Cavewise Wayfinder

Roddick Brassbuck has always had too much confidence and no sense of direction. Which is exactly how he became the Nimbledook’s most trusted wayfinder.

He doesn’t use maps. Claims they’re too political. Instead, he relies on instinct, guesswork, and a compass shield that points whichever way he swings it. No one has the heart to tell him it isn’t magnetic.

Once, he walked the entire perimeter of a massive sinkhole just to confirm it was, in fact, a sinkhole. Another time, he led a week-long detour through a collapsed tunnel system because he swore he smelled moss ahead. Turned out it was just his socks.

But somehow, through landslides, lava pockets, and at least one very angry beaver den, he always gets his team where they need to go. Eventually.

When Bren Palesworn arrived with word of Craniax the Quick and his army of undead, Roddick grabbed his shield, watched the compass spin in circles, and pointed in the entirely wrong direction with full confidence. Bren opened his mouth, considered, and closed it again.

Now, Roddick charges into foggy bogs and forgotten ruins, hollering out landmarks only he seems to recognize. If he gets lost, which happens often, he doesn’t admit it. He just says they’re taking a detour. And the rest of the gnomes follow him anyway.