Oh gods, not DrZombie again. He's already making a complete shambles of my other game! I've had a take a whip to him once already. Bet its not going to be the last time.
Emoticons are for whimps.
And he looks exactly like a friend of mine, which is spooky.
I've been working on the assumption that Max [Acid_Crash] didn't join the party for this trip. However, it would still be feasible to say that he has just been rather quiet up to this point if someone wants to pick up his character. That would be the simplest way in. New characters are also doable, but would need to have reason for being in a small (basically) mining town in the hills pretty much on the road to nowhere.
My players - thanks everyone for the prompt response.