Ridley Elderstone

Ridley Elderstone is a halfling wizard and the current heir to a noble heritage. While seeking change in his life he has left his family's estate and teamed up with Fan Brightgrass, Milla Kramer, and Kika to explore the mysteries behind the Barrier.

Personality
Ridley is, above all else, a halfling of insatiable curiosity. Growing up in a heavily sheltered environment has left him with few world experiences outside of his books of magic, and is therefor ready and willing to try new things and see new places now that he has the chance to. He has learned the values of kindness and comradery through a large family that legitimately cares for his well-being, but knows little of real consequences and conflict. As such, he is used to having things go his way, in one form or another, and easily becomes frustrated when they don't. He has short patience, an even shorter temper, and is a little spoiled from being brought up among a wealthy estate. Even so, he does mean well and wants the best for his friends in the end. He concerns himself over little matters that could lead to disastrous situations that he is not used to dealing with first hand, but is trying his best to work through them anyway.

Away from his fiery temper and tendency to fuss, Ridley has a drive for knowledge and power, even above adventuring. Though not all of his goals are clear to him, one that stands out the most is that one day he will be a great wizard of awesome ability. When he receives new spell books he will lose himself in hours to days of study. He prioritizes fire spells above others, since it is the element that comes the most naturally to him when in use, as well as various forms of conjury.

Other hobbies of Ridley's, aside from his magic, include drawing, painting, cholygraphy, piano, chess, and hair-styling. He also greatly enjoys comfort foods, cheese, hard alcohol, parties of any variety, jewelry, and has a fascination with deer/elk.

He dislikes getting dirty, brussel sprouts, deep water (ocean, lakes) most large animals, spiders, insects, and Kika calling him 'Fancy Boy'.

Childhood:
Ridley Elderstone is the current leading heir of one of the wealthiest noble families within the Barrier. When he was a toddler his parents passed away during an unfortunate carriage accident when a stray dog spooked their horses and threw their transportation off the road and into a deep gully. Ridley took part in the accident and made it out with only a broken arm that occasionally still bothers him. With his father deceased, Ridley became the next in line to be head of the family whenever his Grandfather passed away. The Elderstone family deal in produce that is grown and harvested in their own piece of the country and guarantee the best quality in grains, fruits, vegetables, honey, bread, milk, cheese, wine, and mead. Since their passing, Ridley was raised by just about every extension of the family, but mostly through his Grandfather, who began teaching him how to run their business in his teenage years.

As a child, Ridley stumbled upon a book of spells in his family's library and began practicing magic in his free time. He'd use his allowance to purchase more spellbooks from traveling merchants or whenever his family would visit large cities and secretly studied them in the privacy of his own room. He only ever shared that he could use magic with his favorite cousin, Barry, who used to play fight with him in the woods and encouraged that Ridley use his magic in their games.

Running Away:
Ridley was raised to be the next heir of the Elderstone household and was taught how to handle their farming and trade in produce and was an excellent student. However, when Ridley was 27 his Grandfather started getting sick, and only grew worse as time went on. He became frail, dependent, and began losing his memory. Three years passed, Ridley already taking up a hand in helping his other relatives with their business when it was officially announced by their doctor that his Grandfather would soon be passing and that Ridley would become the head of the Elderstones. In a sudden panic of realizing the lifelong responsibility he was about to take on, Ridley packed his things to leave that night without a single word to the rest of his family. He took to the road with some savings he'd put aside and started to aimlessly wander, looking for a chance to see the world and find any kind of sign that he could do something else with his life.

Meeting Kika, Fan, and Milla:
After only a couple weeks on the road, Ridley was ambushed by a large party of roadside bandits and had most of his things stolen from him. He barely managed to escape without a bruising after flashing a light spell and blinding the bandits before running. After realizing he was just about broke, Ridley sulked into the nearest town of Gladeston and helped himself to a few drinks at a local tavern. Regretting many of his recent decisions, Ridley wandered around town like a drunken idiot and attempted to purchase a silly hat from a merchant with a ruby the bandits managed to miss on his person when he was robbed.

Fan and Kika happened to be walking by when the merchant accused Ridley of attempting to trade him a false ruby. After Ridley was denied his hat and managed to explain to Fan and Kika his situation, Rid was offered to join them until he had sobered up. He was invited to follow them to their sleeping quarters where Milla was currently tinkering with a technologically advanced piece of machinery, to which Ridley offered his magic abilities as a wizard to help unlock.

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Appearance
Ridley is 30 years of age and about average height and weight for an adult, male halfling, if not a little on the scrawnier side of the scale compared to some of his well-fed relatives. He has his family's signature brown eyes, but was passed his mother's unusual flaming red hair and remains the only ginger in his household. Ridley likes to keep a neat and tidy appearance, wearing stylish clothes that were initially unfit for travel. He likes to keep his goatee trimmed and his long, curly hair tied up in a combed ponytail. He primarily likes to wear earthy colors in shades of red, green, and brown and is a fan of jewelry. Ridley is also insanely near-sighted from years of intense studying and wears round specs in order to see properly. Anything more than five feet from him is too blurry to identify.

His cloak is purely aesthetic and he will openly admit he likes to wear it because it makes him look the part of a wizard.

Fan:
Ridley has great respect for Fan for being the voice of reason in their group, as well as the greatest muscle. He admires and envies her ability to be 100% honest with people, even if it can be inconvenient in certain situations. He thoroughly believes that if it wasn't for her he and Kika would have most likely blown each other up by this point.

Kika:
She and Ridley regularly bicker and butt heads with each other, but Ridley appreciates that Kika has an intense passion when it comes to wanting to fight for what she believes in and that she has no problems with just being herself. Even if 'herself' is constantly pissing him off. He still wouldn't trade her out for any other teammate.

Milla:
Ridley feels as though he shares the most in common with Milla on a personal and intellectual level. She has the same curiosity and strive for knowledge towards her craft as he does and her work habits are just as terrible, if not worse. Her determination to solve the mystery of the spheres is something he relates to greatly and loves helping her where he can.

Bose:
Could easily eat a halfling as a teatime snack. No thanks.