Last step: Seek out and speak with the white robed man. Despite that description you do not in fact talk with Gaius Luciarius, but instead speak with the ...blue kilted barbarian? to get the task to update. Maybe it should be, "Seek out and speak with the guy adjacent to the white robed man".
Not a bug. If you do talk to the white robed man, Gaius Lucianus, this happens (bold added): So, people should read the text and then they would talk to Ghrald McMannus, who you are calling the blue kilted barbarian. Since Ghrald McMannus literally tells you to not bother talking to Gaius Lucianus but to talk to Ghrald.
Having a task purposely direct you to the wrong NPC just to give a different NPC some flavor text seems kinda silly and waste of time.
Although I usually ignore what quest NPCs say, I see nothing wrong with adding some flavor. Your mileage may vary.
