Traveling Merchant (Fallout: New Vegas)

Traveling merchants are vendors wandering the Mojave Wasteland buying and selling goods in 2281.

Characteristics
They usually have a companion mercenary as a bodyguard, who is armed with decent firepower. There is also usually one brahmin per merchant to carry their baggage and inventory. Occasionally, two traveling merchants will travel together, each with his own merc and pack brahmin. Heavily trafficked areas for the merchants include the Mojave Outpost, Novac, Freeside's north gate and near the Crimson Caravan Company.

Locations

 * Mojave Outpost has a merchant who never wanders far from the location. If they are not at the outpost, they can be found at the bottom of the hill to the east, at the intersection of I-15 and Nevada 164.
 * One merchant with no mercenary guard will appear in Boulder City near the train station the first time that location is visited. He will travel south to Novac, where he will remain at a fixed position at the gate entrance to the gas station. His inventory does not replenish (see bugs below).
 * Northeast of Wolfhorn ranch, two traveling merchants plus brahmin and mercenaries will spawn on the overpass bridge should the player character approach it from the west. They will try to reach Novac but the Legion ambushes, Viper gunslingers, and wasteland creatures along the path may result in their death. If the caravan reaches Novac, they will stop for a while, then continue on to REPCONN headquarters, Grub n' Gulp rest stop, and Crimson Caravan Company, and subsequently, the attacks against them cease.
 * The Crimson Caravan Company will often have a merchant who remains near the location permanently.
 * Another Crimson Caravan merchant will periodically travel between the Crimson Caravan and Camp McCarran.

Appearances
Traveling merchants appear in Fallout: New Vegas.

Bugs

 * A merchant that has been killed by a plasma weapon turns into a goo pile that can be used to initiate a conversation once the merchant has respawned. The merchant can be quite a distance away but the conversation zooms in and initiates anyways.
 * A single traveling merchant can be initially encountered just outside Boulder City, armed with a cowboy repeater and lacking a mercenary escort. This merchant will buy and sell goods, but his stock consists only of what he is carrying and does not change periodically, as with a normal merchant. Furthermore, he will travel from Boulder City to Novac only once and will remain in Novac for the rest of the game.
 * At least two traveling merchants' inventories are not set to change periodically (or "update") as they should be: the merchant found outside the Mojave Outpost, and a merchant located near the Strip. These merchants will still buy and sell goods, but aside from changes due to sales, their inventories will remain the same over the course of the game. This is true even if they are killed and later respawn.
 * One traveling merchant may stop near the Poseidon gas station in Novac and remain there for the whole game.