Nilrem

Nilrem sells reagents in Moonglow at the time of Ultima V.

Ultima V: Lazarus
Nilrem had lived in Moonglow all his life, inheriting The Herbalist from his parents, and was doing very well for himself until the Oppression showed up. Pretending to be more showman than sorcerer, Nilrem acted the fool to deflect Donn Piatt's suspicions towards his activities. Nilrem thought as chief purveyor in magical supplies in Moonglow, he would be constantly monitored by Oppression agents. Between reagent restrictions and taxes, the business had been slowly run into the ground. He felt especially burdened by the restrictions on selling mandrake and nightshade by non-Oppression members, feeling it too dangerous to stock these reagents. When Zachariah showed up and offered a way to boost profits, Nilrem was quick to accept.

Nilrem received a large cargo of reagents from Captain Dalgrin of Buccaneer's Den which he paid for in gold. Once the reagents have passed inspection by the Oppression they were secretly passed off to the Lycaeum. Nilrem received a regular payment from Zachariah for his assistance, also in secret, and was unwilling to speak at length about his business arrangement, even to the Avatar.

If the Avatar spoke to Nilrem eight times, correctly answering his game of eight each time, the sorcerer would task the Avatar with locating his pet owl Sedemihcra in the woods of Verity Isle

Trivia

 * Nilrem spelled backwards is "Merlin."
 * In Lazarus, Nilrem has a pet owl named Sedemihcra (Archimedes spelled backwards). This is a reference to the Disney animated movie The Sword in the Stone. Further, as a result of the mini-quest the owl is needed for, Nilrem rewards the Avatar with a Sword of Stone Strike.
 * It took a long time for Lazarus players to figure out how to activate this quest, and some designers declared no one would ever figure it out. The honor of being the first person to officially solve this goes to "thehawk."