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I need some random encounters. I am running a campaign for approximately four players, and they like to be kept busy, as any players do. I need ideas for random encounters that are not simply combat, though they may involve combat. They can be for any environment or location (swamp/road/tavern/inside a castle...).

Examples:
-A disfigured man steps into the road and challenges the party to a duel, which the party would clearly win, and makes a really high bet. the players talk it over, and if they agree they discover he was disguised.
-A man runs up to the party screaming for help very frantically. All the party can make out is "explosion," and then he rips off his coat and you see a ticking clock on a powerful-looking alchemical bomb strapped to his chest.

I just need short not-all-combat encounter ideas.

Thanks in advance!

I am GMing a campaign with about six PCs. An NPC wizard (not the class "wizard", just a general magic user who has no stat block yet) is traveling with the players on their adventure. His role in the game is to save the PCs every once in a while when they REALLY need it and to have a way to give the players hints in-game. I based him on Gandolf in the sense that he is extremely powerful but holds back, contributing only in small ways when its VERY important (this thread is not about whether Gandolf actually fits that description...I realize there is doubt concerning that subject, just bear with me). He is a member of a council including a very powerful cleric, druid, and sorcerer whose goal is to protect the world from great evils. I need advice on two things: first, I need an in-game reason he doesn't simply blow all enemies to pieces and chooses to make the PCs do everything (my current half-ideas are the council limits themselves for some reason or he can only cast so many spells during his life), and second, I need advice on how often and to what degree he should be allowed to intervene (Maybe a spell cap: so many spells of each level? - or advice on what constitutes REALLY needing help).

As a side note, I am very liberal in my rule usage with this NPC. This wizard doesn't need to prepare his spells or anything. This thread shouldn't be so much about rules, more about role-playing-logical ideas.

Thanks guys!