A Skyrim player has accidentally become a serial killer of poultry after trying to level his magical abilities with a little-known cheese.
Earlier this week, Reddit user PromptZues19508 took to the Skyrim subreddit with a nifty hack they had recently discovered. They learned that Fury, a low-level spell that causes low-level enemies to attack friend and foe alike for 30 seconds, can be cast repeatedly on chickens with no ill effects.
Casting Fury on a smart NPC will likely get your character attacked, or get you in trouble with the local guards for using magic on innocent civilians. Casting the spell on a larger animal could also cause a problem, as you would have to fend off that wild beast. However, certain creatures, such as rabbits or, in this case, chickens, can feel the effects of the spell, but cannot attack anything. They will run towards you, seething with rage, but they won’t be able to do anything about it. After 30 seconds, they will calm down and allow you to cast the spell again with renewed magic. As PromptZues pointed out, that means you can cast the spell over and over again, causing your illusion spell stat to skyrocket.
At least that was the plan. That initial chicken was eventually killed, not by the Dragonborn, but by a local guard. (opens in a new tab). It turns out that a frenzied chicken is a threat to everyone nearby, and a swift arrow was sent to take it out. PromptZues took that knowledge on board and went to great lengths to lead his next victim away from populated areas.
Unfortunately, that one was shot by a roaming mercenary. A third chicken, lured under a bridge to keep it safe from stray archers, was killed 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 backs turned. Ultimately, chicken six was killed by PromptZues’s own hands, apparently “by accident”. The condition of a possible seventh chicken is currently unknown, but I can’t say it looks good.
It could be argued that five out of six of those chicken deaths were the result of collateral damage, a very real threat in the dangerous world of Skyrim, and that the label of serial the chicken killer is unfair. However, he would say that all those chickens were lured to their first 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 lay my case to rest.
Is Skyrim a retro game?? If yesterday’s GOG release is any good, it got a little closer to that mark.