So, the moment I stepped out of Alvors(the blacksmith in Riverwood) house, I was assaulted by 3 hired thugs, who were all in Steel armor, and were beefy as hell. They were voiced, saying "We are here to teach you a lesson". They annihilated me twice, including once when I went back into Alvors house where the guy who escorts you through the initial dungeon is, and they even killed him. I eventually killed them by separating them from each other, and firing at them from across the river with my bow, but they were definitely much stronger then anything I should have logically been able to handle by that point. They had a note on them saying that they were to "take care of Starwulf" To note, I had already done the golden claw bit for the local merchant in riverwood, if that would have any effect on it. Why were they there, and what was their purpose? I had committed no crimes or anything yet, and I can't find anything on the wiki about it. Just curious, if anyone could fill me in ^^

NPC's will send thugs after you if you take anything from their house, even if they don't see you. The note should say who sent them. Don't worry, once you get a little bit higher level they won't cause too much trouble and you can steal all the stuff you want!

Did the note have an author? Usually the hired thugs are sent by someone in particular, after you've stolen or trespassed. I stole some ingredients thru Anise's Cabin window (it's near Riverwood), and the thugs tracked me down to Riften 10 levels later!

Hmm, I had taken stuff from Anises cabin, but she attacked me and I wiped her out, so could that still be it? The note did call me "The Thief Starwulf". There was no name on the note though, just blank at the bottom

Interesting to know that the NPCs can hire thugs to kill you though!

Yeah, this is an automatic thing, no matter what type of character you play or how low of a level you are, the first time you ever steal something the game sends these guys after you. I think it's Bethesda's way of showing the player that the game world doesn't look kindly on theft, and encourages the player to either play moralistically or seek out likeminded individuals (thieves' guild).

WHAAA?! Please tell me who

At the beginning of this character--like you I'd hardly done anything (maybe lvl. 5 or 6), hadn't stolen anything, hadn't murdered anyone--I had three thugs in Steel Plate pop out of the bushes raging toward me near the Western Watchtower. Given my location, I was fortunate in being just a few clicks from a watchtower full of guards. Unfortunately, one of the three thugs got seperated in the running and chaos and I never found their body and, of course, they must've been the one with the note.

The only thing I could remotely attribute their hiring too was possibly the bard in Riverwood -- maybe he didn't like that I'd given Camilla a forged letter that made him look bad. Regardless, I was shocked to see that kind of gear on baddies at that point, though I did make some decent coin selling it off.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Moira

Sometimes things happen randomly. I remember one character I had just started and the wood elf guy from Riverwood literally died at my feet, Sven his rival actually came up leaned down and looked at his body. Curious I looked as well and took his key which was displayed in white text. I went in to the inn to brew some potions when I came out I had the 3 hired thugs, I survived by kiting and using the river. When I read the note it had the wood elves name on it.

Lucky. I get these thugs sent after me all the time, but they never attack me. They just stand there while I beat the life out of them, and loot their corpses, one by one.

Man, the more I learn of Skyrim(I kept myself rather in the dark about it during development, once It had officially been announced, I avoided talking about it unless it was in regards to hated Steam), the more I love it! Pretty neat stuff I've had happen already and I only have like 5 hours in.

I once had a courier, or rather, a naked courier come up to me to deliver a letter. He didn't mention what he did with his clothes so I killed him.

I heard that they came after you even if you just knock something over in an NPC's house? I remember them coming after me and I was pretty sure that I'd not stolen anything, so I just assumed it was this.

Strange though, on my stealth/theif character. I've never seen these guys, heh.

In any case, there is usually a name on the bottom. Sounds like a weird glitch.

But they look nothing like each other! Intredasting...

I fought them, then slept, and fought three more, same city. And I play Xbox, obviously no mods. So it's not a mod. But I dispatched them quickly because my char was already leveled quite high

This happened to me last night. After I killed Heft (i think that was his name) in the DB quest I looted the mill and then Hern, his wife sent them. I saw her signature on the note.

I haven't had thugs yet but I've had two DB assassins and some Thalmor after me. I've been angering soooomeone. Haha.

Beth needs to work on their AI for the NPCs-sending-thugs-after-you-for-stealing. It happens a lot of times when it doesn't make sense. I accidently picked up a 2 septim roll of paper off Farengar's desk when trying to buy stuff from him and he sent three thugs after me. You probably accidently "stole" something and didn't even realize it. I got no bounty for "stealing" the 2 spetim roll of paper, but it was enough to trigger the thugs.

I've heard of the DB coming after people. I always go righ t to them with my characters. Maybe I should make a good one. Then they will come after me too. Feeling a little slighted

I love that they have this though. It's about time these stupid NPC's stuck u p for themselves. LOL

That would do it. The guy who sent them after me was avenging his girlfriend because I said something that upset her. He's lucky I didn't gut him right where he stood.

This is a standard occurrence in Skyrim. If you anger, steal from or double-cross certain scripted NPCs, they want to "teach you a lesson". It starts with the (jerk) bard in Riverwood sending thugs after you and escalates from there. (Maven will sic the DB on you.) The interesting thing is that it is scripted into the game background like Skyrim's infamous crime reporting chickens. (Didn't know about the secret police, did you? But that's another topic.) In any case, I think it's a lot more fun and profitable to have these encounters in the game than not.

I had a similar experience, only I was on this one quest, cant remember which one, now, but all the stormcloaks were dead on the ground, as scripted, and all where naked. But, they all had their clothes in their inventory, but didnt wear any of it.