I think this is an excellent chance to drive home some consequences. A person needed help, and even though they helped her, they also cuffed her. Perhaps Bali honestly needed help, then suddenly found herself trussed up by her ostensible rescuers. Nobody likes that kind of noise.
So she escaped the manacles, and set a couple horses loose. The PCs have the chance to chase down their horses ... or to try to chase her down.
I would give the PCs a chance to catch her ... sort of. Give them chase cards pointing in three different directions, one for each horse and one for Bali. In both cases, the quarry ought to be two or three cards ahead. The players have to get past the obstacles to catch one (or all) of them.
The Big Secret: Bali is a bard from the River Kingdoms or, alternately, from Brevoy. She earns coin traveling the Northern Greenbelt and entertaining trappers and hunters with songs, stories, and news from Brevoy and the River Kingdoms. Even the Stag Lord's bandits leave her be because she's really entertaining.
She ought to be a bard of about level 4 or 5, and a couple illusions ought to be part of her spell selection. She's actually kind of pissed with the players now. She's used to everyone treating her as a minor celebrity, and the players put her in manacles!!!
Her plan was (of course) to escape. She released a couple horses to distract the players while she runs away. To help her escape, she's cast Expeditious Retreat on herself for the movement bonus, and she'll use a couple illusions to distract the players.
Once she gets away ... she's going to incorporate the players into her entertainments. Probably with some sexual innuendo. For increased fun, make up a little song to a catchy tune.
Until they confront the Stag Lord, the PCs will constantly hear the little song, along with jokes about the wizard's ... staff ... and the fighter's ... sword. Hunters and bandits alike will hum the song because it's just so damn catchy.
This could be fun. She'll be a pain in the ass to the players, but not one they can combat easily. Add her to some of the future random encounters. She could be entertaining hunters or bandits alike. She won't do anything to directly harm the PCs, but she's going to make it clear she doesn't like them ... and hunters and such will be less friendly overall.
If they catch the little lady, on the other hand, presumably they'll take her to Oleg's Rest ... at which point Oleg and Svetlana will be aghast that they put Bali in manacles and treated her so badly. And Bali will love every minute of it. She'll probably even tell Oleg a story about how she was confronting wolves, and the players constantly got in the way when she tried to hit the wolves with her little sword.
Oh yeah ... if they challenge her to a duel, she'll offer to meet them in the field of honor with a leg of chicken and a salad fork.
