Sprocket Waywocket Shadowspinner is the only daughter of Lundil and Rilla Shadowspinner, a well-respected inventor/merchant family from Anchoril on the island of Lantan. Sprocket’s favorite part of her family’s work involves the travel, or more specifically, the instantaneous travel through portals. She also enjoys studying a variety of subjects and has an aptitude for magic. She has the typical gnomish sense of humor and has, on occasion, used illusion spells for such fun things as making a popular portal to Waterdeep look like it led to one of the Nine Hells, or at least, what she suspects the Nine Hells would look like. That trick would probably be even funnier if used on non-gnomes.

She studied magic under the tutelage of a local illusionist Nathee Nornock and became best friends with Nathee’s son Cognoggin, himself an inventor instructed by Sprocket’s mother Rilla. When Sprocket’s studies were complete, she was presented with a beautiful little white rat born to Nathee’s own familiar. Sprocket and Widget took to each other immediately.

Widget’s fur changes color on occasion, and since he’s become Sprocket’s familiar, her own hair changes to match his coat. She adores him though, and considers her hair color changes a gift rather than an unwanted side-effect. Both are somewhat green as of this writing. Ironically, Widget’s changes probably are a side-effect of being born in the Nornock’s household “lab” quite close to a not-entirely-stable portal. Sprocket sometimes calls him her “moodrat.”

Now that she’s old enough to strike out on her own, Sprocket has been doing what she likes best— hopping through portals to various parts of the Realms.

Widget and I decided to help out testing the new portal outside of Anchoril. We’ve been having a lot of fun going through the various portals on Lantan, usually with a group of gnomish inventors and merchants, or, if we are lucky, wizards that can whisk us back home soon after. Half the fun is finding a return trip home though— we’ve been able to travel as far as Waterdeep (lots of portals there!), Chult (scary sounds in the jungle and people twice as tall as me!), and the Pirate Isles (we went through a portal with the entire ship on the way home!). This time we didn’t get dropped in a place with any known portals (well, any I know of!), and stranger still, we didn’t arrive with the rest of the portal party, and I have yet to find any gnome merchants to obtain quick passage home. I’m in the Border Kingdoms, I’m sure, because I can smell the Lake of Steam from here. Looks like the perfect excuse to try other means of travel, though I’d like to send word home to mom, dad and Cognoggin (and the designer of the “nonmagical portal” for that matter) that I’m okay, but 2000 miles or so off course, and on Midsummer’s Eve of all days.

Character sheet: Sprocket Shadowspinner [Rock Gnome Illusionist]
Widget [Rat Familiar]