Bounty in the rift for no reason?

[John]

I have no clue why, but i have a bounty in the rift for no reason, i have never had this happen in any of my playthroughs except in this one for allready the second time. First time i thought it was just me having forgot something, but not this time.

I went to riften yesterday for just a few things, nothing special, didn't kill or attack anyone. Even went to windstad manor which is always my main house because of the perfect alchemical reasons, just to deposit some of my stuff. My steward is Illia, from the rift and nothing was wrong, i even saved in the house so today i started in that same location.

Go forward to today, when i started up i went to do some miscellaneous quests in Solitude. Nothing wrong but then i came back to windstad manor, for all of a sudden Illia to just attack me. I checked my crime and i had a 1000 bounty in the rift...... what?, how, when, i haven't even been close to that area, didn't even kill anyone except a few bandits and vampires in caves, i didn't even see a message pop up that i had a bounty.

Any reason for this to happen?

[alexander_dougherty]

You may have crossed a boundary and committed a crime, Ivarstead is in the Rift region for example

[John]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

You may have crossed a boundary and committed a crime, Ivarstead is in the Rift region for example

Nope, again as i said, i never was close to the "RIFT" The only area i was in was Solitude, a few caves around it and Windstad manor which is in the Morthal (i always forget what those 2 holds are called). Those have a fairly big distance to the rift.

Edit: Also i didn't commit any crimes, as stated above, i only killed a bunch of bandits and vampires to do a few quests.

[Finiquitao]

it's possible that the steward denounces you in their region of origin, not where you are. You can do some test (make a save and letf that your steward kill someone, starting a fight with the bard, for example). On the other hand it is very easy that there are accidents, and that you have no news until you review the journal, either by lost arrows, or by slashing (or collateral damage) in the middle of a tumult, when a friend approaches you from behind outside your field of vision.

[John]

Originally posted by ReMaTao:

it's possible that the steward denounces you in their region of origin, not where you are. You can do some test (make a save and letf that your steward kill someone, starting a fight with the bard, for example). On the other hand it is very easy that there are accidents, and that you have no news until you review the journal, either by lost arrows, or by slashing (or collateral damage) in the middle of a tumult, when a friend approaches you from behind outside your field of vision.

The only thing i could think of was that shipwreck close to windstad manor, it was indeed true it was fairly close, literally a minute long jog. But there are only pirates there, so she must have seen it and gave me a 1000 bounty for killing a bunch of pirates which at the time were attacking me. That, makes no sense, but it is a Bethesda game, i am used to weirder stuff.

[Finiquitao]

Originally posted by John:

The only thing i could think of was that shipwreck close to windstad manor, it was indeed true it was fairly close, literally a minute long jog. But there are only pirates there, so she must have seen it and gave me a 1000 bounty for killing a bunch of pirates which at the time were attacking me. That, makes no sense, but it is a Bethesda game, i am used to weirder stuff.

Try dropping a worthless item from your inventory in the middle of the Riften market, the mess that mounts, you don't believe it until you see it with your own eyes :). Today I just ran into a bounty like yours, but without surviving snitches. I insist, in the middle of the fight it is very easy that you do not see the notification. Thinking that there are many "innocent" NPC's that can appear in the middle (such as the incredible imperial courier, even in the depth of the dwarf ruins), do not see it as so strange, as you start a fight accidentally, and that your follower -especially those given by the jarl- ends it and endorses the reward to you, or Serana, who has the privilege of not needing you to start it.

Ed: Some time I play to get a clean bounty journal, but it's imposible if you play dark brotherhood, there is a mission that adds it to you whatever you do

[John]

Originally posted by ReMaTao:

Try dropping a worthless item from your inventory in the middle of the Riften market, the mess that mounts, you don't believe it until you see it with your own eyes :). Today I just ran into a bounty like yours, but without surviving snitches. I insist, in the middle of the fight it is very easy that you do not see the notification. Thinking that there are many "innocent" NPC's that can appear in the middle (such as the incredible imperial courier, even in the depth of the dwarf ruins), do not see it as so strange, as you start a fight accidentally, and that your follower -especially those given by the jarl- ends it and endorses the reward to you, or Serana, who has the privilege of not needing you to start it.

It has to do with wreck of the icerunner, in my current challenge run it is possible for me to kill stuff in one hit with a sneak attack, and then still it is only the lowest possible draugr and bandits i can pull that on, anything else i would have seen if i would have hit it. I guess it was just Bethesda being Bethesda.

[rcbecker1]

I have a glitch that gives me a 5gp bounty for sleeping in your own bed if you look hard enough you will find it is a known Glitch but no one knows what causes it. The worst part is you cant pay it off and the guards don't know you have it. The normal fixes like hit a guard and pay your bounty to remove it and all others do not work.

[Valden21]

All the Hearthfire houses are plagued by periodic bandit attacks. It's possible that during one of these attacks, one of Illia's spells killed a chicken and a wandering NPC witnessed it. According to UESP, if a follower commits a crime and is seen doing so, you get saddled with the bounty. So somebody from the Rift who was wandering nearby could have seen that happen.