Riley

Information

Player: Cepht

Character Full Name: Riley Gillespie

Character In-Game Name: Riley

Nickname(s): Stars

Association(s): Undercity, Horde

Race: Forsaken

Class: Mage

Age: 34

Sex: Male

Hair: Matted down medium brown hair

Eyes: Yellow

Weight: 180

Height: 5'1

Appearance

Riley will typically wear whatever dregs he can find be it donated or found. To him clothes are not really that important. He may at times go without.

Other: Riley 's clothes are prone to having scorch marks due to his preoccupation with fire.

Personality

Alignment: Neutral

Riley aka Stars tends to gravitate towards his own unusual thoughts. He is at times here, at times, elsewhere. He tends to be rather harmless for the most part unless provoked, frightened, or under the influence of a nasty hallucination.

History

Riley Gillespie was a short, stocky man who spent his childhood and the majority of his adult years on a small farm in what is now know as the Eastern Plaguelands. From childhood until early adulthood, Riley worked hard on the farm from dawn until dusk. During the planting and harvesting seasons, he would work as long as there was daylight.

As a young adult, Riley was well known for his ability to make people laugh. He was often the life of the party - cracking jokes, making light of the most dire and serious situations, and of course playing harmless pranks. No matter what was happening in Azeroth, no matter how sad or threatening, you could count on Riley to entertain you and help you forget.

The harvest season was nearing its end and Riley's family was blessed with a record yield of grain. Eager to cash in on their fortune, his father, mother, and three of his brothers traveled to Statholme to fulfill a large contract for delivery. Riley stayed home alone to tend to the farm and finish harvesting the fields. He looked forward to having some quite time for a change.

Slowly, Riley's behavior began to change for reasons unknown. He would appear to be confused at times, yet coherent at others. When he spoke his speech was laced with unusual phrases and descriptions. Without realizing it he would describe colors as if they were sounds, or tastes as if they were textures. When his family returned home, they noticed this oddness but chalked it up as Riley being his usual silly self. Over time it worsened, and so too did his judgment. After a year it was obvious that his thoughts were scrambled. Affectionately, those who knew Riley called him "Stars" because of his strange state of mind. He was harmless, just a bit touched.

One night Riley charged into the kitchen from outside. It was pitch dark. He began to speak of a great black bubbling cauldron that was placed in the center of the farm, and a band of robed figures that stood around it chanting and praying. Everyone had a good laugh; they thought this was probably the most creative of his hallucinations to date. He protested at first but then gave in as a vase containing a small yellow flower stole his attention. The flower began to plead with him. Plucking the flower from the vase, he carried it to the next room and conversed with it until he fell asleep.

Morning broke and Riley was up and about. Having forgotten about the great cauldron, he wandered off into the woods for a walk guided by a small blue butterfly whom he had named "Casper Claspy", Meanwhile his family and friends found the strange cauldron in the field as he had described. Not knowing what to make of it, they drained it bucket by bucket, spilling the contents near the side of the road. They dragged the cauldron off the field, writing the whole thing off as a strange prank.

By the end of the day it was apparent that an illness of sorts had spread, perhaps food poisoning of some sort. Within days they were all dead only to unexpectedly rise in servitude to the Lich King. The farm, needless to say, was no more.

Riley, confused by his own hallucinations and the ever nagging voice of the Lich King, went on a rampage. He lashed out at anything that lived. He screamed and hollered in fright as demons and abominations appeared before his eyes. They taunted him night and day, repeating random words and numbers until he felt as if his head would explode. No matter who or what he attacked, the voices and visual hallucinations would not ease up. Finally he completely lost it. He raised his hands in anger then closed his eyes. Unexpectedly, a waft of fire leaped from his hands to a nearby shrub, setting it ablaze. The feeling of mental chaos eased and his hallucinations lessened for a matter of hours, but then returned slowly.

One day the madness began to ease up. Casper Claspy appeared before Riley. Casper removed his top hat and drew from it an old wooden pipe. With the strike of a match the butterfly casually lit the pipe and tossed the lit match over his shoulder and into a mound of dried leaves. He placed the stem of the pipe between his lips. Riley sat and watched Casper with a wide-eyed look, not caring much about the small fire that started to grow.

"You know Stars, you could be a free man if you wanted.", Casper said.

Riley blinked, then asked, "How?"

Casper took a deep puff, filling the air with an aromatic cloud, then blew an even bigger cloud from his nostrils, "You see ole chap. These chains that bind you are not made of steel."

Riley just sat and watched.

"Stars, these chains are made of grey cheese. Just eat them and you'll be free."

Riley scratched his head, "Chains?"

Casper replied, "Metaphoric-a-gasmicly speaking, yes. Just follow me. I'll take you away from the demonical abominatory confabulations that have been bepestering you so, so, so, .. so you know? Yes, or no no no?"

Riley nodded silently, then followed the imaginary butterfly as it fluttered into the forest. As he did he repeated to himself hundreds of times without tire, "abominatory confabulations, fab-tas-tic-u-lous!", thus somehow freeing himself of the the Lich king's weakened hold.