Ira Thorpton

Description: Ira Thorpton is a stout, middle-aged human with a large nose, pristine beard, smoking pipe, and an infectious gusto for mundane details. He wears patchwork clothes stitched from maps he no longer needs, and carries an oversized satchel filled with odd trinkets and half-finished sketches.

Personality: Cheerfully pedantic, Ira is fascinated by the 'boring'—gravel textures, obscure postal routes, cloud formations at exactly 3:17 PM. He’s endearingly enthusiastic about everything, believing even the smallest things have stories to tell. His memory is impeccable when it comes to maps but hilariously bad with names.

Motivation: While retired, Ira seeks to chronicle "The World's Least Interesting Places"—a project he believes will redefine cartography. He hopes to find adventurers willing to protect him on trips to dangerous yet utterly unremarkable locales (like a pond known for being exactly average in every way).

Potential Hooks: He knows secret routes hidden in plain sight. His forgotten maps might mark locations now lost to time. Ira may have accidentally drawn over something crucial with doodles of ducks.

Currently was riding with Eldric Varn to Youn (see Incoming delivery) as a merchant, hoping to sell his maps there and farther east.

ideas: sells maps, some of which have doodles of ducks, some of which are treasure maps but he's not sure if there really is treasure there or not