» Thu Dec 08, 2011 2:55 pm
I think it's a bug related to spawning when an area loads. I went out on an outing, and when I returned I found the dog in Riverwood dead (think his name is Stump, or something along those lines). I reloaded to an earlier save before the outing (when Stump was still alive), repeated my trip, and when I returned the dog was fine.
The named dragon bones (the first dragon you kill by the tower in Whiterun) disappeared on me after a week of remaining near the tower. I was running around the area wondering where it went and suddenly the entire dragon skeleton (still named) fell out of the sky and landed near where I had originally killed it. I think sometimes that happens to MOBs that load when you enter a region.. sometimes they bug out and load in a state or elevation that ends up being fatal. In fact, I recall reading a review around launch day that complained about MOBs spawning in the sky and falling to their deaths. I would not be surprised if something similar had happened to the dog Stump in Riverwood.