This list of twenty NPCs is provided for when you need one quickly. You can, of course, change any details about them that you wish. Use them to flesh out the caravan, to spice up the journey, to help bring the trip to life, and to give characters people to like and protect, or dislike and quarrel with, along the way.
Achreny Ulyeltin (Male Human Merchant). Ulyeltin is an independent wagon master with two wagons in this caravan. Both are hauling cured furs and uncured hides. He is a boorish man without a trace of civilization about him. He’s not unfriendly — just smelly, vulgar, and utterly without manners. His second wagon driver and two laborers, on the other hand, are perfectly pleasant.
Aldor Urnpoleshurst (Male Human Lawyer). A lawyer by training but a skunk by inclination, Urnpoleshurst is relocating from Baldur’s Gate to anywhere that isn’t Baldur’s Gate. Gossip around the caravan is that he was driven out by a scandal, and that’s hard not to believe. He is suspicious of everyone and makes outrageous accusations at the drop of a hat.
Beyd Sechepol (Male Half-Elf Merchant). Ale and beer are so common that not much money can be made hauling them long distances. But that’s what fills Sechepol’s wagon. He will make his money on the road, selling his stock to his fellow travelers in the caravan. He is diplomatic and has a gift for defusing arguments to everyone’s satisfaction before they escalate to violence, but he is careless about gear and horses — a fault that can cause friction with those who hate to see a horse mistreated through thoughtlessness.
Edhelri Lewel (Female Moon Elf Merchant). Lewel’s wagon is loaded with exotic wood from the Jungle of Chult for the master carpenters and cabinetmakers of Waterdeep to turn into exquisite furniture. She is the exact opposite of Beyd Sechepol in temperament: impatient with people but exacting about her wagon and doting on her animals.
Eldkin Agetul (Female Shield Dwarf Guard). Agetul has made this trip several times before and never hesitates to wave that experience in others’ faces. She is a perfectionist, and she wants others to know it.
Enom Tobun (Male Lightfoot Halfling Teamster). Tobun has driven freight wagons across Faerûn for the past forty years, from Waterdeep to Calimport and from Baldur’s Gate to Hillsfar. He is a font of stories and legends, but it’s impossible to tell the truth from fiction in his tales. If anyone challenges him on the truth of a story, he grows argumentative, then sullen and vengeful. As long as a traveler stays on his good side, Tobun is a wonderful traveling companion.
Green Imsa (Female Human Traveler). The reason behind Imsa’s name is obvious: she is green from head to foot. Her skin, hair, eyes, nails, teeth — everything about her is green. She readily admits that she is traveling to Waterdeep in search of a remedy for her condition. The coloration doesn’t seem to bother her, but she becomes flustered if anyone asks how she came to be this way. She is friendly, if somewhat quiet, as long as the conversation stays away from her past.
Lai Angesstun (Male Gold Dwarf Merchant). This ambitious merchant is hauling scented cooking oil and perfumes from Amn, hoping to make a huge profit from the aristocrats and dandies of Waterdeep. He talks about money constantly: how much he intends to make, how he will spend it, and how others will envy him for it. He will not spend a single copper buying anyone else a drink or a roasted turnip during the entire trip.
Lasfelro the Silent (Male Human Merchant). From time to time, Lasfelro inexplicably breaks into merry songs and short stretches of joke-telling. His voice is a fine tenor and his jokes are hilarious. But these gregarious moods are always short. The rest of the time, he is silent as the grave, staring sullenly at the road ahead, barely moving on the seat of his wagon, seeming hardly to breathe. No one knows what he transports in his wagon, but it is guarded by a brooding gargoyle that is tethered to the wagon by a slim, silver chain.
Leda Widris (Female Human Guard). Widris is as honest and courageous as mercenaries come. She has spent many years in the south and now wants to see the snows and frozen seas of the far north and experience what a truly cold wind feels like.
Losvius Longnose (Male Lightfoot Halfling Teamster). Although Losvius’s nose is respectably large, even for a halfling, the appellation Longnose was hung on him for a different reason: he is curious about everything, including other people’s business, and especially other people’s embarrassing secrets. Losvius doesn’t poke his nose where it’s not wanted in a search for blackmail material. He is just overpoweringly curious about what other people don’t talk about. If he is along, there’s a good chance one or more of the characters will find him nosing through their belongings when he thought their backs were turned.
Noohar Serelim (Male Moon Elf Merchant). Noohar and his mute brother, Selvek, are hauling exquisite wooden carvings made by the elves of Cormyr. Where his brother communicates only through sign language, Noohar may be the most articulate person the characters have ever met. Speech springs from him like music from the harp of Milil. The fact that he seldom has anything to say never seems to stop him from talking or others from listening.
Nyerhite Verther (Male Human Merchant). A load of Calishite silk will make Nyerhite Verther a rich man in Waterdeep, or so he believes. Sadly, he did not inspect his silk carefully when he bought it, and it’s infested with worms. If anyone spots them and points them out to Verther during the trip, he becomes unhinged in his anger and grief.
Orvustia Esseren (Female Human Guard). Esseren grew up in the farmland outside Baldur’s Gate, and this is her first trip more than two miles away from home. She is smart, tough, and talented with both spear and bow, but she knows nothing of the world beyond her aunt’s farm or of people who deal dishonestly. Her aunt, a wise woman, believes this trip will be good for her.
Oyn Evenmor (Male Human Merchant). Evenmor is an independent wagon master hauling exotic birds to the lucrative markets in Waterdeep. He is a stubborn, argumentative man with strong opinions about almost everything, but he is generous when it comes to pouring drinks for those who will sit and argue with him endlessly.
Radecere Perethun (Male Rock Gnome Traveler). No one knows where Perethun is ultimately headed or why. He eats alone, seldom speaks, and always rides in the back of the wagon, staring wistfully at the road gone by. The only thing that brings him out of this shell is a game of chance. He gambles boisterously and well.
Samardag the Hoper (Male Human Merchant). Perhaps someone who hauls crates of expensive, fragile porcelain in a bouncing, jarring wagon along the Trade Way must be a born optimist. In Samardag’s world, the sky is always blue, the weather is always fine, and the outlook for tomorrow is always bright. Odds are he would be a wealthy man if he hung onto his money, but he is a soft touch for every urchin and hard-luck story that crosses his path.
Sulesdeg the Pole (Male Human Guard). Among his tribe in his homeland of the Shaar, Sulesdeg’s name means “tall as a lodge pole.” On the Sword Coast, he is just known as “the Pole.” At 7 feet 5 inches in height, he probably is the tallest human the characters or anyone else in the caravan has ever seen. He doesn’t talk much, but when he does, people generally listen.
Tyjit Skesh (Female Shield Dwarf Guard). It won’t take long before everyone in the caravan knows to steer clear of Tyjit Skesh. She is quick to anger and quicker to resort to her blades when something sets her off. She is honest to a fault and never fails to let people know why she was angry, so they can correct their behavior in the future. She will not tolerate bullying.
Werond Torohar (Female Human Teamster). Quiet, unassuming Werond Torohar can handle a team of horses or mules better than anyone on the Trade Way. She has an uncanny knack for making animals understand what she wants from them with only a twitch on the reins, a whistle, and a snap of her whip. Mud, stones, and ice seem to not be obstacles at all when Torohar is handling the team. She is a starry-eyed romantic at heart, and she can bring strong men to tears with her tales of long-ago lost loves and thwarted passion.