Peri:

Peri should have followed Thwack. But he hadn't seen what Boko had, and hadn't expected the impulsive kobold to go haring off into an unfamiliar city. Now he wondered if they'd ever find him. The only point of reference any of them had was their boat, so hopefully he could find his way back there. If he didn't get mugged and possibly skinned first.

He listens moodily to the old man's story. "Why do they call it the Lantern Ghost? And why would a bloody knife, in the hands of a fisherman, be suspicious at all, much less grounds enough for hangin'? Gotta be dozens of fishermen out here, and probably every one of 'em has a bloody knife in their pockets. Lemme guess: this Jarme guy wasn't too popular, was he?"

Qivys takes this all in. 
"If'n my companions won't," he tells the old priest. "I'll escort ya home or ta tha safest place ya know." 
If the companions say anything or give hime questioning looks, Qivys will say.
"You lot have yer mission an' folks ya have ta answer ta and tha like. I am bound ta answer tha calls of justice and vengence, no matter where it comes from." 
Qivys looks to the sky and mutters under his breath.
"Ya just won't let a dwarf rest will ya." 

The old priest continues to talk excitedly, waving his arms wildly as he does.

"Well, rumors say the killer held a lantern. It's scandalous how Jarme was never properly put on trial... And when I tried to meet with Jarme in his cell at Hopene’er Asylum, I was denied access by the militia!" 

Refrum continues to ramble on about his own investigation into the Lantern Ghost killings. He describes how the killer had been on the prowl for half a year, striking intermittently and leaving mutilated victims in public locations to be discovered at dawn. He also describes how singularly inept the militia were in their efforts to track down the killer, and how the slayings had pushed the Styes to the brink of chaos. Jarme’s arrest evidently came after he was found looming over the body of a victim, a dagger clutched in his bloodstained hands. Refrum can’t dispute this evidence, but he talks of how Jarme went to the gallows professing to have no memory of any slayings.

"Jarme was just a poor kid, really. Not much more than those alley urchins you just chased off..."

Gerrard:

”I have no objection if our path leads past the priest’s dwelling,” says Gerrard, even as he keeps a wary eye out for trouble.

Qivys walks along, listening to the priest all the while trying to keep an eye out for new dangers.

"What about tha people in charge around here?" he asks. "I there a mayor or governor ya can go to? I mean yer a priest an' they might bend their ear to ya if ya talk loud enough. Have ya tried ta organize tha locals that ya can rely on ta help?" 

Gerrard:

”The militia blocking your visit and rushing to judgement with the young fisherman seems suspicious to me.  Have the people being murdered over the past 6 months been convenient to get out of the way as far as the leaders of the town might be concerned?” asks Gerrard.

Peri:

Peri shakes his head. "You said he was found with a bloody knife; that sounded like they rushed him off with no real evidence. Now you say he was standin' over a victim with the bloody knife. That's a whole other story. Plus he 'had no memory;' that ain't the same as 'claimed he didn't do it.' Eh, whatever. Not our town, not our problem. From the looks of the place there's no shortage of killin's anyway. Probably half these 'Lantern Ghost' things are the same murders that happened before the Ghost ever showed up." 

Gerrard:

”Good points, Master Fenwader, but consider that the militia did not want any further investigation, nor did the jailers.  I submit that Jarme was likely controlled in some matter, perhaps possessed and as such did not recall or indeed bear true responsibility for the murder.  The perfect patsy for covering up the true murderers and their hidden intentions,” says Gerrard as they walk.

”Still, we have very little time to deliver our message and garner what help we may, then we need to leave this place.  I’m all for stopping murders, but truly getting to the bottom of this mystery may take time we don’t have to spare when it comes to stopping the coming contagion,” he adds, somewhat obliquely.

Thwack 

"Snarf!" Thwack huffs as he realises he has lost sight of his quarry. He quickly retraces his path to the street he last saw the others. The group stands out like a wolf amongst the herd, their arrival obviously causing some turned heads. His tiny legs rush to catch them, dodging and weaving through the throng of natives.

"Master Kay got away" he says to Peri with a disappointed sigh. "Him knows Styes very much." He falls in beside the halfling as the maintain the ruse of being part of Gerrards entourage. 

"The four councillors are all self-serving in their own ways, if not corrupt. None of them are innocent: they each have their own schemes. Thornwell is the only one of the four whose staff seemed at all sympathetic to my pleas of Jarme's injustice."

He lowers his voice to a whisper. "I offered... I have an ability to... speak with the dead. I offered to use my gift to learn the truth, but was told by the militia that the case was closed. I was then threatened with incarceration in Hopene’er if I didn’t leave the matter alone."

Unless you have other business here, you begin to walk in the direction the old priest leads, and across a swaying rope bridge over a wide, stinking canal. The neighborhood here is more industrial – dim, smoky factories and noxious laboratories. Iron chimneys belch smoke and foul vapors into the air, while liquid and solid waste is actively being dumped into the canal.

He continues: "I think somebody used enchantments to control Jarme, forcing him to commit one of the murders. When Jarme was caught, they used their influence to have him executed quickly. Now I worry that the conspirators are not only free to continue their work, not — but that they know I'm onto them..."

"Maybe you can gain access to information and witnesses that I can’t. You could go ask at Hopene’er Asylum, where Jarme was held for a few days after his capture. And maybe speak with Constable Jute, the militia guard who found Jarme crouched over his victim. She's at the district garrison. They'd never talk to me."

A group of old beggars approach and crowd you, touching Thwack's hair and admiring Peri's outfit. "A copper? Just a copper?" cries one old woman, her hands outstretched.
20

Peri feels a hand in his backpack, one of the beggars clumsily trying to liberate his block of incense.

Qivys listens but says nothing for a moment.
"Well, this might be a moot point as it is." he finally says. "We came ta bring news of an invading force of undead. If it's left unchecked I am guessin' it will be here soon enough and no one will have ta worry about much else." he says grimly. 
Qivys rubs his forehead with his hand then looks to Gerrard. 
Qivys nods a moment then asks.
"Have ya thought about talkin' ta lad without gettin' permission from folks?" he asks. 

Peri:

"Don't worry about it," he tells Thwack. "When we get finished with this meeting you and I will go find him together." He is about to add more when he feels the pickpocket. He might usually have been more sympathetic to the poor beggars, but he was feeling especially frustrated with the lack of answers they'd run into recently. He whirled around, astral arms bursting forth from the air around him and wrapping around the would-be thief. A spectral image of his own face looms up toward the thief's face, pupilless silver eyes locked on theirs, and Peri says in a cold, menacing voice, "Not. Today. Find an easier mark."

((BA: Ki point to summon his Astral Arms and Visage. Action to attempt to grapple the thief with the arms: 14. Intimidation check: 10))

The old woman with her hand in Peri's pack withdraws it rapidly, ducking his phantom arms, then turning and running away at top speed into a nearby alley. The other beggars, watching, also immediately retreat without comment.

Refrum shakes his head to Qivys' question. "They were quick to ship Jarme's body to the mortuary for cremation, as if trying to cover something up — I see this as evidence that some sinister conspiracy here has a connection to the killings."

You cross another, smaller canal, clogged and befouled with refuse. The water moves only along shallow, sluggish channels that snake through a reeking expanse of mud. A handful of desperate scavengers wallow in the filth, scrounging for anything of value in the muck.

"They are killing at random? Who are the people who have died?" Boko says. Her attention is still on their main goal but she's beginning to cue in on this.

She says, more quietly to the party, that she can locate Kei if he is within 1,000 feet of them, and track him for an hour.

How far have we moved from where we saw someone who might be him?

You've walked about 1000 feet since you saw the Kei lookalike in the alley. You don't know which direction he went from there. (What ability is Boko using?)

"That's the thing – there's little connection between the victims. A lot of children, the elderly, religious folks, folks who harmed nobody. It's all just tragic."

Refrum stops at a modest wood and brick building at the edge of the inner harbor. He unlocks a hidden latch with an iron key and pushes open a small hidden door. "Come in, come in," he beckons. "I have a little juice and some bread I can share with you."

Qivys goes inside but declines the priests' hospitality.
"Tha man probably ain't got much ta eat fer himself let alone guests." Qivys reaches out telepathically to Gerrard and says this. 
"The weak an' tha holy," Qivys says as he thinks. "There ain't no draining of blood from tha' victims are there?" he asks. 

Inside, Qivys sees that Refrum’s cluttered home is filled with half-finished clockwork inventions, and the air is thick with the smell of grease. Hundreds of books line every available inch of shelf space, and a tiny bed, likewise covered with books, stands in a corner of the room. "I'm a bit of an inventor," he explains. "I strive constantly to focus my research on caring for the poor here."

Answering Qivys, he adds, "No, no blood draining. Just brutal butchery. Leaving mutilated victims in public locations to be discovered at dawn. It seems intent on terrorizing the city, without any sort of motives like robbery or revenge. Just random acts of ungodly horror."

Before Refrum opens the door, Boko takes a moment to try to ascertain if he seems on the level. She's been burned enough recently.

Insight: 19

Qivys thinks for a moment then asks.
"I know I will regret askin' this but, prior to the murders were there any scandles or folks put ta death by those in power that might have started all this?" he asks.