Bounty On Player

[Adipose]

Okay, here's the situation.

 

Just about into Winterhold. Jumped by a dragon. My avatar, plus two humanoid followers and Meeko, are fighting the D, when a passing Imperial patrol jumps into the fray. This is further complicated by two Trolls and a Snowcat that jump the lot of us. So, there we are, around eight NPCs and one PC fighting four hostile beasts. Spells and arrows are flying all over the place. Unbeknownst to me, 'cause I'm very busy, at least one of the Imperials is killed. Must've been either me or one of my followers that did him in, 'cause immediately after the four beasts are dealt with the Imperials and a nearby Winterhold guard jump me and my team. Normally, in a situation like that I'd simply fall back to an earlier save. I can't this time.

 

So, since I've got a shoot-on-sight bounty on me, I can't get into the University for training. Is there any point where I'll be able to return there?

[InDarkestNight]

You could just turn yourself in. You'll be sent to jail, and lose any items you 'didn't acquire in the right way'. Alternatively, you could just wander Skyrim for a while. Eventually a bounty collector should show up and offer to let you pay your bounty without being sent to 'the chill'. Getting a bounty won't permanently lock you out of anything, because it can always be removed one way or another.

[Adipose]

You could just turn yourself in. You'll be sent to jail, and lose any items you 'didn't acquire in the right way'. Alternatively, you could just wander Skyrim for a while. Eventually a bounty collector should show up and offer to let you pay your bounty without being sent to 'the chill'. Getting a bounty won't permanently lock you out of anything, because it can always be removed one way or another.

Thanks for the input.

[InDarkestNight]

Oh, and a third option is to just replace the Jarl through the civil war (winterhold is aligned with the Stormcloaks at the start of the game). You could also remove your bounty if you had thane status, though this only works once, and I don't think you can acquire it after getting a bounty.

 

On a side note, guards won't actually mess with you if your bounty is below a certain limit (its whatever you get for killing an npc or transforming into a werewolf in front of people). They'll only attempt an arrest if you initiate conversation them in that case.