[LordOgre]

My game is patched to the current as well, and I have the same problem, only one further. Here is a list of NPC's that I've had at one time, then released... only to never see them ever again:

Vi - released her on my own, as she wasn't pulling her own weight. I realized this was just cause I didn't give her time to develop, yet she is nowhere to be found in Arnika.

Madras - released him after draggin his sorry butt through a few levels. I absolutely hated this character, but when I went back to see the "DON", I made a wrong turn on the way there. Ended up in Madras' observatory. Looked for him to buy/sell from or to see if he held a grudge against me for letting him go, but he was nowhere to be found, anywhere.

Sparkle - Recruited her just to hear some of the sayings she has "in party" and quickly found her to be almost as annoying as Madras. Released her while still in the Umpani camp. Went and did a few quests (Find the POW Umpani in Bayjin) and then returned him to home. Sparkle was nowhere to be found in Umpani camp.

I've recruited Urq the Mook Psionist as well, then released him after traveling to Trynton. I haven't been back to Arnika to check and see if he's back in Mook Hall or not though.

That's it so far. My days of taking NPC's are over since adding the wonderful RFS-81. He puts my Ninja to shame as a fighter, even though my ninja has 118 in critical strike, he hardly ever gets any. RFS-81 has only 73 in critical and does many more than my ninja ever dreamed of.