A few days ago I was wondering around the outskirts of Riften and I heard someone pleading for help (this was a few days ago and I cannot remember the exact words). To my surprise when I lifted my head to see what this commotion was about I saw three Imperial Soldiers beating a Rifted Guard to death. I was astonished. I had never seen this before. This was truly unbelievable to me.

Damn those Imperials.

Wonder if the guard was trying to collect the "visitor's tax" from the wrong group of visitors.

Hold guards have the same faction setup as the soldiers themselves. They will attack soldiers and guardsmen of the enemy CW faction.

Investigate the shors stone watch tower.....read the note......this ain't the first time!

I suppose I will... My thoughts were that the Riften Guard was too dirty or he wasn't willing to be dirty enough and he paid the price.

Hold guards are actually soldiers in the faction that hold is controlled by as Madcat mentioned, Imperial soldiers passing by guards in a Stormcloak hold will engage in battle just like any normal fight in the Civil War. If you run mods such as Immersive Patrols, you'll see this far more often as the patrols are purposely set up to cross conflict points so you'll get ongoing battles.

Got it thanks!

Thanks Madcat221!

This really screwed me one time. I was approaching Riften for the first time and so had to go through the visitor tax conversation but as I reached the gate an Imperial Courier ran by causing both guards to begin a lengthy pursuit and the door to stay locked.


My more unscrupulous characters would have just snuck in through the meadery but this Dragonborn was a bit too valiant for that kinda behaviour meaning Riften was off limits for a couple of days.