Qivys watches the man run off and shakes his head.
"Fear is tha mind killer." he says.

Qivys will turn his horse and wait. 

Peri:

Kei spurs his horse on, apparently still eager to get to "Bela." Peri waves at the others to hang back for a moment, and when Kei is far enough ahead to be out of earshot he says, "This is the edge of the Dreadwood. Everything from here on is gonna be tryin' to kill us, and that vampire could pop up any time. We can't have one of ours fightin' us too. What're we gonna do about Kei? We can't send him back; he won't go. So where does that leave us?"

"Tha only thing that comes ta my mind is ta take 'em to a priest." Qivys says. "But there ain't a priest worth a damn I know within miles, unless that druid could have done somethin' about it."

Qivys pauses for a moment then:
"Could he be talkin' to that blood sucker?" he asks. "I know of powers that can talk ta folks mind ta mind, and if'n they're chattin' then we are in fer a harder fight than we are expectin'." 

Gerrard:

"I know not what spell or ritual can remove the charm from Master Kei, but I suspect that ring that the vampire gave to him may be an anchor of some kind.  Perhaps if we were to remove it from his person?" suggests Gerrard.  "On the other hand, we have no idea where Bela is in this wood, and Master Kei seems to be moving with purpose."

Night is falling quickly. Carl ran off to the west, toward the river. The party has been moving northward, parallel to the river – a direction that now plunges them deeper into denser, if still leafless, woods. 

Would the party like to make camp here, or move forward into the woods under the failing light?

Peri:

"The ring... Yeah, we could try to take that off him. He won't give it up easily though. So we're either gonna need a way to hold him using magic," he suggests, looking to Qivys and Bokorpion, "Or we're gonna have to jump him, knock him out, and take it. I don't like attackin' a friend, but I'm not goin' one step further into those woods with a potential traitor -- voluntary or not -- amongst us. We need to deal with this right here, one way or another. Ideas?"

Gerrard:

Stretching, Gerrard says, "Yeah, maybe we should call it for the night.  We could all use some sleep before heading into the woods.  Should I flag Master Kei down and suggest the very thing?" With a wink towards Peri, Gerrard says, "Maybe you should take the first watch tonight, eh?"

Kei 

With his horse in a trot he has put quite some distance between the group and himself. He twists in the saddle and finds that the others are still back at the creepy crawly crime scene. He pulls hard an the reins, almost stopping his horse on the spot. Instead of wasting time riding back he defers to magical communication.

@ Peri

"Sir? Sir?" asks a girl of about twelve, stepping through the scrub toward Kei in the growing darkness. She is nearly barefoot, with only a few scraps of cloth wrapped around her feet. She wears a filthy shawl, and drags a dirty sack through the snow behind her. "Can you help me?" she asks Kei.

Peri:

Peri jumps guiltily as Kei's message intrudes upon their conspiring.

"He's gettin' impatient. I told him we're gonna set up camp for the night." He spurs his horse to catch up to their wayward companion and finds him talking to a little girl. "Are you one of the little lost lambs from Saltmarsh?"

Boko the giant scorpion, roving about in the surrounding woods, uses her blindsight to keep an eye out. She assumes the party is moving along, and was ready to scout and flank, but she watches the man flee, and then this new arrival near Kei. Out of nowhere. Was she really alone? Was she really a small human girl? The scorpion investigates.

"I don't know about Saltmarsh," replies the girl to Peri as she stumbles uncertainly toward Kei upon his horse. "I'm from the encampment on the river." She looks cold and miserable and bedraggled, very underdressed for the weather. "But I'm lost. Can you help me find it?"

Bokoscorpion sees no one else in the area. The girl's single set of footprints are visible in the snow – she clearly wandered in from somewhere north.

Kei 

"Zagyg have mercy!" Kei near jumps out of his skin as the girl appears from nowhere. What was a young girl doing this far away from civilisation? Then Peri's reply enters his mind. He jumps again. Just as his nerves settle Peri then appears at his side. "Damn this whole place! That's it!" He jumps from his horse and completely disregards the girl. He walks a lap around his horse trying to calm his frayed nerves. Once composed he looks at the girl. "So, how did you get lost this far away from....well...anywhere?" He pays close attention to her reply.

Insight 14

Gerrard:

Uncomfortable with the party separating like this, Gerrard slowly rides up to where Kei and Peri are.  He is startled to see a young girl speaking to them.  Narrowing his eyes, he wonders if this is a ruse, so he rides up slowly and tries to read the situation.

Insight:  15

Qivys rides up to the group. Upon seeing the girl, he touches his Holy Symbol and uses his Divine Sense. 

"So, how did you get lost this far away from....well...anywhere?" He pays close attention to her reply.

She smiles weakly and drops the sack in the snow.

"Like this," she says quietly, then springs on Kei to bite his arm.

Roll initiative!

Initiative:
Dead Girl: 20

Qivys confirms that the girl is indeed, undead. 

Bokoscorpionitiative: 22

Qivys Initiative: 20

Gerrard’s Initiative:  16

Peri's Initiative: 9