practice the ritual he had been learning.

"Tell him we have tales of intrigue to share, no need to get too creative.  He was fascinated before, wasn't he?  That should be enough to lead him down."

Rissa countered.

"He was definitely interested in our exploits before, and wanted to come with us," Lathan says. "Rissa, can you write the note? Tell him we found the Gleaming Glade and uncovered some clues that we need his help deciphering. That should hook him."

"Fine, just as long as we get paid in the end. Wouldn't want the little lordling to get into his head that we're doing this out of the kindness of our heart." Terminax said with a shrug.