Class - Ranger: Beast Master
Riingo spent his days with his clan pillaging, scavenging, and being a general nuisance to travelers who passed unaware through the woods, but among his clan, he was considered strange. He had a soft spot for small things, and showed far too much sympathy for his clan's likeness. He would try to feed wild animals and make wooden implements to eat with. He would string bones and teeth together as presents, which bewildered the other goblins. Among them, you do not give, only take. But though they thought Riingo strange, they did not care what he did, so long as he was loyal to the clan.
There wasn't much in the way of rules among goblins. Whatever the chief said, goes, and if any goblin had a problem with it, they fought it out until one of them died, and then they might have a new chief. But there was an unspoken rule, one that they all followed instinctively, as it was just common sense for them if they wanted to live. Don't go near non-goblin folk, unless it was to raid them.
And Riingo broke this rule. A lot.
Riingo was fascinated by regular folk, and their strange ways of life. He would sneak to the little village outside his clan's territory and creep from the shadows, watching common folk go about their lives, picking up on things and imitating them. He saw people grasping each other with their arms, with no intention to fight. He saw them make things with wood and metal. He saw them show concern, pray to the gods, and share. And he was hungry to know more, to find out what else common folk do. He listened to the people speak and imitated their words, though he didn't know their meaning. And the more fascinated he became, the less cautious.
He was careless one afternoon as he watched a carpenter at her work outside her shop, mesmerized by the intricate patterns the carpenter worked into the wood, and was spotted as he tried to get closer. The carpenter raised the alarm, and Riingo managed to get away before he could be caught. But the village, now made aware of the goblin presence in the neighboring woods, called for the guards, and they hunted the woods until they found the goblin clan.
They slaughtered the goblins indiscriminately. Riingo fought with his clan, trying to drive the guards away, and took a spear to the gut, going down. When he came to, the battle was over. The guards were gone, his clan was dead, and there was a lone figure walking among the bodies, inspecting the fallen.
Riingo tried to crawl towards them, and the person, alerted to a survivor, came to his side. When the person approached and saw a goblin, they drew back, but paused. Though Riingo only knew goblin, he begged for the person's help. And the stranger hesitated, before kneeling in the blood-soaked grass at his side and staunching the wound in Riingo's gut. They fed him a potion and wrapped his wound while Riingo tried to thank them, stuttering through the few common words he'd picked up. "Apple. Fire. Blessing."
After tending to his wounds, the person took Riingo away from the battlefield and left him resting against a tree. But as soon as Riingo was well enough enough to move, he followed the person back to their encampment.
Riingo watched them for days, and always the person seemed not to notice him lurking on the edges of their camp. He didn't know what he wanted, exactly, but this person had saved him, and he wanted to know more. His clan was gone because he'd done this exact thing--gotten too close to non-goblins--but still he was fascinated. Even though some non-goblins had fought and killed them, one had saved him.
He was startled one night, when the person said loudly, out of nowhere, "Apple," in common, and held a ripe red apple out in Riingo's direction beyond the treeline. Riingo tensed, prepared to run again, but when they did nothing else, he approached slowly out of the shadows. They waited patiently the whole time, until Riingo was finally close enough to take the apple gently from their hands. They pointed at the firepit, where they were roasting something on a spit, and said, "Fire," in common. And then they patted the seat beside them, and said, "Blessing."
Riingo ended up staying with them for a long time, learning common, the ways of common folk, and the ways of a ranger as well. It turned out he had been saved by a ranger named Tallstag, who was intending only to pass through, but ended up staying much longer to care for Riingo and teach him.
Tallstag helped Riingo find his animal companion, a small bat that he named Nibbles, much to Tallstag’s amusement. They grew close during their time together, but eventually Tallstag had to leave and report back to their company of rangers. They offered to let Riingo come with, but Riingo decided to go out into the world on his own, and see what he could.
Appearance: Riingo has green skin, big pointed ears, short dirty black hair that sticks out a lot, brownish-red eyes, and sharp teeth. Riingo wraps himself in bandages and wears a cloak with the hood up constantly. He says he's a child, but doesn't bother to wrap his hands or feet, and walks around barefoot. When questioned about the bandages, he said he was burned real bad all over. When questioned about the green hands and feet, he says that's just his burns. When asked why his burns are green, he says it was a wizard burn.
Nibbles the bat is a vampire bat. Riingo let's Nibbles feed on him, and Nibbles hangs off of Riingo and sleeps under his cloak.
