Was doing one of the early Thieves guild quests, the quest takes place in the open world, requiring you to infiltrate a beekeeper's house, steal from his safe, then proceed outside and burn down 3 (exactly 3, not more) beehives.

So I happily snuck around the sewers into his home to ransack his safe, no problems, no one saw me (throw voice "shout" is awesome) and then made may way outside to burn me some bees.

Masterfully I zig zagged around guards and made it to the hives, unseen and unscathed... when suddenly, a shadow passes over me, and I hear the blood curdling cry of a blood dragon... Not only did I now have to kill the dragon, he brought the attention of all the mercenaries, who I so cautiously avoided, down upon me. This wouldn't have been so bad if they felt the need to assist me with the dragon who was in the middle of attacking their boss' property, but apparently, I was a larger threat than the large fire-breathing reptile.

After an epic battle of dodges, dives, and fireballs... I managed to kill both the blood dragon, and all the mercenaries, happy with my accomplishment I turned to the beehives... all now up in flames from the dragon's burning breath. The quest was flagged as complete so I shrugged and returned to the thieves' guild to claim my reward.

Upon talking to my contact, I was berated for having "almost burned down the entire property!" and that told that "I was supposed to scare them not cripple their production", and was denied my share of the rewards, and warned that if I bugger another quests, that there will be trouble!

Don't get me wrong, I love the random dragon attacks, it definitely adds to the game, and I would never want it changed... but I wish the NPCs acted more accordingly when you killed one. Like where was my "you realize I just killed a dragon right?" response to the farm being burned... Or when you misfire a fireball and hit a guard during a dragon attack, why do they then proceed to try to kill you, instead of thanking you for saving their town....

Aw well, such is life...

You know what? This EXACT thing has happened to me and many others I've talked to. I call "bull" on that dragon being random. It always appears the moment you get close enough to burn the hives. If you don't go near the hives? No dragon.

Pretty dikeish move by Bethesda to purposefully throw a dragon in to ruin your stealth in the first big stealth mission you are likely to receive. When we get the Creation Kit we'll know for sure.

I thought there wont be random dragons appearing if you dont go talkin' to the Jarl after youve been in Riverwood.

5 is right out!

Heh..

Yeah, I've had problems like that as well, where a random encounter ruined what I was working on and I had to take the fall for whatever was botched. Have you noticed that when it happens, it mostly seems to involve dragons showing up at bloody unexpected times? Those troublesome lizards... Hell, I defend a small mining community from certain destruction at the hands (well, flames) of a dragon and all the badly wounded town guards have to tell me is, "Stop shouting, you're scaring people"!?

Sadly, I guess they can't take everything into account when they decide quest outcomes and NPC reactions.