Halas Shaman Starting Quest
 

The starting quest giver for Shamans in Halas from Margyn McCann does not respond after typing in the first quest words. Tested to make sure I was doing it correctly on Lysbith (warrior trainer) and that worked.

screenshot attached

I don't understand the Lysbith connection, but did you try saying:
That is what ZAM says. Unsure if live would allow just the bracketed words to work or whatever.

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=229

Sometimes you have to stand really close to NPCs to get them to respond to quest prompts.

Yup, I have tried all of those things. Someone else who was near me tried it and they didn’t get a response
There is another NPC in that area who doesn’t respond to the quest trigger words. But he did respond to the second part of that quest’s trigger words.

"i will apprehend the fugitives" should work.

Just tested this - Margyn prompts the text [apprehend the fugitives] but you need to say [i will apprehend the fugitives] to get a response.

You probably mean Jinkus - he does a similar thing where he prompts about [Shamans o' Justice] but he won't progress until you say [Shamans of justice] - or perhaps a longer phrase. The point being, just repeating the exact phrase of the words [in this format] doesn't progress it, you need the context along with it ("I will", "Where did", "who is" et all.)

It's working :)