I had a very similar situation once.

The players where in a clockwork-themed dungeon and kept killing the clockwork golems there. Then they encountered the boss, the maker, who was a clockwork-enhanced human who built all these golems.

The boss was wailing over his destroyed children and when the players entered the room, he was like “Was it you who killed my children?”.

And instead of fighting, the players managed to convince the maker, that it wasn’t them, but instead the other group of players who where also playing in the same world.

So the maker and his remaining clockwork golems move out to hunt down the other group, and the players just ransacked the dungeon.

It was a quite funny opening scene for the next session of the other group, when they where just minding their business and the maker, whom the players have never heard of, and his remaining army of clockwork golems attacked the players, shouting that they will kill the players for killing his children.

When the second group figured out what happened, they hired an assassin to take out the first group.

Fun times :)