Idea for missing PC

[Dughy]

So I have someone that hasn't been able to join sessions for the past few weeks and in order to combat that I used the idea of the PC going missing. The only problem is that I can't think of an idea to resolve this complication.

Here's all the info you need:

- The PC is a half-elf rogue who's very cocky and hits on every woman he sees in attempts to bang everything moving. He also has a half-orc half brother (also a PC) who he's quite close to due to their separation at a young age and eventual reunion.

- The situation the party was in before and during he was missing was that they were chasing a humanoid creature in the woods and the party split up. One group kept in pursuit, resulting in combat. And the other group (the group that this PC was in) went back to grab **** that they had thrown during the chase. When this group went to get their stuff they were ambushed by more of these creatures and taken to their camp, put in cages.

- The reason for this camp putting them in cages is because they were sacrificing the bodies to bring them back using a form of necromancy and creating a small army of undead through the use of a magic ring.

- the PC was most likely going to be the first one to be sacrificed in this way and that is why he is first taken away from the camp.

-Currently one of the other PCs (his half brother) is searching for clues as to where he went.

I need ideas for a complication that could've happened leading to his escape and why he hadn't gotten back to the party until this session coming up.

[Kibry]

They could've wanted to speed up the body sacrificing process and the PC got lucky(Slipped from their fingers and put them on high alert. Maybe assassinated/stabbed one of them)? Or he escaped from the cage(Sprung his lock), but got separated(Chased off?) and is now wandering by himself.

[Unoriginal]

He was captured by a succubus and is held captive. He'll only be freed if the PCs signs that liiiiiitle contract about doing a liiiiiitle favor for his captor.

Y'know, just to avoid them running away and not slaying the legendary monster mentioned in the contract. Finding indredients to craft a magic item is so hard nowadays, don't ya know? And normal contractors are soooooo unreliable.

[SirGraystone]

He escape but...

- was captured again, and is kept at the female leader wearing and iron collar as a pet.
- disguised himself as one of the bad guy and plan to help the others escape
- got into the wood and was taken by treants who think he's one of the bad humanoid damaging their forest
- got eaten by a bear

[Captn_Flounder]

What I would do is, when he does up IRL, have his character show up. Either they find him in the dungeon (seeking shelter and then hiding from the dungeon inhabitants), or he wanders into their camp at night, or just walks in the tavern all dirty and covered in twigs and dirt and blood. And when the party asks what happened, have him tell the story.

You don't need to fill in the blanks. He knows where he was when he left, tell him where he is now, and have him fill in the blank himself. That way it eliminates both the "we found him but he isn't here irl to play the character" and the "he is here irl but we haven't found his character yet." Also gives him a reason to acquire the xp even though he couldn't play (since his character is active even if he is not). As a DM I don't like to punish my players for missing a session if they have a real life reason to and I don't want them to fall behind and feel they can't contribute.

Did just about the same thing when my players were basically CIA and one of them couldn't attend for 2 or 3 sessions. When she came back I told her she was called away on an urgent mission and let her go from there. Turns out she was assassinating a dictator of a small, poor country whose chief export was a drug illegal in the PC's country. He had indicated that the PC's country was their chief importer despite their public anti-drug stance. This could not be tolerated. She infiltrated the cooking staff and poisoned the man, his family, and several house guests. Even gave her a thousand gold and a hat of disguise (was 3.5e at the time) as a token reward for a job well done and the story telling.