But they are: seeking aid, sending messages, seeking out caravans, seeing if any commoners will provide a place to hide - these are all things a person can do.
Only if you make assumptions about the fiction that contradict the game rules.
I mean, I can imagine that a spell caster might sneeze when trying to speak the words of a spell, but the rules of 5e D&D mean that this never happens. Likewise, I can imagine the commoners refusing to hide someone, but the rules of the Folk Hero background mean that that never happens.