Giant spiders spawning on the surface?

[InDarkestNight]

While I was trying to find my way to a dragon roost, I ran into a giant spider, which one-shot me, sending me back to dawnstar. That was rather annoying. Ever since then, I've run into them on the surface in several places. I even just ran into two fighting each other. I've never seen these things spawn on the surface before. Keep in mind, I'm playing without mods, so this can't be a mod issue. I also ran into an 'orc' in an inn, which I've never had happen before either. I also have the Alikr still spawning all over the place, including the entrance to whiterun even though I've already done their quest. I also ran into Skjor while walking around in Eastmarsh. I've run into that bug once before. I just disabled him like I did the first time.

What is going on here? How are giant spiders spawning all over the map? I've only ever seen them as bosses in dungeons. Is this a bug or something the unofficial patch fixes? I have played 100% vanilla playthroughs several times in the past, but I can't ever remember running into these things on the surface like they were normal spawns. What the crap is happening?

[xkkmEl]

I do not know why you are surprised.  I have always seen spiders on the surface.  Skjor, Farkas and a few other companions do travel the wilderness at times.  The Alikr keep showing up on the road sides until their boss is killed.

It's been so long since I played without USLEP, I couldn't tell you if it's any different without it.

 

[InDarkestNight]

I've already killed Kematu, that's what's not normal. Also, yes I know its normal to see the companions running around, but Skjor is supposed to not appear anymore after he dies. Also, the first time I had this happen he was still hanging around jorvaskr (I haven't returned to there this playthrough since completing the quest), still calling me a 'whelp' that needed to prove myself even after I had become the harbinger!

As for these spiders, this is new, even though I prefer to walk everywhere rather than fast travel. I've only ever seen them as bosses in pre-selected locations, such as Nimhe and that one you find in Bleak Falls Barrow. How is it possible that I've never encountered this before? I would've assumed that it was something added by a mod if I wasn't playing 100% unmodded (mainly due to factors outside my control).

[xkkmEl]

Weird it is.  Perhaps a bad save?  I dunno if they're for real, but I've it mentioned they are times where the game produces corrupted save files.

In the cases where I iniitally suspected this happening, I eventually figured out it was linked to changes in the load order... PapyrusUtil and JContainer (perhaps others) don't deal well with plugins changing ID mid game.

I also had cases of bad save files when making a new save overwriting a previous one.  I ended up with the wrong SKSE cosave, and everything was so mixed up!

Though... without any mods... I dunno!

 

[Ondrea]

Spiders have always been indoors and outdoors.  Not sure why you haven't seen them before.  The two spiders fighting is a random world encounter called Dueling Giant Spiders added by the Dawnguard DLC and not part of the typical spider spawn.  The wiki mentions them being both in the wilderness and dungeons. 

The Alik'r still being in Whiterun is a random bug that is fixed the unofficial patch.

The Orc in the inn is part of the Taunting Adventurer encounter.  He insults you and you have the option to brawl him.

[InDarkestNight]

Uh, the 'taunting adventurer' doesn't 'brawl' you. That would be a fist fight where nobody dies. With them they instead fight you to the death, which I did do btw in front the innkeeper and everyone. After everyone was done freaking out over this, I casually asked the innkeeper to stay the night. Welcome to Skyrim!