They would be happier in death with a belly full of mead.

Maybe that explains the death of the owner of the Farm across from Whiterun Stables. I came back into town one morning and found him facedown in the intersection outside his farm. Because of the several guards passing at the time I just left him alone. He was still there awhile later so I cleaned him out and got his house key in the bargin. I've been in the house and no signs of any quest related stuff nor has my journal updated with any unknown quests so maybe he was just a random dead guy. I know that several times at night I have come by that area and just off the road will be some firefight over something or other so maybe he just got caught in the crossfire.

the imperial prisoners that some stormcloak patrols have with them. I all ways cut them free and give them armor and weapons but they never seem too understand! *cries* THEY NEVER UNDERSTAND!!!!

Okay, so I just played a quick game and went to Riverwood and saw a thief snooping around. That never happened before reading about your experience with thieves in Riverwood. Or maybe I just never noticed cause they are so sneaky. He was carrying nothing but dishes and pots too. lol

Well, when I did the Forsworn Quest in Markath my fellow prisoners killed half of Markaths population including both blacksmithes and several of my quests failed.

Strangely enough the majority of Markaths inhabitants seemed to be Vampires. Really odd.

I've only come across one of these patrols so far and the prisoner used the weapon, but didn't equip the armor. I guess if they were smarter they wouldn't have been captured in the first place.

My character has been freeing every Stormcloak prisoner they come across (they haven't actually joined the 'Cloaks yet, but there's lots of Imperial blood on their hands now...)

They're incredibly weak, though, those Imperial soldiers. One standing power attack from an Ebony sword, and they're usually down... possibly with their head rolling down the hillside... don't really need to arm the prisoner, since the fights are over so soon.

Thalmor groups, though... not exactly difficult, but still tougher than the Imperials. If the prisoner dies, I figure I at least gave them the chance to run and hide, but they usually try to fight and get themselves stomped.

So I'm at the point of the Mage's College questline where Winterhold is being attacked by Magical Anomalies, so me and my fellow Khajiit and best buddy J'zargo rush out there with the two other mages to save the town, and we're fighting and these things are really easy, theres just alot of them and they're moving all over the place so I have to run all around the town to kill all of them. We finally manage to eliminate them all, and I go back to the college and save my game, then I enter the college and notice something's wrong. Where's J'zargo? WHERE'S J'ZARGO? He usually comes with me when I change areas, I figure maybe he thought I'd told him to wait instead of sit in a chair or something, so I reload my save and run back down to Winterhold looking for him. I'm spending fifteen minutes running around the town looking for him or his corpse, when suddenly I notice a pile that doesn't quite look like the rest of the ghostly remains littering the town. Sure enough it's an Ash Pile. I check the contents and see that this is all that remains of my best buddy J'zargo... I don't know how he died, much less got disintegrated, since my Khajiit is a warrior. I know i didn't hit him. All I know is he died defending a college full of people he didn't even respect, and now he'll never get to level 81. It made killing Ancano that much more sastifiying. "This one is for J'zargo!" I thought as I beat him to death with my fists. But it didn't bring back J'zargo. His unlooted ash pile forever sits out in front of the college, slowly being covered by the swirling snow, a grim reminder of what Tolfdir tried to teach us so long ago.

I too was escorting Esbern and Delphine to Sky Haven Temple when a dragon attacked Riverwood (I'm thinking its scripted). Faendal stepped infront of the mighty Frost Dragon as it landed on the Sleeping Giant Inn. He shot it about two times before going out in a frozen glory. Alvor runs to his body, taking his bow and arrows and continued his fight. Alvor fared better, but still fell to the dragon, which after took to the air, breathing ice down on the town. My bow, along with the guards, managed to bring the dragon back down to the town, injured greatly. It was then, in a act of foolishness and bravery, Alvor's widow took up his fight. A iron dagger in hand, she charged the beast, whom was so close to death. The dragon swept at the woman with his powerful jaws, picking her up, shaking her, before tossing her body into the river like a tissue. I strung my last arrow, and ended the beast's life. Alvor and his wife left behind a kind daughter, who is now an orphan.

Lod, the Falkreath blacksmith, apparently dies so consistently to dragon attacks it's a common problem for people trying to do quests involving him. Seems to be a grudge between blacksmiths and dragons. You'd figure they'd at least throw on some of that armor lying around when the dragon lands.

I was also slightly horrified at the carnage in Markarth following the Forsworn jailbreak. Few guards caught ice spikes in the face.

I disabled random dragon spawn after the 85954657th time I had to reloaded because some overgrown lizard decided to attack an area full of decent NPCs. Nevermind that 90% of Skyrim population is composed of dangerous bandits, necromancers and savages going around in fur swimsuits (Forsworns). It's always the good townfolks that sacrifice themselves to attack bare handed an ancient dragon.

The best moment I had was in a tomb full of draugr and a swing trap. (do they count as 'NPC', yes? They were NPC before, now only slightly dead and desiccated). It must have killed a dozen of them. Afterwards, there was a nice pile of Draugr squished in a corner where the trap would come to rest. Poor nords. Not even in death they find peace.

It's meta-gamey, I know, but if the game seems to feel like "it's time" to throw a random dragon my way, and therefore does so (usually while i'm trying to get something else done) I reload my save and fast travel to some spot where the dragon spawn isn't going to cause any lasting damage. Western Watchtower by Whiterun is a good spot for this. There's some cover to hide behind, and totally expendable allies to help you.

There does seem to be some timing involved. If I fast travel to Riverwood and get a dragon, I can reload, then fast travel to just about anywhere else and get a dragon. Then if I kill it, I'm not pestered by them anymore for at least a game day or so.

I feel like eventually the cities would be barren and ghostly due to the lacking number of npcs still alive because of the never-ending swarm of dragons no matter how many you kill. If only we gained actual power from their souls each time we absorb them, we would be like a god.......like talos.......is this how he did it?