Sandbox Campaign Part 8: "This One Time at Bandit Camp..."

This is part 8 of my ongoing account of the sandbox campaign I am currently running.  Updates are frequent, if irregular, and at the end of each post I talk about one or more subjects pertaining to the adventure but more broadly applicable to all campaigns.  You can find the previous parts here.

Leaving Zel and Rikkit to rest in the bloodstained ogre cave, the rest of the party headed back to explore the underground dwarven trade road.  After following it for two days, they reached its end: a door disguised as the face of a cliff.  It opened into a trackless forest north of the Frostspines, a favourite haunt of bandits and savage tribesmen.  Chernyx returned to report their findings to Zel and Rikkit while Monty, Sigrid, Daphne, and Kat sought out Castle Drenn, Castle Morbis' sister castle, now long occupied by the barbarians.  They were soon ambushed by a sizable group of bandits and, after struggling against the bandits' nets for a few rounds, agreed to throw down their weapons and come with them.