So I got this next message today. Important details: I had already bound the voice using the tome, and spoken to the Skittish Bum about it. He had no new text when I demanded answers. After he fled, this is the result from asking at the barrel about the voice:
One of the men around the burn barrel nods. "Ah, yeah, some of the guys have heard that… creepy voice when the sun's gone down and you've had too much… candy."
He makes a vague gesture towards the edge of the circle. "There was a guy, name of Ken… I think… Kevin maybe. Anyway, he lost his last nut at one point, yelling about 'the silence' like he'd gone deaf or something."
"All in an day's life in Southside, right?" He rasps out a laugh without any mirth behind it.
"But after that, nothing. Nobody's heard the whispers since. Probably just a coincidence… but the kind that gives you chills, you know?"