*kid’s feet

Gerrard:

Moving up and looking carefully at the child, Gerrard is overcome by sadness.  “Does their cruelty know no bounds?” he offers quietly to Boko as he goes by.

”Tell me of your life before you were taken, small one.  Are the children taken from Saltmarsh due to suffer your fate during this ‘ceremony’ “? asks Gerrard, unable to mask his pity for this once mortal trapped forever in a toddler’s body.

Kei 

Figuring that three helpers in the lounge was enough, he stays out of sight in the kitchen. He can't help but sigh when he hears Gerrard question the child. "Always with the saviour speech that guy" he whispers to Qivys. "If he's not careful he'll raise more than just an eyebrow with words like suffer and taken". 

He quickly stiffles a chuckle as he listens to Peri's completely inadequate attempt at convincing the child. Oh boy, I thought I'd taught him at least a little about conning someone. The chuckle fades as fast as it came as the child says it'll get the Caretaker. He grips the neck of his cittern a little tighter.

"Blindly walkin' in ta a den of death he is." Qivys says out of the side of his mouth, responding to Kei. 
"Just how many toddlers ya know speaks like they're at court?" Qivys calls out to Gerrard. 

Gerrard:

”No mortal ones, surely,” responds Gerrard sadly.  “This one’s existence has been twisted, frozen in time forever by the power of undeath.”

"Or its somethin' else in disguise." Qivys calls out. he looks to Kei and shakes his head.
"I'm startin' ta think Dwal was wrong about this guy." he says. 

Boko notices that the boy has clearly worn the cobwebs clean, but just in certain paths, and not well, as though he has not been here for more than a few days or weeks.

"This is Mr. Barnacle, my secretary" he answers, holding up his doll. "We were just discussing his performance review. He was just returning to the Secretary Pool, wasn't he?" He opens the glass doll case and places his doll within.

"Why don't we save your questions for the Caretaker, shall we? She won't be but a few minutes. Please. Make yourselves at home."

"What does this Caretaker, care fer, exactly?" Qivys pokes his head into the room as he asks his question. 

"This keep, of course. Protecting it from the ravishes of time and those who want to destroy it. Granny Nightshade herself has visited it in the past. I poured her tea once."

The grandfather clock continues to tick quickly and incessantly. 

"How long have you and Mr. Barnacle been here?" Boko says. "And do you have a name to share? Your diction is superb, and I would not wish to cause offense by not knowing your name. Perhaps I can trade it to you for a magic trick."

She leans down and snaps her fingers and (via druidcraft any unlit candles and torches in the room ignite.

Gerrard:

Gerrard stays quiet and listens, but hears the creature answering questions other than his..."Fair enough," he thinks, having no idea what level of maturity to expect from a toddler of advanced age.

Glancing back over his shoulder at Peri, he whispers, "We are on a tight time restriction here...If we can't get useful information quickly, we should move on.  Saltmarsh's children may yet be alive, at least until the feast begins..."

"Oh!" titters the child at Boko's trick, clearly entertained. "But please don't touch the candles. Caretaker may be displeased."

"As to my name, you may call me Edgar."

He opens the case back up and pulls out a doll with a porcelain face and long, black hair, dressed in a maid uniform.

"Wait here while I finish my duties. It's a very busy day. Caretaker will be up shortly. Miss Primrose will assist me," he adds, holding up the doll in introduction. He begins to exit the room toward the open door to the west but then pauses. He turns toward Boko, uncertainly. "You said something about a... magic trick?"

"Do you like magic? Do you know any?" Boko says, not letting any disappointment slip through about Edgar not taking her magic trick as the magic trick in question.

"Why, no! No, I do not," replies Edgar. "Do you?" He freezes to watch Boko carefully and with an air of restrained excitement.

Just then you hear something behind you. Peering in the kitchen door is a pale boy of maybe twelve, wearing little but rags and bearing a dark wooden pegleg. He quickly departs.

Boko locks onto the new boy with her eyes. Do the boys look similar? Meaning one is not an illusion, they are both equally corporeal?

(Is he carrying a peg leg or does his leg have a peg attached???)

(Both children are equally corporeal, and there is no obvious resemblance between them, other than they are both light-skinned human boys. But the older boy is missing a leg, and walks with the help of a wooden peg strapped to his thigh.)

Peri:

Peri is beginning to feel disoriented. He'd expected an encounter with some fearsome undead guardian, but so far they'd only met an unnaturally precocious child. Can't be a normal kid, right? Gotta be some vampire babe? When the 'child' is distracted by Boko, and Peri is behind him, he silently mimes a question to Gerrard, dragging his thumb across his throat and giving a shrug. He lets the end of the stake show, as a suggestion.

Gerrard:

Keeping his gaze steady as Peri asks his question, Gerrard asks Qivys in a neutral tone, “How sure are we these children are undead?  We will need to make sure they do not get in our way as we move to…uh…participate in the feast.”

"Was waitin' fer a better time ta see but.." Qivys says as he touches his holy symbol and uses his Divine Sense. 

Qivys confirms that Edgar is indeed undead. The other child has already vanished from the kitchen before Qivys is able to ascertain its identity. The toddler continues to watch Boko with amused anticipation, waiting for her magic trick.