Okay, well I went to Solitude and accepted the quest from Ahtar. (just so I could befriend him to get his axe)
I had three followers at the time. Derkeethus, Cicero, and Barbas.
So the quest pinpointed that the bandit leader was at Broken Oar Grotto.
I went there, killed them all off, and as soon as I left, only Derkeethus would follow me outside.
I walked back in... and sure enough, Barbas and Cicero refuse to leave, even after I dismiss them.
They just stand there by the entrance and won't go. Is there any way to fix this via console?
I am very fond of using these essential followers, but I have never had problems like this before.
I can't kill them because they are immortal, so I seem to be in a little bit of a pickle...