This is the story of three rogues. T, for Torgus, Reggie and Hollis. The three of them were brought together by fate to play a role in this world that they weren't aware of until the very end of their story. But that time isn't yet.
The day that Ed was plopped back into reality at the chapel of Linist in CunStead a man wandered into town. He watched as Ed materialized from nowhere. He watched the world froze for a split second before Ed disappeared and then reappeared after a few minutes. The man was bent over, wearing a traveling cloak. He was sensitive to Divine powers having to be a priest before his current occupation.
He watched quietly and saw him come and go from reality, He felt the presence of another divine spirit before the two wandered off into town. He was curious If he had enough power to do that kind of work he needed whatever power he was holding.
And a free-roaming divine was a large catch. He had the ability to store divine power and the churches no longer had enough power to fill him up for use as a miracle maker.
This man's name was Felgar. He was a soul written in by god, not as part of the 14 but separately and when the divines of this land weren't looking. Felgar was a priest at one time because he had the ability to heal and bless in strong and amazing ways. But he also had appetites. Strong appetites for food, women, money, and more. His curse was that whatever he had he would also lose. This was why he was walking alone. A man of his power had lived in a mansion once, fed the best dishes, and slept with the best women. A virgin a night wasn't out of the question for him if he demanded it of a small province somewhere in the boonies. They were more than willing to send a young woman to offer herself up as a sacrifice for the benefit of the town.
His curse was that he could never hold onto anything. He lost his powers. As he consumed more and more power and fulfilled his lusts his abilities to commit miracles declined. He needed more power to fulfill his miracles and the circle carried on like that until he was what he was now. A man consumed to find a source of power big enough to actually get him back into his position.
And this is where Felgar hatched a plan. He needed more info on this young man walking into town followed by the spiritual. Felgar wasn't as attuned to the divine as Ed was but he could sense them moving. He just couldn't see them. All Felgar knew was that every spirit was staring at Ed and keeping a safe reverent distance.
This much power must be consumed. At first, Felgar thought to follow him, he was leaking divine power. Like a glass that was being shaken constantly his contents, his divine power, and magic was spilling from him. Littering the ground with uncontrolled magic and it tasted sweet to him. He walked behind him and followed him into town. When the boy checked into the Inn Felgar rented a room in the Inn directly across the street. And as Ed slept, Felgar meditated trying to suck in everything he could. He will be filling but still not enough.
Following him would only work so long, he must have him. Subdue him somehow to feed off him at leisure. He found a seedy bar down by the outskirts of town in the area where the men who could only get jobs of physical labor hung out. That kind of place where those with history were never asked about their history.
That's where he met our three men who would follow poor Ed across lands far and wide. T was a barrel-chested man with a scar across his eye from an attack years earlier that landed him in prison. Reggie was a skinny older man with a knee he swore could tell the future and other things. Reggie didn't know but he was actually a low-level magician and what we were feeling was his body aligning with the world's divine powers. And Holis was a young man who idolized the life of the man in the woods, robbing and running from town to town. Making what money he could, stealing women's hearts with daring tales. He had grown up the youngest son of a town constable, and the feelings of being ignored had driven him to a life he had heard about at so many dinner tables.
Felgar paid them the ridiculous sum of 10 gold to get him information on the boy. Follow him and see what he does. He promised them 5 gold a month more to follow him, maybe rough him up once to steal his things to see what he has on him. Felgar needed to know what the boy's weakness was.
The first few days they watched him buy things, T knew the storeroom manager because he had worked for him before as a hired hand. He got a list of what he was buying. He knew he was called Erust and from a town called Deavers Township far way. And he watched from a distance as the boy worked for quirky old Jorgen on his geometrical farm. He had some sort of skill as a smith.
Nothing screamed out of the ordinary to them. They all debated just taking the money and making regular reports to this caped man. It was easy money. But guys like them didn't live for easy money. After some thought, T decided the best thing to do was catch him between towns when he left and rob him. He would survive and make it to the next town or their benefactor could capture him then and scurry him off wherever he wanted and do whatever he wanted to him. So long as he paid him.
So with a plan made they borrowed horses and planned to ride about a day behind them and wait for them to get out in the middle of nowhere before attacking. Their best plans were never going to be fruitful. As you know Ed made a pact with the forest.
This pact would later become the first sacrament of the forest. Travelers would stop at the Cairn of rocks outside of town and offer seeds, fertilizer, and other offerings to the forest for its protection. Ed would start doing this every time he left town. He would build a Cairn of rocks and put his offering in and the forest would hide and protect him as he crossed through.
The trip from CunStead to the Capital at Or'Ganel was at least 3 weeks on a wagon with a load on it. Two weeks was more likely as he looked to be traveling light.
On the first night, the three of them had to travel in the dark at night because the wind kept blowing out their torches. No amount of oil or tar would keep them lit so they stopped after 2 hours of traveling.
The next nights the three of them were harassed with the worst of luck. One horse lost all its shoes and needed to be led instead of ridden on. Wolves attacked the horses from behind. They only seemed interested in the horses also, not humans. T would run after one with his sword before another would swoop in from another direction to nip at its hooves. Until the next morning at first light, the horses and men would be exhausted beyond words.
And it continues. Day after day, the trees would bend down in ways to make them find a new way through. The brambles would string up to tear at their clothes as they led the horses through fields. And lets not even start on the roads. Mother nature would start it to rain as soon as they stepped foot onto the main road.
Reggie was absolutely sure they had been cursed and screamed to take the money and head back home or to the next village they could find. Hollis just sat on his horse brooding, ready to punch their prey in the face if they ever saw them. T laughed it off as the divine making them earn their money. He wasn't going to give up until he got the map he was carrying on him to sell. A treasure like that would fetch 20 gold in the right parts of Mi'Ganel where the black markets tried to keep their honest establishments to hide the dishonest ones.
Each night they would sit down to eat and it would be WOLVES. They would get back on the horses to be assailed by tree branches, birds, and the worst weather you could imagine. AND WOLVES. For almost 3 weeks they wandered the forest, with wolves! On two occasions they came close to sneaking up on Ed and his carriage. He was parked for the night with just a lantern and no fire, humming a tune to himself and rolling out a bedroll in the back of the cart among the boxes and other supplies. As they would sneak up on him the Forrest would throw more wolves at them.
The animals never seemed to bother Ed, only the three people after him. Ed slept comfortably in a nice warm breeze with the smell of flowers and the trees softly rustling around him to keep him safe at night. T and the boys got more wolves.
It was nearly 3 weeks before the boys gave up on the chase for him. They had not seen any trace off their quarry for almost a week and a half and when they did find it the traces of animal prints would send them back towards CunStead. And the wolves never seemed to leave them alone. They gave up and decided to head to the nearest town, split up the gold they had, and find something easier. This was work and these were not the kind of men designed for work. And they were sick and tired of wolves.
And as soon as they had decided the forest opened up for them. The spirits knew that the men had given up and were no longer a threat to Ed because he had already made it into town a week earlier and these three were too exhausted to be dangerous at all.
As they came into sight of the first town they realized they had made it to the capital. T told them they could catch him now and Reggie quickly started hitting him with a switch. Hollis screamed and cursed and swore to stab him in the back if they tried to follow him or anyone else through the woods ever again. The idea was quickly abandoned and the only thing they could agree on was that they needed a warm bed and booze. And that's where Rennish caught up with them again several days later. Drinking. But they never recognized Rennish, he knew them, but they wouldn't meet for a while again after that.