Hi,
I'm now on Chapter 2, and I'm wondering if I'm experiencing a bug or if it's part of the story. I don't want anyone to give away too much, but at this point I really am worried that it's a bug.
It has to do with Cavelorn. I'm told where I can find him. I've been there several times and he's not there. I know I'm at the right place because when I open the chest there I find Cavelorn's key. Is there a surprise stroywise waiting for me (in which case please just answer YES without giving it away) or is there a bug and he's supposed to be there but for some reason isn't??? Fingers keeps insisting I should find him there. I went there all throughout Chapter 1 and several times in Chapter 2 so far, but no Cavelorn. I'm concerned because I'm wondering if there is some more Trophy Taking abilities and in Gothic 2, Cavelorn was an important NPC as far as those skills went.
Any help appreciated, and sorry if this ends up being a spoiler for some (I tried to insinuate that in the title).

Phew, it's been a while, but I'm quite sure Cavalorn should be near his hut at least during chapters 1-3 (he's also a trainer and merchant). Also, did you try at night? I think he returned to the hut at night.
Besides gthat, did you look around for a corpse? I seem to remember having him killed by some critters once or twice.

Well, it's a bug then, because he's NEVER been there, and I've never found a corpse. I ransacked his chest, and opened the door in the cave and looted all of those chests, and I've been there at various times of the day and night (I thought it might be a certain time of day or night thing too.)
Now, since something is wrong, my question is am I not going to be able to be trained in certain things because of this bug??? I remember Gothic 2 there were certain things available to be trained in that only one guy could teach you (or at least I only found one guy teaching them). I'm particularly worried because it seems I haven't found nearly as many trophy taking things to learn yet as I did in Gothic 2. Don't want any spoliers here or anythign but would like to know if this bug is going to result in me not learning a skill because of Cavelorn's absence.
And also, has ANYONE played the GOG version of this game and DID encounter Cavelorn??? I'm tempted to start a new game just to find this out, but man I've got a lot of hours already invested in this one. Any answers are appreciated. And thanks frilled for answering the last one. :)

Don't rely on me entitely, please. It's been a while I played G1. But I don't recall ever missing him out entirely.
As far as I remember he's not essential for any quest. But I think he is one of only two trainers that train the usage of bows, the other being Wolf at the new camp (who can also help you attain the mine crawler armor).

Actually, I think he does both. Thanks for reminding me :-)

a little late, but he does bows and sneaking... otherwise not important to the storyline