Starting a campaign with my wife, and some friends. My wife being the most of the fence and mentioned maybe missing a session or two. So I just want to have some creative ways in my pocket to handle missing players and what ways to make it entertaining!
Thanks
Alcohol poisoning - drank too much the night before and can’t face the day. They’ll catch up later!
If you must have them with the party you could run them in a supportive role and simply buff the party where possible (bless, guidance) and keep them off the front lines.
If the players trust each other enough you could have one of them run the character in a similar way to lighten your load.
Beyond that others have suggested good ideas: shopping, a job from their holy order, helping someone in town are always classics.
You could perhaps have the guard arrest them for something and have a jail break as well 🤣