I know it's gonna sound weird to you, like everything probably does, but having a lot of people pushing back against you usually isn't something that makes you look like being in the right.
Im curious too. Why shouldnt a boss be invisible... sorry, invincible ? Especially when you have no clue of the context except that it went away and the players survived ?
If you give them things to buy with that money it can be fun. You can also have an ingame reason for that money. Like having a dragon threaten a kingdom for a humangus sum of money and it becomes an objective. The fun thing about it is, what happens if they keep some of it ? A lot of it ? Just bail and leave the kingdom to rot ?
How about this. If youre gonna give them the option to get that loot, dont take it away. Taking away loot you gave your players is the same shit as having a cool weapon in a videogame and never giving ammo for it. Assume what you give your players for fun and up the challenge instead of taking away fun
I had that exact shit happen to me. Got to a underwater treasure filled with a dragon's horde. And long story short, we get attacked, go back to the surface, hurricane we havent saw before right on us, and the onky things we kept was that IF you managed a save you kept 1 fucking item. Nevermind me saying to the DM : I put as many rings and necklaces and bracers on me as I can.
If you are going to give your party the allures of a big treasure and they beat your protections, you fucking better not pussy out and let them keep it all.
I know it's gonna sound weird to you, like everything probably does, but having a lot of people pushing back against you usually isn't something that makes you look like being in the right.