So, I ran an encounter with an adult sapphire dragon. One of the players has a jeweler's kit and proficiency in it, so I didn't quite think about how much raw sapphire the players would be finding in the region around the lair.

When we calculated it afterwards, they found around 16,474 carats of raw sapphire. The cleric is a forge cleric and has access to stone shape.

Estimating a good 5 carat sapphire as being one of the 1000 gp sapphires...

That's 3.2 million gold.

Oops.

So, how do I make this newfound wealth fun for them, without punishing them? They're level 8. Central rule of DMing I follow is never take a thing away from a player or players.

They were discussing a sapphire themed temple (the cleric), and a keep, etc.

I know some countries in my campaign world would definitely try and tax this, but they're in one of the few regions that doesn't really use money, except with outside groups. At least, currently.

Additional ideas?

Edit: the raw sapphire was just what they found walking through the newly claimed territory of the dragon. They did not fight the dragon - they'd be *bleeped* if they tried given its in its territory, has a climb speed and a burrow speed, they're level 8, and sapphire dragons have a massive armory of magical weapons and armor that can help. They just avoided pissing off the dragon, paid obesiance without creating obligations for anyone or any government, and got out.