——— 3rd person ———
Ralph Quickshot was definitely amongst the most popular new ranger recruits. His nickname coming from his tendency to shoot first, aim later.
Naturally, this resulted in a lot of missed shots. The occasional instakill of horned rabbits or other small woodland 'threats' on the other hand was an extremely impressive feat of impossible skill and reaction speed when retold by his buddies.
Running his hand through his wavy blond hair he brushed it aside to get it out of his eyes. This was another source of his popularity. Unlike the seasoned veterans whose short functional hair lacked any sort of flair, Ralph's luscious locks were the talk of the conclave.
Today, however Ralph finally understood that he was suffering for fashion. The continuous light drizzle made his hair stick to his forehead. A steady accumulation of moisture always threatening to drip onto his nose or run into his eyes. That made his nose itch like mad!
"See anything?" He asked the other two newbies who had joined him for the task of looking for goblin traces.
Bod Keeneye's report had resulted in several juicy tasks being pinned on the board. Tracking the Bluefang goblins was the most dangerous, but it also had the best reward.
Goblin hunting was considered child's play amongst the rangers. A well placed arrow to the head or neck would do the trick, and any ranger worth their salt (newbies included) could hit a moving target that big from quite a distance.
Goblins were known to be cowardly, and their short lifespan meant few of them ever reached the skill level in archery the one needed to display to even have been considered for recruitment by the rangers.
Moving slowly and silently though the woodland, a sudden movement in the bushes ahead surprised the 3 young rangers.
"Twang" Ralph shot an arrow into the bush without a second of hesitation.
"Skreeeee!" A hideous screeching sound rewarded his efforts, but his smile stiffened when a group of bulky goblins jumped out of the bush in rage.
They all held crude spearlike weapons and one of the smaller ones had an arrow in its shoulder. The largest goblin stood at the back with an oddly intelligent look on its face as it sized up the enemy.
Barking a few orders it charged at the rangers as it took aim and sent its spear hurtling at the closest of the surprised rangers. The others quickly followed suit.
"Dodge!" The Ralph yelled before scrambling out of harms way. They were only supposed to track the goblins to find their lair. Not fight them!
Ralph ducked behind a sturdy tree. His quick reflexes proved more than adequate as a spear missed where he once stood and lodged itself into his makeshift cover. He was about to jump back out and retaliate with another arrow when a stone whistled past where his head was going to be. The close call sent shivers down his spine.
Poking his head out again for a quick check a short while later, he was glad to see that Gunnhild seemed ok too, only bleeding slightly from where a spear grazed her arm. Her pale face however, alerted him of something being wrong. That's when he noticed Albert was missing.
Albert was the shortest of the 3, and also the scrawniest. That marked him as the weakest link. Apparently the goblins agreed on that point.
Looking around carefully, Ralph noticed another detail. It was too quiet.
The goblins were gone.
"They got Albert!!!" Ralph whispered to his remaining teammate.
There wasn't much time to think, but Ralph identified 2 options as he scrambled to make a plan.
1- Run away, get help, and hopefully find Albert. Problem was Albert would almost certainly be doomed.
2- follow the goblins. Maybe save Albert? He could be dead already.
Things were looking bad, this was supposed to be another easy task. He always went for the easy tasks that sounded impressive, but losing a teammate would mean his popularity would certainly take a hit. All his boasting and posturing seemed to give the other rangers confidence in his abilities and resulted in him being the de facto leader of this small team. Only he knew that his skills were subpar at best.
Gunnhild suddenly asked the question he didn't want her to ask.
"Why did you shoot that arrow? We were silent and out of sight, so I doubt they knew we were even here!" He voice still a whisper but getting louder as she went on, " I saw Albert get hit by a spear!!! This was supposed to be reconnaissance!!!!"
Her piercing gaze unleashed the feelings of guilt Ralph had almost succeeded in suppressing. He had to do something.
"I'll go after them as I'm better at sneaking, and partially at fault. They seem stronger and smarter than the average goblins I've seen before so we are too weak to take them on without suffering even more losses." Turning away to face the direction the goblins seemed to have disappeared to, he struck a pose as he continued, " you run back and get help as fast as you can."
Without waiting for an answer, Ralph started tracking his missing teammate.
Gunnhild was too slow to stop him leave, and frowned as she watched the handsome idiot scurry away. She hated not being strong enough to prevent the tragedy that had occurred right in front of her.
When the goblins charged she actually managed to headshot one of the smaller ones , the one that already had an injury. Before she could loose another arrow she saw Albert get skewered by 2 spears. Glancing at where Ralph had been she saw him cowering behind a tree and had a split second to realize that she was the only remaining target. She dived behind a nearby rock getting a few scrapes and bruises in the process.
It was not a moment too soon, as a well aimed spear had grazed her arm and hit the tree behind where she had been standing. She looked up to see Ralph almost getting his head smashed by a flying stone before he squealed and went back to hiding.
From her hiding spot, she had seen the goblins grab Albert and their downed warrior before making a run for it. As much as she wanted to take them all down, she had no idea how many more goblins were hidden in the woods that they had supposedly abandoned.
Realizing that Ralph was not a reliable teammate at all and that may even bring harm to his own team with his thoughtless actions, Gunnhild decisively abandoned any thought of following him and promptly returned to report the situation.