hey shadowlord. i just finished SoA as well. Basically the end movie with the guys at the table was about how Gorions ward, thats you, is still alive and gaining power... but that none of this matters still, as they believe your fate to be sealed already.
as for your missing characters, i'm not too sure. Where they destroyed in the final battle with Irenicus? I had two people die during the battle, but not destroyed. The fortunate thing is that they were brought back to life when i was. The unfortunate thing is that they didn't have any of their equipment anymore!
That ticked me off, so i used Shadowkeeper to give the two dead characters items back.
Spoilers....maybe
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after you defeat that Bhallspawn in the forest, you are teleported to a pocket plane. here you supposedly can summon old friends to rejoin your party. I havn't tried this, but i did welcome a certain half-brother into my party.
dulouz.