@ruggly - I just realized I was your post, and you were the friend I was talking about. LOL Disregard. 
Yeah, that's a bug. Happened to a friend of mine. Even in non-bugged scenarios (like mine), it took a looooooong time for him to return. It was nearly the end of act 2.
From what I've read about it, there are several quests tied to it that you can't advance until Randval returns. If you have every other side quest done, and nothing happens when you go back to camp, and there are no new quests, you will probably need to load an earlier save.
The timing for accepting Randval's quest has to be before you head into the city (you may want to get confirmation; that's just what I read). If you don't do it then, that stupid bug will just sit there and fester, and you'll waste hours of time. I accepted his quest the first time I talked to him, as I wasn't using him as a follower anyway. 