Punishing Players (in a good way)

[arrowstorm]

First of all, this is not a thread about how butt hurt I am that the PCs broke my story, they didn't.

So, a city is in 2 factions. One wanted to bypass ancient laws, one did not.
The PCs knew that the first faction was right, and helped them to bypass the law.

I am looking for a way for the steadfast faction to punish the PCs for their trespasses, but maybe also give them a reward as this was a fairly low treasure quest.
Goals for both factions are to build new cities, so that they are apart. The players were also paid in lands and titles by their employers.

Some of the ideas I have had.

X amount of hard labor with some downtime RPing. Possible STR increase.

Are required to plan out the city of the punishing faction, and be able to have the same downtime to get their affairs settled, but not be slaves.

Also, this is in 5e D&D (I put it in the General RP Forum because it's just story) So if any ideas that give bonuses were balanced within that system that would be awesome. LOTR level of technology also.

[MadBear]

Assuming I'm reading this right, the way I'd go about it is to really showcase that there are 2 factions.

Maybe their favorite blacksmith/shop owner/tavern are on the other side of the issue and will no longer sell to them. Maybe as both cities are being built, they're explicitly banned from the other city. (maybe they also know of some danger they can help stop if only they could get into the city, thus creating an interesting scenario).

Maybe the side that they're on while right, also has the backing of the local mafia, and now the mafia's claiming the heroes side with them. This would start to tarnish their reputation, and make them consider the cost of doing what's right.

[Gildedragon]

What sort of old laws? Just traditions? Or the sort of Old Law that maintains the cosmos via ritual?
Opposite faction NPCs (without faction approval) get them drunk, and toss them into an oubilette, expecting them to die from the things down there. Naturally the PCs prevail and either find some interesting trinkets, or information, or something. Couple days later they emerge, the offending NPCs have been arrested by the traditionalists. Their life is put in the PCs hands

[Bulhakov]

If I understand correctly - one faction is "more lawful", the other "more chaotic"? The chaotic rewarded the players with lands/titles but the lawful still wants to punish them somehow?
Some unusual punishments I've used before:
- "mark of justice" type punishment - the characters are branded with a magical rune that is annoying but somehow beneficial for that faction, e.g. the marked PCs are unable to lie, or are unable to harm any citizen from said faction, or are forced to obey any order given by a cleric of said faction. The marks may be "DM magic" that will actually force the characters to behave in a certain way, or can just signify that some sort of magical punishment will appear if the rule of the mark is broken (as in Belkar's case), e.g. a stat loss, or a visible disfigurment (in my campaigns I used the concept of blood oaths that if broken caused the oathbreaker to cry bloody tears for a year - not affecting vision or stats, just having constantly red eyes and maring someone publicly as someone that can't be trusted).
- "dirty job" punishment - traditionally some manual labor, but can also be "goon" work - e.g. working as a tax/debt collector or bounty hunter
- "quest" punishment - if the players are willing to submit to a punishment, send them on a difficult/annoying quest - clear out cobold tribes at the site of the new city or escort an annoying aristocrat NPC on a diplomatic mission
- "cash" - the PCs need to literally pay off the debt to society

[Fri]

What sort of old laws? Just traditions? Or the sort of Old Law that maintains the cosmos via ritual?
Opposite faction NPCs (without faction approval) get them drunk, and toss them into an oubilette, expecting them to die from the things down there. Naturally the PCs prevail and either find some interesting trinkets, or information, or something. Couple days later they emerge, the offending NPCs have been arrested by the traditionalists. Their life is put in the PCs hands

I like this idea, but honestly, from limited context you give, just give them a quest with a reward at the end. A quest is actually a punishment for most people, but not for adventurers (players), for adventurers they're actually some sort of reward.