So i have the grey cowl on and the guards are chasing me in Corrol. i run into a house by the great oak, take off the mask and go back outside. the guards are still chasing me, trying to kill me, but im over-encumbered. so i drop all my nice heavy staffs and swords thinking ill just pick them up after i boogey outta town, but then as im making my way out, BOOM SHAKALAKA, all the townspeople start picking up my stuff and fighting the guards that are chasing me! i was intriuged by this somewhat but after all was said and done (and many innocent lives lost) the people who survived are all walkin about with my gear! i cant pick pocket them and i dont have a save file before i dropped my goodies! and i dont want to kill them either! i dunno what to do!

They think you owe them for having your back when the guards attacked you.

Sorry bro.

Yeah...if you fully fatigue them so they collapse, you should be able to pickpocket it off of them. If they're wearing/wielding it, just use disintegrate armor/weapon and then fatigue them.

Next time, remember that guards will accept a yield after you've taken the cowl off.

i think my game is glitched honestly. and the problem is the mage leader took my staff so if i try something on him i get kick out of the guild. oh well.

Its just like if you have food in your house...NPCs WILL eat it, since they need to eat.

You're game isn't glitched. It's the "radiant" AI, and there's nothing you can do if you aren't on PC, aside from killing/reverse pickpocketing them. When you play an RPG such as this, SAVE. And don't overwrite your saves, unless you need to go back when something like this happens.

No glitch, that's simply how this game works. If an NPC is in combat and they have no weapon they will pick up any nearby weapons to help themselves in the fight.