Im in the Caverns of Talona - I know there is a bug, but I started ID by installing Patch 1.06. STILL no captives and at first there WERE kids, but they were all dead, and later they were gone. I wanted to rescue that kid and get a key to a chest - but he isn't there. Any hope without starting that section over?

scheemish should be in the 2nd level, just to the east of sister Calliana.
if you missed it, you can still try forcing or picking or knocking that chest open later
you won't really need to get in there until you reach lower dorn, so don;t obsess about the chest too much

I had the same problem you did. The people would all talk to me and then disappear, but if you have a thief you can do what I did and get his lockpicking abilities up to 100%, this will open the chest.