I moment ago I fast travel to Western watchtower than a dragon appear so I attack however...............a platoon of imperial soilder with a Nord prisoner appear and they Imperial attack the dragon aswell but I can't see the Nord prisoner anywhere until I see him sneaking away from the battle.I look at him but he pretend not to see me so I move a bit closer to him than he decide to join the battle.
I found this encounter pretty amazing since a prisoner trying to sneak away from the battle while no one is watching.

Well, probably the AI just screwed up, I don't think this was made by intention...

I've actually seen it a few times without dragon attacks. I'd attack a group of Thalmor and their prisoner, and the prisoner tries to escape in the confusion.

If I was captured and my captors got caught up in a battle with a dragon, I would not stick around either.

I think the AI is great that they would have the prisoner try to escape if possible.

What is happening here is that the prisoner is trying to escape from you. They think you are trying to attack them. Unless you free the prisoner first, they will always flee from you.

This makes sense, but I'm not always the instigator, lol

Usually, I free the prisoner and they end up getting killed while fighting their Thalmor/Imperial captors. I wish they would make a break for it after I free them, and not try to fight with their bare hands.

I'm not sure this is true. Playing on the Stormcloak side with a previous character I used to attack the soldiers first and then just let the prisoner go. Then I walked into town one day and found I had an unexpected bounty on my head. I couldn't figure out why, since I played a law-abiding character and hadn't done anything illegal that I knew of... and I didn't consider attacking legionnaires to be "illegal" given that the game should have considered them an enemy faction.

So then I experimented with freeing the prisoner first and as someone already noted this usually ended up with the prisoner dead. Maybe because once his hands are unbound he starts fighting the soldiers and no matter what weapons I would "share" with him, he always fought barehanded.

So this time around I have just been attacking the soldiers again first, undetected in sneak mode when possible for at least the first one. Or if I happen upon them too quickly for that I sometimes just stand in their way until they go aggro anyway. So far not one single prisoner has died, and no bounties. In every case the prisoner has run a short distance away and then stopped, allowing me to go free him and share items.

I suspect the bounties in the first playthrough might have come from killing Imperial soldiers in Imperial-held holds before the war was finished, but I'm not sure.

The coolest one so far was just last night, I was coming back to Whiterun from up north and on the ridge between the city and the road to the east of it were two soldiers and one prisoner just standing there. All had their backs turned and I got both soldiers with my bow before they even knew I was there. The prisoner stayed put and when I got to him and went to share items he already had an Imperial bow in his inventory, I can only assume he was looting it off one of the dead soldiers.

I wish they'd equip the weapon/armor I give them. Why else add that option when you free them?

I don't know, maybe it's built on the assumption that you will only free them after you kill the soldiers. Everything I've experienced so far makes that seem like the best option to take for the desired outcome (soldiers dead, prisoner free and not dead).

Logic is off really.

You attack the guards without freeing the prisoner. - Prisoner should hide until you've dealt with the guards and left.
You free the prisoner but don't equip him before attacking the guards. - Prisoner should pick up any available weapon/armor from dead guards.
You free and equip the prisoner. - Prisoner should use what you've given them.

#1 seems to happens sometimes, at least in my game, in that the prisoner will try to put some distance between himself and the fighting. As long as his hands are bound that's about all he can do. I usually find him standing some ways off once all the soldiers are dead.

#2 and #3 are what should happen, but they don't. It really is not handled well in those scenarios. The only thing I've seen a prisoner take on his own was a bow when a sword would be a far more sensible choice if he's right in the thick of the fighting. And as for them not immediately using what you give them... that's really frustrating. It's why I don't free them first any more, I just let the fight start or start it myself and at least in that case they seem to have a much better chance of survival. Same with prisoners of those roaming Thalmor patrols.

I just kill all of them.

Imperial/Thalmor captors, captive, everyone.

Sithis will sort it all out...

I just get all of the loot.

I attacked an imperial patrol in order to free the Stormcloak prisoner, and he started pounding on the imperials with his bare fists once the battle got going. What a lad!

You hit the nail on the head right there. You were undetected. He did not flee from you because he never saw you, or realized it was you who killed the others. The reason you got the bounty the other times is that the prisoner saw you kill the Imps/Thalmor, and he reported you (as all people who observe crimes can telepathically report it to the guards).

I don't think that can be right, because I've also fired an arrow into the chest of a lead soldier in an Imperial patrol when the whole patrol was walking right towards me. There's no doubt that they all saw me, and I freed the prisoner after it was all over and never had a bounty. I check my crime stats in the journal frequently just to make sure that I'm not gonna walk into a hold and be surprised by an overzealous guard. I've also had Imperial patrols walking towards me and the lead soldier registers as hostile and comes at me while I'm still deciding what I'm gonna do. Maybe that's because of the Imperial soldiers that I killed just up the road from him? Lol.

So, I don't know. It may be that freeing the prisoner is the key, maybe if you kill all his captors and then free him, he doesn't report you. It may have something to do with where you're at in the CW quests, which side controls the hold you're in. I've finished the war now so that wouldn't be an issue, maybe I just didn't take out any patrols with prisoners when the war was still going on but it's hard to believe I didn't run across any at all. Again, I don't know. I just know that on this playthrough, I've attacked first on most occasions, undetected if possible but not always so, the prisoner has always gotten away and/or been freed, and I have no outstanding bounties in any hold.

Of course this is my first playthrough since updating with the last patch. Maybe that changed something and that's why I'm having better luck with it.

Yeah, I wouldn't be sticking around to fight either.

In my experience, when I release a prisoner, they run away. Battle or not.

I ussually engage the last Thalmor in a philosphical conversation until the rest of the group gets out of sight then admit I am a Talos worshiper or that I think all the races are equal . He/she attacks and I kill them. If I can get the next one to do the same I repeat but sometimes they won't separate. Then I run up and give the prisoner a weapon and kill the remaining Thalmor.

The only time so far the prisoner survived was when I talked to the Imperials first, but to tell the truth I don't remember if they attacked me or if I freed the prisoner - the later I think. He had the sense to keep his distance, and when the fight was over he ran off. Now this fight was over pretty quickly since Erik went berserk with the battleaxe I gave him(I just tell you, give that boy something two-handed, makes him waaay better!), so maybe the prisoner just never had the time to throw himself in the middle of the fight as they usually do. No bounty, neither.

I always thought the bounties was for accidently hitting the prisoner. But I guess I can be wrong. Those fights tend to be a bit confusing.

Pretty sure I've killed Imperials with the prisoner as a witness, only to get the "all witness' are dead, bounty gone" message when the Imperials were dead and the prisoner released. Maybe I've just managed to rescue the grateful ones.

He's also got a higher skill level in Light Armor, despite the heavy stuff that they bought in Whiterun with the money you gave his dad. Take it away from him and give him something light and you'll both be much happier.

I had some fun with the Thalmor and their prisoner last night. I was coming down off of a ride, and saw the patrol on the road. So I ran ahead, and placed an Elven Greatsword directly in their path, then set up an ambush.

It was just after 1am game time, so it was very dark and I was able to take out the rear guard with my daggers without being noticed (it also helped that immediately after the kill cam, I downed a potion of invis...). I crept up and right as they passed the Greatsword, I freed the prisoner.

I figured that I had a 50/50 shot that he'd run or fight, and I got to watch as he picked up the greatsword and hammered one of the two remaining guards as the guard was still turning around. He damn near one-shot that Thalmor in the robes. lol

So I helped him mop up the rest of the capture party then let him run on his way. The whole battle was humorous to me.

I know, I gave him a skimpy little hide armor as well...

That is awesome. I have GOT to try this. Although I don't know if I could get that good a sneak kill on the rear guard and be able to free the prisoner before all hell breaks loose. But I'm still gonna try the "weapon in their path" trick. I wonder if it would work for a POW escorted by soldiers as well? There are no more Thalmor in my Skyrim, lol, so Imperial patrols may be my only chance.


You cheapskate. *I* made him some really nice... oh wait. I don't think saving money was your goal there, was it?