Various interesting random NPCs in Oxbow

Here we only introduce the random NPCs that cannot be recruited. They don't generate any quests, but they are fun.

Note before continuing reading

Spoiler alert!

Knowing this information may affect your gaming experience. If you want to keep the surprise, don’t read any further!

This article helped me

Part of the content comes from this post on Reddit: Oxbow special npc’s. The replies in this post gave me a lot of clues, and finally found some NPCs in the game.

Language barrier

I'm from Taiwan and English is not my native language (this game does not have Traditional Chinese, but Taiwanese people can understand 99% Simplified Chinese), and I used Google Translate to complete this article.

So if you are user of Chinese language , I posted the original language of this article on my Blogger, you can read it without language barriers, the link is here: 中世紀王朝 - 隨機出現的NPC(河灣地限定)[evaandmaicy.blogspot.com]

If you want to find NPCs that can be hired

You can check out my other guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3328279016

3 Kids(Basia、Nel、Filip)

This was added in the 2024 Autumn Update. There are no bandits here, but there are three children locked in cages. They are called Basia, Nel, and Filip. You can only talk to Basia who is closest to the door. You can talk to her before unlocking the door, and she says the robbers left because they couldn't stand the kids constantly asking why.

You can find the simple key in a contraband. When you open the door and talk to Basia again, she starts asking questions. If you always answer her questions patiently, you can eventually get 30 dynasty reputation after the conversation.

You may find this random big bandit camp at this location:
However, here's something interesting: you can potentially encounter a regular big bandit camp (five bandits, no cages, no kids) in the same location. At first I thought I would never meet those kids again, but I was wrong, I met them again, so now I am pretty sure that this place has both types, you will meet one at random: 3 kids or 5 bandits.

Alwin

If you don't know him, I can briefly introduce him: our character in Valley is Racimir, and Alwin is an NPC from Gostovia of Valley. He is a young farmer interested in hunting. We help him pursue his ambitions, accompany him to visit hunting masters, teach him how to use a bow, and improve his archery skills together. He finally decides to leave Valley to start his hunting career, and we give him the Recurve Bow as a farewell gift. This is a Story quest called "Alwin's Story", which has a total of nine chapters. Although most of the information on Wiki is outdated, Alwin's related information is still worth referring to.[medieval-dynasty.fandom.com]

I don't know what the specific conditions are for him to appear, and according to the description on Wiki, you must first complete his Story quest in Valley. But I have to question this statement: how does the game know that the player has completed his story? I did complete his story in the past, however, I have two saves in Oxbow, the first one records his appearance in the winter of the second year, and the second save in the winter of the fifth year. But I can be sure that when he appears in Oxbow and you have not talked to him yet, he will always stay where he is. He camps here if he appears in your game:
When we talk to him, he will introduce us to Racimir, and he said that he consumed a lot of arrows in hunting Wisent, we can provide him with 20 arrows (Any material, just 20 arrows of the same type, excluding poisoned arrows), when we give him the arrows he will leave, but his camp will always exist. I don't talk to him because I want to keep seeing him, so I don't know if he will come back to Oxbow after we hand over the arrows.

Adventurer

You will see him practicing swordplay with a horse next to him. He says that everyone calls him "Don Quicknot".

When you choose "Are you looking for something?", there are three options:

No, I'm not.

He will ask us where the windmill is in Oxbow, because he thinks mills always lurks great peril, which can be obtained after we answer Piastovia.

Yes, I am!

Then we have two choices:
(1) Ask him to give us a wisent skull, he gives us one.
(2) Ask him to give us his horse, he says that it is his good horse and cannot give it to us, so he gives us a potion of weight.

I'm the one who helps people in distress

He said that his horse's appetite has increased dramatically recently, please give him some animal feed. If you don't have it, you can always talk to him again after you finish the conversation, so I went back and brought him some feed, and he ended up taking 10 animal feed, while also gaining 20 dynasty reputation.

Both the name he mentioned and the windmill indicate that this is an Easter egg about Don Quixote[en.wikipedia.org]. Here are the three locations I've found him in so far:
However, after the 2024 Autumn Update, this location was moved, and he is now here:

Bandit

The robber is an 8-year-old boy, and if you give in to his demands, you will give him 5 coins and lose 10 dynasty reputation. So it is better to blackmail him in return, which will get 10 dynasty reputation and a fruit tart.

You may meet him at these locations:

Bard

This NPC only appears in certain ruins. He was tricked by a companion he once traveled with, and now he can't find his pan flute, which makes it impossible to attend the audition in Piastovia.

We can find his pan flute in the ruins where he is. If you want to take the pan flute for yourself, it's OK and there will be no consequences; if you return it, you will receive 50 dynasty reputation.

The first location is in the abandoned windmill south of Piastovia, the pan flute is in the room with the bed, it is on the ground:

The second location is in the abandoned tavern northeast of Oxbow, the pan flute is in the fallen bar drawer, you may need to crouch to pick it up:

Brat

This little girl appears in the market in Piastovia. She complains that her father cheated her and didn't buy her a doll, so she's hiding. However, even if you give her a rag doll nothing will happen, and it won't even consume your rag doll after the 2024 Autumn Update (as of writing V2.2.0.8).

You may meet her here:

Captive(Female)

This was added in the 2024 Autumn Update. This is a random big bandit camp with 4 bandits. You can find simple key in a large bundle.

She's mad because we killed those bandits when you talk to her. She said she spent a lot of time dealing with those bandits who were going to be her subordinates, but now her plan is gone, and as compensation she thinks we must give her 500 coins.

She can't do anything to us if we refuse her unreasonable demands. However, if you give her 500 coins as she requested, her reaction seems a little surprised that you are giving her coins but you still can't get anything in return.

You may find this random big bandit camp at this location:

Here's an interesting thing, you may not encounter a big bandit camp in the same location, but a small camp with only 2 bandits:

This is a comparison from the same perspective, both are indeed built on the same place:

Captive(Male)

This was added in the 2024 Autumn Update. This is a random big bandit camp with 8 bandits, you can find simple key in a contraband.

When you talk to him and unlock the cage, you learn that he has been held captive for many years, and even these bandits have been passed down to the second generation, and now he is finally free.

You may find this random big bandit camp at this location:

Child

The three-year-old said he was hired to play an Easter egg here. However, I didn't see any other suspicious NPCs when I used inspector mode.

The first location you may meet is the ruins on the bank of the winding river east of Skauki:

The other location was not found by me, but by a user on Reddit (post here), located in a run-down house in Piastovia:

Corpse(Female)

This was newly added in the 2024 Autumn Update. It is a random big bandit camp with 4 bandits.

You will eventually find a note from this corpse, and when you read it in your inventory, you learn that this woman was looking for her lost child. However, no further plot is arranged here, so this note just makes players sad.

You may find this random big bandit camp at this location(This is near a clay production area and wolf habitat, so be careful):

Corpse(Male)

This was newly added in the 2024 Autumn Update. It is a random big bandit camp with 5 bandits.

We investigate the corpse and we can eventually bury him (no need to collect stones, just do it through the dialogue option), we can gain 100 dynasty reputation after we put him to rest.

You may find this random big bandit camp at this location:

Corpse(Ruin)

This was added in the 2024 Autumn Update. It's a ruin, and if you're lucky you'll encounter 3 bandits occupying it, and you'll eventually find a simple key from a barrel in the ruined house.

You discover that there is nothing left of this corpse when you investigate him, but if you persist in searching, you will find an amber figurine from his anus (a luxury item that can be given as a gift to men).

This ruin is just east of Skauki (it's next to a bear habitat, so be careful):

Coward

This NPC's appearance will spawn three additional wolves, be careful!
This NPC's appearance will spawn three additional wolves, be careful!
This NPC's appearance will spawn three additional wolves, be careful!
This is very important so I have to say it three times!

He is trapped on the roof of the ruins by wolves. However, even if you talk to him after you get rid of the wolves, the content will not be different.

If you try to calm him down by asking him if he wants to drink, he says he wants mead, giving him a mead will gain 40 dynasty reputation.

You may meet him in these three ruins:

Fisherman

The fisherman said he encountered a big pike, which was so big that it scared him. The fish also took his fishing spear away. Giving him a fishing spear will gain 20 dynasty reputation.

However, there is a fishing spear not far from the fisherman that can be picked up and given to him. The location where the fisherman appears and the location of the harpoon are shown below:

Granny

This was newly added in the 2024 Autumn Update. It is a random big bandit camp with 4 bandits.

You talk to her when you kill those bandits, and then you learn that these bandits are not kidnapping randomly, she is a specific target of the bandit.

You can find the simple key from a chest inside the tent. You talk to her after rescuing her and she says she is the leader of a gang from the Silver Syndicate and she gives us a iron dagger as a token of gratitude.

You may find this random big bandit camp at this location:

Hostage

This was newly added in the 2024 Autumn Update. It is a random big bandit camp with 7 bandits and it's very dangerous. You can find the simple key from a contraband at the back of the cage.

Talk to her after you open the cage, you learn that she is a noble child who loves adventure. She voluntarily allowed herself to be kidnapped by bandits, worked as their assistant and traveled the outside world, and now wants to bury the bandits before she returns home. She wanted to give us coins to express her gratitude. If we chose to accept it, we could get 100 coins. We could also choose to refuse it and let it become her travel expenses to go home.

You may find this random big bandit camp at this location:

Hugo

This was added in the 2024 Autumn Update. This is a random big bandit camp with 5 bandits. You can find the simple key in a chest.

You start chatting with him after you open the cage: he is from Valley, and was mainly responsible for transporting cereals in the past. However, an accident forced him to quit his job. When he wanted to get back to work, he couldn't find the job in Valley, so he came to Oxbow, and now he is responsible for delivering vegetables for Beetroot Baron, and he was attacked by bandits, and then we rescued him.

At first I didn't care that why this random NPC of unhireable had his own name, but when I started to think more carefully about what he was saying, I realized that I had saved him once when I played as Racimir of Valley!

He appears in Dobroniega's Story II[medieval-dynasty.fandom.com], a story quest from Valley. This is the screenshot I took at the time, taken on December 27, 2022:

You may find this random big bandit camp at this location:

Hunter

There are both boys and girls in this NPC. You will see an 8-year-old child holding an onion in the ruins, seemingly trying to scare something away.

If you choose not to believe in ghosts, he/she will ask you to give him/her an onion. If you really give him/her an onion, you can get 10 dynasty reputation. If you choose to pretend that you are a ghost, you will get an onion from him/her.

You may meet him/her in these ruins:

Injured Boy

This boy ended up getting tripped by a rock in order to look cool in front of the girl. Despite his rude comments, we can still help him. Any potion or herb that can heal can be an option:

Name	Effect
Potion of Healing I	+20 dynasty reputation
Potion of Instant Healing I	+20 dynasty reputation
Potion of Instant Healing II	+50 dynasty reputation
Potion of Healing II	+50 dynasty reputation
Potion of Health	+50 dynasty reputation
Broadleaf Plantain	+5 dynasty reputation

You may meet him in these ruins:

Interesting Chest

This is a strange chest. When you interact with it, you have three choices, and you only have one chance. After my research, I think it doesn't matter which one you choose, because what you get after each choice is random. That is to say, even if you choose the same option twice and get a certain item this time, you may not get the same item next time.

So after many tests, no matter how you choose, you may get one of the following things in the end:
1. Nothing
2. 1 Iron Axe
3. 1 Excellent Boots
4. 1 Potion of Instant Healing II
5. 1 Rag Doll
So if you play solo, you can use quicksave before interacting with this mysterious chest, so that you can keep loading the save until you get the item you want. But if you are CO-OP, then good luck to you, but don't be afraid because you won't lose anything.

The first time I encountered a chest was on the stone bridge in Skauki (the one on the cover), and I have encountered it in other places since then, including these locations:

Mushroom Picker(Only in Autumn)

This is an NPC that you can only encounter in the autumn. You will see this old lady bending down from time to time to look carefully at the ground. Go up to her and talk to her. She will say that her pockets are full of mushrooms and she wants to ask us for a wicker basket so that she can collect more mushrooms. There are three sizes of wicker baskets, and you can give her any one of them. However, nothing will happen after giving it to her.

You may meet her in autumn at these locations:

Nicolas

This was newly added in the 2024 Autumn Update. This is a random big bandit camp without a bandit.

You talk to him across the cage and he seems pretty optimistic about his situation, but our characters aren't interested in him, so he gets mad but can't do anything about it.

I got a simple key from other random big bandit camp, and tried to open his cage, however I couldn't, so that means the developers don't want players to rescue him.

Given that this unhireable NPC has his own name, I thought about it for a long time but never realized why this NPC was special, until I saw a post talking about him on Reddit, where someone answered my question: this NPC is actually an Easter egg from Nicolas Cage[en.wikipedia.org], and what he says mainly comes from movie lines in which he participated.

You can find this random big bandit camp at this location, southwest of Klonica:

Salesman

This NPC only appears in certain ruins. He is selling the ruins for 400 coins. However, nothing happens after you give him the money. He is a scammer.

You may meet him in these ruins:

Salesperson

She says that her team has developed an ink with salt added, and claims that it is "Salty Adult Ink". She also tells you that you can invest 1,000 coin in her team now, and then you can become famous. But this is a trick, don't be fooled by her. If you insist that she is a liar, you can eventually get 100 dynasty reputation.

This is where I met her:

Scout(Deleted)

He is a staff member who is checking and evaluating whether the site is suitable for building a new camp. From the dialogue, we know that he is from the Valley and seems to know many NPCs in the Valley.

In the past, he only appeared in the ruins at the northeastern end of Oxbow:
However, after the 2024 Autumn Update, this ruin was defaulted to a large robber camp with 12 people, so this NPC was deleted. I kept the introduction of this NPC just to prove that he did exist in the past, if you have heard of him in previous posts.

Sick Person

This NPC is divided into male and female. This old people was too hungry and ate uncooked meat, which caused poisoning.

He/she thinks he/she is dying and wants us to help bury him/her after he/she dies, but our character says that it will be fine as long as the poison is removed. Giving the other party "St. John's Wort" will gain 5 dynasty reputation ; Giving the opponent "Antidote Potion" can gain 30 dynasty reputation; giving the opponent "Quick Antidote Potion" can gain 20 dynasty reputation.

You may meet him/her at these places:

The following location was not found by me, it was provided by Steam user Andrab, thanks for sharing:

Sleepyhead

This was added in the 2024 Autumn Update. This is a random big bandit camp with 5 bandits. You can find simple key in a contraband.

You open the cage and talk to her and you see that she is not injured and she is just sleeping. She wants us to bring her a coverlet, you will gain 150 dynasty reputation when you give her the coverlet.

You may find this random big bandit camp at this location:

Stranger

This NPC only appears in certain ruins. He is alone, but he says he lives there with his wife and children. If you have a hammer, you will be given the option to give him a hammer of any material after choosing "Where is your family? I haven't seen anyone there...", but giving him the hammer will not do anything.

You may meet him in two places:

Teenager(Only in Summer)

You can only meet her in the summer, because she is collecting deadly nightshade, which only appears in the summer. Because deadly nightshade grows a bit tall, and she squats on the ground to collect, you may not notice her. It is easier to find her using inspector mode.

If you continue to ask, you will find out that she collects deadly nightshade to poison her ex-boyfriend who abandoned her. If you say you want to stop her, she will immediately give you 50 coins as hush money, and this is directly passively collected. Even if you say you want to refuse, she will say that you have already accepted the previous money, so don't bother her anymore.

There is a small wicker basket next to her, which contains some deadly nightshade, which can be taken away.

You may meet her in the following places in summer:

Thrill Seeker

This was newly added in the 2024 Autumn Update. It is a random big bandit camp but without bandit.

He got mad when we talked to him and then you learned that he wasn't in danger, he was just pretending to be kidnapped for role play with his wife and we were getting in the way of their fun.

He had an idea when he asked us to leave, then he asked if we had brought mead or some lavender honey. However, we didn't have those items so we ended the conversation.

I tried reading the game save and bringing the item he wanted and re-talking to him. However, I can't give him the item during the dialogue, so I think it's a BUG (version 2.2.0.8).

You may find this random big bandit camp at this location:

Thug

This was added in the 2024 Autumn Update. It is a random big bandit camp with 5 bandits.

You don't need to look for the key, he's not in danger. When you talk to him, you learn that he let the robbers catch him on purpose because he wanted to see how stupid they were. He just lied that he couldn't eat boar meat otherwise he would have diarrhea all the time, so the robbers planned to hunt wisent, so his cage was not locked and he could escape from the cage at any time.

You may find this random big bandit camp at this location:

Traveller(View the scenery)

This NPC is either male or female. He/she is thirsty and wants to ask you for water. If you have a Bucket with Water in your inventory, you can let him/her drink from it and gain 10 dynasty reputation; if you have a Waterskin with Water in your inventory, you can let him/her drink from it and gain 20 dynasty reputation (No matter which one , this only consumes one unit of water, so the item does not disappear).

You may meet him/her in these locations:
Another location of the male was found by Steam user oetzina, thanks for providing the sighting location:

Traveller(Road signs)

This NPC is either male or female. He/she tells you that the road sign is wrong. But in fact the road sign is correct, but if you go against the facts and agree with him/her, you will gain 10 dynasty reputation.

You may meet him/her in these places:

Treasure Hunter

She only appears in certain ruins. She heard intelligence that the robbers hid a treasure in this place, but she couldn't find it, so she gave up. In fact, the treasure does exist. When we find it and go back to talk to her, if we choose to give it to her, she will refuse and gain 50 dynasty reputation.

Here are the places where she is encountered and the location of the treasure:

Waggoner

A moose suddenly appears, scaring his horse and causing him to fall unconscious. When he wakes up, his horse is gone and he needs a new wheel to repair his cart. You will gain 50 dynasty reputation when you give him wooden wheel.

You can meet him in the following locations:
However, after the 2024 Autumn Update, this location was moved, and he is now here:

Vendor(Beetroot Baron)

This vendor only sells beetroot and beetroot seeds. If you pay attention to the side quests from Piastovia's notice board, you will find that this NPC is most likely the beetroot baron.

You may meet him in two places:

Vendor(Fertilizer)

This vendor only sells rot, manure and fertilizer.

You may meet him in two places:

Vendor(Potions)

This vendor only sells potions, but her potions are all those that the village herbalist doesn't sell, including the potion of possibilities. If you're too lazy to make your own and you're lucky enough to run into her, you can try buying them directly from her.

You may meet her in two places:

Vendor

The vendors both men and women, sell a wide variety of consumable items.

You may meet him/her at these locations:

Vendor(Designated item)

This vendor is both male and female. Not only do they have no stock, they even have specific items they want to buy. There are four items they offer, and you don't need to bring all four items, because they only let you choose one of them for them to buy. They are only willing to buy these items:
1. 66 Feathers
2. 7 Bronze Arrows
3. 3 Oat Rolls
4. 12 Cabbages
No matter which one you choose, you will get 100 coins.

You may meet him/her at these locations:
However, after the 2024 Autumn Update, this location was moved, and her is now here:

Merchant

This merchant is both male and female. They are on the way to get more goods, so they don't have any goods to sell yet, but you can still sell items to them. Interestingly, after the 2024 Autumn Update, the funds of all vendors have been greatly reduced, and the merchant's funds have become 9999. If you have something too expensive and you are lucky enough to meet him/her, their funds are enough to buy your high-priced items.

You may meet him/her at these locations:

[davidappleton]

some off these are also in the valley too after the 2024 Autumn update. just saying

[eva08maicy02]

I found him, the guide has been updated, thanks again oetzina <3

[eva08maicy02]

Thanks for your eyewitness intelligence oetzina, I think I will find that thirsty traveller soon, love you and everyone~

[oetzina]

Wonderful guide!
I have met a thirsty traveller on the cliffs on the opposite side from the big bandit camp in the North East.

[eva08maicy02]

MOG I found her! *0* The content has been updated, thanks again Andrab <3

[eva08maicy02]

Thanks for the intel Andrab, I will keep an eye on that area, love you and everyone~

[Andrab]

I think I met one more sick person south of Klonica, on the other side of the river, but given that now this is a bandit camp spawn she (I think it was a woman) was probably either moved or removed completely.

[wildride]

With Alwin, not sure if its a bug, but after giving him the arrows he walks out of Oxbow, only to reappear at the same place every season afterwards. You cant talk to him again (granted only tried 5 season worth)