should I have dropped the cops

[Dark Ass4ssin 1]

So my players decided to go to a rather advanced part of the world. This included flyingfortresses and airships along with Iiron golem police.

The party asked a traveling scholar for directions and he directed them to a bin that dispensed city pamphlets for free. The following dialogue insued:

Ranger: Thanks for the help
Scholar: No problem mighty adventurers (lv.17 party)
Wizard: So do you have scrolls or cast magic?
Scholar: No, but I do carry various writing and proverbs from aome of the wisest men that have ever lived, I'm carrying one to the temple that is in very high demand right now.
Wizard: That's rather interesting what does it cont-
Barbarian: GAAAAAAAAAY
Scholar: I assure it is most certainly not *gay*, rather a fine collection of the most intellecu-
Barbarian: GAAAAAAAAAY
Scholar: Well if that's your stance good day sir.
Rouge: I take his scroll *dice roll* 14+

The scholar didn't notice but the afore mentions golems did with flying colors. I simply made him give it back with no penalty, but wondered if something more memorable shoulve happened.

[Yoroichi]

I like your barbarian.

Truth is you could have dragged this as much as you 'd liked!

The scholar could be furious and instantly demanding payment or something of that sort, or the scroll could be destroyed because if it is touched by someone who doesnt know how to hold it properly it loses its magical value, therefore sending the adventurers on a trip to find another scroll of the same kind which is guarded as a valuable godly item in a mind flayer cult.

The scholar could have been a pit fiend in disguise and with the taking of the scroll he is forced to run rampant in the town and wreaking havoc, the adventurers could shut him down with or without the help of the police, or the police could consider them accomplishes until they could explain that they were not together.

Since the scroll is super-extra-magic, whoever possesses it must make a saving throw or be possessed by an evil spirit, that on certain key points takes control of the character.

I can think of more i think :P. Level 17 leaves you with lots and lots of options,

When they touch it they transport, with the scholar in another labyrinth type outer plane, which you could integrate into your main plot :0

But these things are not easy to come on the fly

[Ninja_Prawn]

I think you handled it fine. The rogue was just mucking around, right... you know, being roguish? I'm sure he was going to give it back after he'd had a look!

Golems do what they're programmed to do, which can be a problem, but in this situation, I would have thought 'policing best practice' would be "give the rogue a stern look and tell him to give the scroll back". You don't need to escalate things further. If the golems had gone directly into violence-mode, there could have been a lot of collateral damage, which would be bad policing.

You can always have it in the back of your mind that the police have now seen the rogue being naughty (I assume they all share tactical intelligence). If he does something serious later, he would therefore be on their list of suspects, especially if it's a crime that you'd need to be a high level rogue to commit...

[Dark Ass4ssin 1]

Thanks for the alternatives guys