RIFT Quest:March of the Defenders  

To avoid exploits which groups of players escorting armies instead of a patrol, only one player can have this quest at a time. After a player gets it the Sergeant will return to his tent, reemerging when more troops are ready to move out.

You start off with 7 Soldiers and you must stay very close to them. If you leave them for more than a few seconds they will reset. The slow-march to the edge of the camp, then step it up to a jog. They will attack anything that comes close to them, and there will be one assault by multiple spiders just in case you were lucky and missed any. Concentrate on the two big spiders or they will kill all the recruits. If you cannot keep at least one alive you fail the quest.

When you reach Lieutenant Ezan by the burning wagon he calls out to the troop to halt and move this wagon off the path. When they reach the wagon a Goblin Ambush, with spiders, attacks and all but one of the Recruits are slain.

It is impossible to save the recruits. The attackers are too spread out and the recruits will not assist you, they just attack whatever is near them. The only soldier you MUST save is Lieutenant Ezan. It is possible to hail him and complete this quest before the goblin fight starts, but you cannot get the next quest from him until after the fight.