Hired thugs?

[CaptBasil]

I just encountered three hired thugs that were sent after me for stealing. I was never caught stealing and have never even had a bounty on me, so how the hell could someone send thugs after me? Can I expect everyone I've ever stolen from to send thugs after me now?

Since there seems to be a mod for everything in this game, I'm sure there's a mod that fixes the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crime system in this game as well, right? If I wasn't caught, nobody should know it was me.

[.rz]

Well,unless someone saw you coming out of the building from where you stole the item,that would make sense that they knew it was you.

[gnewna]

I think it's a once-per-character event. It is a bit daft, although a lot of the time it's not that hard for an NPC to have worked out who stole it (e.g. a lot of the time it's something someone has stolen from a hotel room, or when they've wandered upstairs in an NPC's house). The silliest is when you've stolen from someone and then killed them. Apparently Skyrim NPCs are psychically linked to the thug-hiring network even after death, and the living ones don't mind spending significant coin teaching someone a lesson for filching a couple of cheap alchemy ingredients or whatever...

[CaptBasil]

Originally posted by Dem0n:

Well,unless someone saw you coming out of the building from where you stole the item,that would make sense that they knew it was you.

No, it has nothing to do with being seen. I broke into their house at night, and wasn't seen.

Originally posted by gnewna:

I think it's a once-per-character event. It is a bit daft, although a lot of the time it's not that hard for an NPC to have worked out who stole it (e.g. a lot of the time it's something someone has stolen from a hotel room, or when they've wandered upstairs in an NPC's house).

Sure, if someone sees you walking upstairs and later realizes that something is missing, they'll figure out who stole from them, but when you break into their house at night and steal their stuff without being seen, it just doesn't make any sense.

What I'm wondering now is whether the NPCs I've stolen from will behave differently towards me or maybe even attack me when they see me again?

[ReallyMeanGoldfish]

most of the time I ever had this event happen; the person who hired them is dead.

[Delta-Kilo]

No, the person who hired them won't act differenently in any way. I once had this happen to me when I pickpocketed a courier. If you're any sort of thief in Skyrim, this will likely occur several more times in the course of a game.

[♥ Barney ♥]

I stole a book from Belethors, he didn't even know I'd thieved it, and awoke the next morning to find 3 hired thugs waiting for me. I remember when using Timing is Everything mod that there is a 10% chance that when stealing you will be sought by hired thugs, presumably it doesn't mean bandits or enemies, but friendly NPCs.

[CaptBasil]

Originally posted by Delta-Kilo:

No, the person who hired them won't act differenently in any way. I once had this happen to me when I pickpocketed a courier.

Alright, that's good to know then.

Originally posted by ReallyMeanGoldfish:

most of the time I ever had this event happen; the person who hired them is dead.

One thing I'm wondering about this: Is there any way of killing someone quietly? In the pre-brotherhood quest where you have to kill the woman at the orphanage, I stabbed her at night with a dagger resulting in an insta-kill, but she still screamed and alerted everyone in the house. Any way to do something like this quietly?

[♥ Barney ♥]

Originally posted by ZarkingFardwarks:

Originally posted by Delta-Kilo:

No, the person who hired them won't act differenently in any way. I once had this happen to me when I pickpocketed a courier.

Alright, that's good to know then.

Originally posted by ReallyMeanGoldfish:

most of the time I ever had this event happen; the person who hired them is dead.

One thing I'm wondering about this: Is there any way of killing someone quietly? In the pre-brotherhood quest where you have to kill the woman at the orphanage, I stabbed her at night with a dagger resulting in an insta-kill, but she still screamed and alerted everyone in the house. Any way to do something like this quietly?

Poison in the pocket, you don't get blamed for the death i think.

[400g]

Some smaller quests can results in hired thugs too. e.g. the quest with Faendal and Sven where you bring a letter to camilla. The one that loose her will send them.

Some funny discussion on that:
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:413498

[gnewna]

Originally posted by ZarkingFardwarks:

One thing I'm wondering about this: Is there any way of killing someone quietly? In the pre-brotherhood quest where you have to kill the woman at the orphanage, I stabbed her at night with a dagger resulting in an insta-kill, but she still screamed and alerted everyone in the house. Any way to do something like this quietly?

Grelod the Kind is a bit of a special case. You can literally walk up to her in broad daylight and smack her in the face and she'll die, the younger woman who works there will run around screaming and the kids will all cheer. You will not get a bounty. Nobody will try to arrest or stop you. Similarly, you can sneak in under cloak of darkness, with Muffle and Invisibility spells (okay, the Invisibility will wear off as soon as you open the door, shame we don't have Chameleon any more) and 100, fully-perked sneak and barefoot/no armour, and silently slit her throat. She'll die, the younger woman who works there will run around screaming and the kids will all cheer. You will not get a bounty. Nobody will try to arrest or stop you.

This is not the case with other NPCs, assuming they are killable, if you kill them in front of others, you will be attacked/arrested (generally attacked, but sometimes if you yield by sheathing your weapons you may be arrested instead) and get a bounty of 1000 septims. If you do it stealthily and are not seen by anyone, you can wander off quietly and nobody will know it was you (although occasionally it'll trigger the hired thugs. They're meant to be immersion-adding, I suppose, but they're so badly implemented that they tend to be anything but! I totally agree they *should* only trigger if there was some way for the owner to know who stole from them, but the game apparently can't tell the difference.) Although, if the person is a citizen and you're in a town, you will have to stay stealthy to get away as it's likely the guards and/or other NPCs will notice and start angrily looking around for the murderer, and they may well know it's you if they spot you (not sure if this is always the case, it's a while since I've played an assassin, just thinking of a specific Dark Brotherhood quest).

[Mr. Shaggnificent]

Hired Thugs Pacified [www.nexusmods.com]

[CaptBasil]

Originally posted by Mr.Shaggnificent:

Hired Thugs Pacified [www.nexusmods.com]

"this version turns all Hired Thugs into Rabbits! "

Nice. :D

[Mr. Shaggnificent]

Originally posted by ZarkingFardwarks:

Originally posted by Mr.Shaggnificent:

Hired Thugs Pacified [www.nexusmods.com]

"this version turns all Hired Thugs into Rabbits! "

Nice. :D

I pride myself on my stealth skills. The only people who even knew I was in the city were the two gate guards. How the hell did one little missing item get linked back to the guy no one else even knew was in town?

Another mod that's great for sneaky sneaks is Hidden Hideouts, City Edition[www.nexusmods.com], because it adds alternate entrances to the walled cities. Then there's a chance NO ONE sees you come and go. If you can aproach the city, get inside, do your "work", and leave with out ever breaking stealth, there is no reason at all for those annoying psycic hired thugs.

[gnewna]

Originally posted by Mr.Shaggnificent:

Originally posted by ZarkingFardwarks:

"this version turns all Hired Thugs into Rabbits! "

Nice. :D

I pride myself on my stealth skills. The only people who even knew I was in the city were the two gate guards. How the hell did one little missing item get linked back to the guy no one else even knew was in town?

Another mod that's great for sneaky sneaks is Hidden Hideouts, City Edition[www.nexusmods.com], because it adds alternate entrances to the walled cities. Then there's a chance NO ONE sees you come and go. If you can aproach the city, get inside, do your "work", and leave with out ever breaking stealth, there is no reason at all for those annoying psycic hired thugs.

I've figured it out! The player character hired the thugs during a load screen, perhaps out of a sense of guilt, or because they just like being approached by three tough muscly dudes in steel armour...

[AwkwardHillbilly]

I know when taking out Grelod the Kind it's that way because the kill has to be known for the Dark Brotherhood to track you