I think that it would be easy enough to sort out. I don't know the particulars, but something along the lines of 'Troi escaped and made it to the inn at the edge of the forest' or 'Troi overwhelmed his captors during the night, captured the castaway and returned her to the authorities' (this way we get the rest of the gold too) or better still, 'the party catches up with the bandits and overwhelms them, captures the castaway, finds her loot and returns to the city as heros (this way we may get XP too. whoot!)
Actually, the castaway seems like she could be a good plot leader. Oh well.