A Skyrim player has accidentally become a poultry serial killer after trying to level their magical abilities using a little-known cheese.
Earlier this week, Reddit user PromptZues19508 took to the Skyrim subreddit with a cunning trick they'd recently discovered. They'd learned that Fury - a low-level spell that causes low-level enemies to attack friend and foe alike for 30 seconds - could repeatedly be cast on chickens with no ill-effects.
Casting Fury on a sentient NPC is likely to cause them to attack your character - or get you in trouble with the local guards for using magic against innocent civilians. Casting the spell on a bigger animal might also cause an issue, as you'd have to fend off that wild beast. Certain creatures, however - like rabbits, or in this case chickens - can feel the effects of the spell, but can't attack anything. They'll run up to you, seething with rage, but won't be able to do anything about it. After 30 seconds, they'll calm down, letting you cast the spell again with refreshed magicka. As PromptZues pointed out, that means that you can cast the spell over and over again, sending your Illusion spell stat rocketing.
At least, that was the plan. That initial chicken was eventually killed, not by the Dragonborn, but by a local guard. Turns out that a frenzied hen is a threat to everyone in the vicinity, and a swift arrow was dispatched to take it out. PromptZues took that knowledge on board and endeavoured to draw his next victim away from populated areas.
Unfortunately, that one was shot by a roaming mercenary. A third chicken, which was lured under a bridge to keep it safe from stray archers, was taken out by an unfortunately timed dragon. The same fate befell chicken number four, while chicken number five was taken out by a bandit while the Dovahkiin had their back turned. Finally, chicken six was murdered by PromptZues' own hands - "on accident," apparently. The condition of a potential seventh chicken is currently unknown, but I can't say it's looking good.
One might argue that five out of six of those chicken deaths were the result of collateral damage - a very real threat in Skyrim's dangerous world - and that the label of serial chicken murderer is unfair. I would, however, argue that all of those chickens were drawn to their early graves by the actions of this player. That's six dead birds and a lot of blood on the Dovahkiin's hands. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case.
Is Skyrim a retro game? If yesterday's GOG release is anything to go by, it just got a little closer to that mark.