Most of the following people want something before they'll help.
Locals point them to a small, grubby boy that had a wand earlier.
He lost it to a bully after a beating.
The bully sold it to a pawn shop.
An illusionist bought it, thinking it might be something interesting.
The illusionist wants his money back, before he'll give it up.
After many tests, he realized it wasn't entirely magical.
He loaned it to an engineer friend of his who set it on the counter in his lab.
His young daughter picked it up, put on a tutu and a pair of fake wings and started playing fairy god-mother to a bunch of toads in the back yard.
She wants a “real” magic wand.
The toads are a heavily mutated left-over from a magical experiment.
They're smarter than normal and very friendly.
They make good pets.
After an hour or so, she got bored and left it there.
One of the toads dragged it off to it's home (a hole in the ground), because it likes shiny things.
The toad will try to bite them (it's harmless, but looks just like a poisonous variety of toad) unless they distract it with something shiny.
The hole has a few gems and random change in it, too.
There's also loads of tinsel and foil candy wrappers.