Players... they never follow the plan.

[Runolfr]

So, my party of two characters -- a rogue and a ranger -- have offended a major faction of the local Thieves' Guild.

First, they offered some assistance to an embezzler who witnessed some guild members murdering his boss. They didn't provide him much protection, though; they just directed him to a caravan that was leaving town then half-heartedly investigated the scene of the murder. The embezzler was soon found floating in the river, and the party didn't even get the money he was carrying (stolen from his boss, who therefore couldn't pay his "protection money", resulting in aforementioned murder). Given their lackluster effort in this instance, the Guild ignored them.

Next, they saved a halfling druid from a sound beating by a couple of Guild thugs. The halfing was making a nuisance of himself by protesting in front of a dog-fighting arena. Our intrepid heroes interrupted the beating, threatened the thugs with dire harm, and escorted the halfling away. The Guild decided they needed a lesson in humility and sent some thugs and a family member around to administer them a beating, but they got the better of that gang.

That left them in the position of having beat up a Guild member. The Guild was going to escalate its effort to put them in their place; the family couldn't afford to let them get away with something like that.

I figured they'd have to negotiate some kind of settlement in which they paid a fine or agreed to do some bad deed for the guild in order to get out of trouble. Plenty of potential adventure hooks in that situation.

Instead, they quickly blew town.

Glad I didn't invest too much time in planning future urban adventures...

[Indon]

Oh, that's not so bad. I was halfway expecting the story to end by your players infiltrating the Guild in disguise, finding their HQ, and slaughtering the guild's members.

[Ranis]

I was thinking the guild leader, but yeah. That's what I was expecting as well.

Does the thieves' guild operate in more than one town?

[Attilargh]

Have some bounty hunters drag them back. Problem solved.

But really, I would've probably done that as well. See, the players probably feel the Guild is a real threat to their characters' continued existence and thus do not want to cross them further, but as apparently Good people, do not want to have anything to do with them either. As the gates were open, they decided to take the path of least resistance and skip town.

Now, what you need to do is give them something very heroic to do with the Guild. For example, have A Goody-Goody Faction approach them and persuade them to infiltrate the Guild in preparation for a future cleanup. Or, alternatively, pit the characters as mostly unwitting pawns in a guild war.

Ædit: And yes, I know it's rather cliché.

[Runolfr]

The players are still first level, they won't be taking over the guild any time soon.

This particular guild operates in just one city, although it is the most populous one on the continent. There are also a few rival factions within the guild, which makes it feasible to come to some sort of agreement with one of them.

[draca]

Depending on your characters' alignments and outlooks, that sounds fine. I've played characters that'd rather blow town too rather then do evil in the name of some bunch of thugs, or give them one sawn-in-half copper piece.

There is also the type that just doesn't like the idea of trying to make a climb check during the next dungeon crawl while one or both of your legs is in a cast because Guido the dwarf broke them. (We call them cowards. They refer to themselves as "the better part of valorous.")

Then again, I've also played characters that would have declaired a gurilla war against the guild. This "Family" you are describing seems to lean much more heavily toward the CE type'o'theives then CG type. School them in the art of meddling-not-in-the-affairs-of-wizards I must.

[jjpickar]

Actually, they probably did the smartest thing possible. Why would any sane person (especially 1st level) take on the family all by himself? The bounty hunter idea would work well though.

[Runolfr]

Have some bounty hunters drag them back. Problem solved.

As it happens, I do already have a bounty hunter made up. I didn't expect him to have to go out into the country to catch them, but that won't be an excessive problem.

[silentknight]

My players are quickly approaching 10th level and the thieves guild they are tangling with is sizable (several hundred members in a large city). But most of the thieves are low level (3rd level) and the players are having no trouble taking down the guild that is "holding the city hostage." Even higher level sneak-attack-with-poison-assassins are at most a 2-round inconvenience rather than a challenge.

Players never play fair.

[Lapak]

As it happens, I do already have a bounty hunter made up. I didn't expect him to have to go out into the country to catch them, but that won't be an excessive problem.

I actually would just let the issue die. They did blow out of town. How much is that Guild really willing to put into chasing down some punks who minorly inconvenienced it and then ran away? If they'd stuck around, it would be a problem, but they showed their fear of the Guild's wrath and took off.

If I was running it, that would be that. Unless, of course, they ever returned to that town and caught the guild's notice again... then there would be trouble.

[Matthew]

This is why you need more than one Adventure location planned out. Otherwise, let the players know beforehand what kind of game you want to run...

[I_Got_This_Name]

I'll agree with Lapak; the guild drove them out of town, so, from their perspective, they won.

The thugs who got beaten up might not see it that way, though. If the PCs have family, or friends, or professional associates, in town, though, a few of them might run into trouble with the shady underside of the city.