The middle-aged servants who knew the fundamentals of the journey had already died.
There was bad planning, delayed traveling time, and the matter of it becoming winter en-route.
The dangerous pursuit party, and the villager's complacency began to wear thin the patience of the group, and almost led to disaster.
They probably were seen as a delicious morsel to a demon or bandit.
Along the way they were attacked many more times.
However every attack was repelled.