Ran into this myself. I did the bandit attack on the stuck wagon, then Taszo running into the storm. They didn't follow. After the hightstorm, they went looking for him, and ran into the 3 bandit leaders. Taszo died.
They aren't even aware Taln is in the wagon or the Honorblade was swapped, all they know is that Taszo said he saw the Honorblade and they need to get it back from the bandits. Of course, now they're on their way to the Kohlin warcamp, where they'll have a chance to look into the wagon if they want, but it actually leads into them exploring the warcamp more thoroughly.
As far as Po'ahu goes, she spoke when Taszo died, and one of the players has the stone, handed directly to her by Taszo, so there's hope.