In short, I have 2 players that had stolen some valued items that were crafty in how they would avoid leaving a trail (changing clothes, altering directions via water). Im happy to reward their thorough plan to escape with keeping the gear, but plan to have a secret order track and arrest them to drive a key plot point in the arc.
However nearing the end of a gaming session, I had agents of the secret order confront them to end the session on a tense cliffhanger.. except I have jumped the gun (they wouldnt have the info needed yet to find them, chronologically as the players were discussing and figuring out how their escape had ultimately failed).
Could I get some suggestions on how I can massage this back into a fair and believable story, or have I failed as a DM?..
