Chapter 2: Boss Fight! The Protagonist Vs. a Chicken that is not a Chicken
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Chapter 2: Boss Fight! The Protagonist Vs. a Chicken that is not a Chicken
Cael leafed through his quest log. He saw that he had completed most of the standard MMO quests for new players: kill 20 rats, deliver a potion to the Alchemist's Store, kill the rat boss, kill the chicken that is not a chicken and is rather - wait, he hadn't completed that quest. In the lowest tier of quests, there was a quest with the following task: 'Kill the chicken that is not a chicken.' It was marked incomplete.
A strange task. However, before he took to questing, he sought new equipment and spells in Kruxol. Cael entered the Alchemist's Store. Looking around, he could see some tightly locked containers, probably containing high-level scrolls or equipment. He wasn't going to be looking through those just yet, however. He asked the shopkeeper what basic staffs were available, and was told, "Two are available that you may wield. One is the [Minor Arcane Staff], which boosts INT by 240 but cannot block attacks. It costs 2300 gold. The other is the [Adept Combat Staff], which has two slots for gems, can block enemy attacks based on your agility, and permits you to use a special ability that strikes the opponent from afar. This costs 2800 gold, the extra cost is mostly due to it having gem slots."
As he said this, the shopkeeper drew out two staffs. The [Minor Arcane Staff] was a finely carved length of coarse wood, cylindrical and smooth on its sides. The [Adept Combat Staff] was more rough and uneven, with a slightly haphazard carving process. However, it contained two open slits for gems. The gems weren't an option for Cael yet, but the chance to block attacks was still quite valuable along with an extra ability. While he was tempted to purchase this staff, the 240 INT from the other staff would almost double his current INT, as well as being boosted by his Spellcaster Trait, and based on his recent experience this could make him much more powerful. Besides, his Agility was on the lower end, so the ability to block attacks would be limited for him. Slightly hesitantly, he decided to forgo the defensive option and purchase the [Minor Arcane Staff].
This left him some gold remaining for spells. Most spells available to him were still the same, as INT from equipment didn't unlock further spell options. However, he had gained 25 stat points to invest by levelling to 21, and invested 20 of those into INT with the rest in the Constitution stat. This was enough to make two additional spell scrolls available: Flare, and Mana Beam. He was slightly pleased that they were both offensive options, although this meant that their cost was higher. They gave him an alternative to his Spark spell.
As he purchased them both for 1200 gold, the shopkeeper warned him that Flare was an elemental spell, and using any more powerful versions of the spell would require a Pyromancer subclass. Since Flare was one of the most basic elemental spells, it was available without the subclass, but if players got into the habit of using it then they might have to leave it behind if they did not choose the Pyromancer subclass. Cael wasn't yet sure which subclass he would opt for, but he felt that the need for extra alternative spells was enough to justify getting Flare. Besides, he was feeling slightly daredevil after leaving aside the staff which could block attacks. So he simply thanked the shopkeeper for the warning, and then set off to memorise the spells.
He could see why the Flare spell was considered a low-tier fire spell, as its scroll specified that it was different from a usual fireball because it only drew on thin, unstable, smoky wisps of fire. This could easily burn out or disappear as it made its way towards the opponent, but was still quite damaging at this level.
[New spell! Flare. 70 MP.]
[New spell! Mana Beam. 65 MP.]
Leaving the Alchemist's Store, he walked to the outskirts of the town and began thinking about how to solve the quest of the chicken that is not a chicken.
Thinking back, he had received the quest from an old NPC lady named Ruby Rubi who was standing by a road to the West of town. She said that she had been working at a farm to the West, but the owner had been attacked by a chicken that was out of the ordinary. While she did not say specifically that it was 'not a chicken,' the quest log apparently expects players to have understood this intuitively.
Cael was slightly taken aback at this cannibalistic chicken, that seemed, indeed, to behave more like a demon than a chicken. As he slowly crept into the building with it, he saw it turn up its head and look him in the eyes. The chicken's eyes had an aggressive, almost crazed look. Cael was contemplating a hasty retreat, but decided that running back to town without completing the quest would subject him to mockery by Jarius' Guild. Instead, he quickly cast [Meditate], to increase his ability to cast spells. Seeing this, the chicken stood up and faced him, preparing for a fight and letting out a deep hiss. Nervous, Cael decided to begin by casting Flare.
As a few strings of fire began to dance around his fingers, the chicken mockingly cackled at him. He released the spell at the chicken, and it reduced the chicken's HP to 90%. Cackling again, the chicken took a large bite out of the bleeding chicken intestines on the floor, and its HP increased back to 100%. It then used an ability of its own. As it was a boss, its skills had names that displayed when they were used. The chicken screeched loudly at Cael, and the game helpfully denoted this the [Chicken Alarm] skill. Cael suddenly became paralysed, and the chicken rushed towards him, grabbing his legs with a claw-like foot, and tossed him flat against the wall using the [Chicken Attack!] ability. Cael was now at 70% HP, slumped against the floor. He quickly aimed a [Mana Beam] at the chicken, and concentrated his mana into a beam aiming straight at the chicken. However, the chicken responded by opening its mouth and releasing a powerful ray of energy, with its [Chicken Ray] ability, and this collided with Cael's Mana Beam. Cael felt himself thrown back slightly by the impact, but the two attacks had cancelled each other out.
The chicken skipped around the building, occasionally letting out the stray 'bawk bawk.' As Cael crawled to his feet, he saw an ability name appear next to the chicken, [Massively Forced]. The chicken seemed to gather the power of the air around it, and turned it into a series of fine, sharp spikes like shattered glass, which it then flung at Cael. Cael collapsed straight to the ground at the impact, now at only 35% HP. He could barely get up, and his arms hurt as he tried to lift himself from the ground. The chicken danced around him, skipping merrily over the weakened body of its adversary and occasionally stepping on him when he tried to get up.
Cael tried another [Flare], but the chicken mockingly dispelled the wisps of flame by aiming a [Chicken Ray] at them. He knew that the chicken could have just killed him while he was down, but it seemed to be toying with him instead. This reminded him of the quest log, which spoke of a chicken that was not a chicken. He could clearly see that this chicken did not act like a chicken at all, and more like a malignant spirit that, as a poet may say, 'never wert' a bird. As he considered the failure of his new spells to do much at all to this chicken, the chicken wandered the room clucking busily as if unimpressed with Cael's performance. It occasionally eyed him, with eyes that seemed to him now hollow and vicious. As if impatient for something, it cast [Chicken Alarm] on his fallen body as he tried to get up, then walked up to him and kicked him down to the ground.
As the paralysis ended, he saw the chicken start to charge towards him. As it approached, he fell slowly to his right side and used [Mana Push] to divert its path. Due to his higher INT, the push clearly repelled the chicken away from him, and due to its trajectory it ran into the wall. This reduced it to 80% HP. However, he turned towards it to see it nonchalantly collect itself and cluck amusedly. It then looked towards him, and used [Chicken Attack!] to lightly slam him facefirst into the ground.
Cael was at 20% HP now, and had enough MP for only one or two spells. The chicken was taking its time, which helped him to regain mana due to the Meditate spell. However, he knew that another Flare or Mana Beam would probably just be deflected with a Chicken Ray. He looked in the direction of this terrifying malignance in the form of a chicken, and it looked back expectantly. Knowing that he had no other choice, he gave up on his new spells and cast [Spark] on the chicken that was not a chicken.
The sound of clucking stopped, and he saw the shape of a chicken stand still, then gradually wither onto the ground under the mana's suppression, eventually falling limp to the floor. Cael was tired, and felt almost excited to see his foe slump to the ground. It felt as if the exhaustion and torment of the battle was a black hole, and his target had fallen in first and now lay dead on the ground.
However, when he went up to the corpse of the chicken he had just downed, he saw that he was near the bright entrance to the building, facing the same chicken corpse that he had left to bleed for the sake of summoning the boss. He looked around, but saw no sign of the chicken that was not a chicken. Lightly touching the bleeding corpse of the original chicken, he could feel the sense of constriction where he had used [Spark], but none of the other furore or attacks of the battle were reflected on this chicken's body. He checked his quest log, and saw that the quest had registered as completed and the EXP from it had raised him to level 22. However, he hadn't received any additional EXP for killing the boss. For a moment, he stood still at the entrance to the makeshift coop, and looked around quizzically, overwhelmed by the mystery of the chicken that is not a chicken.
As he stepped outside and prepared to leave the farm, he heard a loud, wicked chicken cackle from inside the coop he had just left. He quickened his pace away from the building.
As he found his way - too slowly, it felt - onto the brown, dusty path towards Kruxol, he prepared to meet up with Jarius and the GildedKnights Guild, to tell them that the quest was done. He figured that he would omit the story of his encounter with the chicken that was not a chicken. But you, dear reader, have heard it, and hopefully agree that this Chicken with a Thousand Faces is the central figure of not only all storytelling, but also of all serious political philosophy.
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Chapter 2: Boss Fight! The Protagonist Vs. a Chicken that is not a Chicken
Cael leafed through his quest log. He saw that he had completed most of the standard MMO quests for new players: kill 20 rats, deliver a potion to the Alchemist's Store, kill the rat boss, kill the chicken that is not a chicken and is rather - wait, he hadn't completed that quest. In the lowest tier of quests, there was a quest with the following task: 'Kill the chicken that is not a chicken.' It was marked incomplete.
A strange task. However, before he took to questing, he sought new equipment and spells in Kruxol. Cael entered the Alchemist's Store. Looking around, he could see some tightly locked containers, probably containing high-level scrolls or equipment. He wasn't going to be looking through those just yet, however. He asked the shopkeeper what basic staffs were available, and was told, "Two are available that you may wield. One is the [Minor Arcane Staff], which boosts INT by 240 but cannot block attacks. It costs 2300 gold. The other is the [Adept Combat Staff], which has two slots for gems, can block enemy attacks based on your agility, and permits you to use a special ability that strikes the opponent from afar. This costs 2800 gold, the extra cost is mostly due to it having gem slots."
As he said this, the shopkeeper drew out two staffs. The [Minor Arcane Staff] was a finely carved length of coarse wood, cylindrical and smooth on its sides. The [Adept Combat Staff] was more rough and uneven, with a slightly haphazard carving process. However, it contained two open slits for gems. The gems weren't an option for Cael yet, but the chance to block attacks was still quite valuable along with an extra ability. While he was tempted to purchase this staff, the 240 INT from the other staff would almost double his current INT, as well as being boosted by his Spellcaster Trait, and based on his recent experience this could make him much more powerful. Besides, his Agility was on the lower end, so the ability to block attacks would be limited for him. Slightly hesitantly, he decided to forgo the defensive option and purchase the [Minor Arcane Staff].
This left him some gold remaining for spells. Most spells available to him were still the same, as INT from equipment didn't unlock further spell options. However, he had gained 25 stat points to invest by levelling to 21, and invested 20 of those into INT with the rest in the Constitution stat. This was enough to make two additional spell scrolls available: Flare, and Mana Beam. He was slightly pleased that they were both offensive options, although this meant that their cost was higher. They gave him an alternative to his Spark spell.
As he purchased them both for 1200 gold, the shopkeeper warned him that Flare was an elemental spell, and using any more powerful versions of the spell would require a Pyromancer subclass. Since Flare was one of the most basic elemental spells, it was available without the subclass, but if players got into the habit of using it then they might have to leave it behind if they did not choose the Pyromancer subclass. Cael wasn't yet sure which subclass he would opt for, but he felt that the need for extra alternative spells was enough to justify getting Flare. Besides, he was feeling slightly daredevil after leaving aside the staff which could block attacks. So he simply thanked the shopkeeper for the warning, and then set off to memorise the spells.
He could see why the Flare spell was considered a low-tier fire spell, as its scroll specified that it was different from a usual fireball because it only drew on thin, unstable, smoky wisps of fire. This could easily burn out or disappear as it made its way towards the opponent, but was still quite damaging at this level.
[New spell! Flare. 70 MP.]
[New spell! Mana Beam. 65 MP.]
Leaving the Alchemist's Store, he walked to the outskirts of the town and began thinking about how to solve the quest of the chicken that is not a chicken.
Thinking back, he had received the quest from an old NPC lady named Ruby Rubi who was standing by a road to the West of town. She said that she had been working at a farm to the West, but the owner had been attacked by a chicken that was out of the ordinary. While she did not say specifically that it was 'not a chicken,' the quest log apparently expects players to have understood this intuitively.
Cael was slightly taken aback at this cannibalistic chicken, that seemed, indeed, to behave more like a demon than a chicken. As he slowly crept into the building with it, he saw it turn up its head and look him in the eyes. The chicken's eyes had an aggressive, almost crazed look. Cael was contemplating a hasty retreat, but decided that running back to town without completing the quest would subject him to mockery by Jarius' Guild. Instead, he quickly cast [Meditate], to increase his ability to cast spells. Seeing this, the chicken stood up and faced him, preparing for a fight and letting out a deep hiss. Nervous, Cael decided to begin by casting Flare.
As a few strings of fire began to dance around his fingers, the chicken mockingly cackled at him. He released the spell at the chicken, and it reduced the chicken's HP to 90%. Cackling again, the chicken took a large bite out of the bleeding chicken intestines on the floor, and its HP increased back to 100%. It then used an ability of its own. As it was a boss, its skills had names that displayed when they were used. The chicken screeched loudly at Cael, and the game helpfully denoted this the [Chicken Alarm] skill. Cael suddenly became paralysed, and the chicken rushed towards him, grabbing his legs with a claw-like foot, and tossed him flat against the wall using the [Chicken Attack!] ability. Cael was now at 70% HP, slumped against the floor. He quickly aimed a [Mana Beam] at the chicken, and concentrated his mana into a beam aiming straight at the chicken. However, the chicken responded by opening its mouth and releasing a powerful ray of energy, with its [Chicken Ray] ability, and this collided with Cael's Mana Beam. Cael felt himself thrown back slightly by the impact, but the two attacks had cancelled each other out.
The chicken skipped around the building, occasionally letting out the stray 'bawk bawk.' As Cael crawled to his feet, he saw an ability name appear next to the chicken, [Massively Forced]. The chicken seemed to gather the power of the air around it, and turned it into a series of fine, sharp spikes like shattered glass, which it then flung at Cael. Cael collapsed straight to the ground at the impact, now at only 35% HP. He could barely get up, and his arms hurt as he tried to lift himself from the ground. The chicken danced around him, skipping merrily over the weakened body of its adversary and occasionally stepping on him when he tried to get up.
Cael tried another [Flare], but the chicken mockingly dispelled the wisps of flame by aiming a [Chicken Ray] at them. He knew that the chicken could have just killed him while he was down, but it seemed to be toying with him instead. This reminded him of the quest log, which spoke of a chicken that was not a chicken. He could clearly see that this chicken did not act like a chicken at all, and more like a malignant spirit that, as a poet may say, 'never wert' a bird. As he considered the failure of his new spells to do much at all to this chicken, the chicken wandered the room clucking busily as if unimpressed with Cael's performance. It occasionally eyed him, with eyes that seemed to him now hollow and vicious. As if impatient for something, it cast [Chicken Alarm] on his fallen body as he tried to get up, then walked up to him and kicked him down to the ground.
As the paralysis ended, he saw the chicken start to charge towards him. As it approached, he fell slowly to his right side and used [Mana Push] to divert its path. Due to his higher INT, the push clearly repelled the chicken away from him, and due to its trajectory it ran into the wall. This reduced it to 80% HP. However, he turned towards it to see it nonchalantly collect itself and cluck amusedly. It then looked towards him, and used [Chicken Attack!] to lightly slam him facefirst into the ground.
Cael was at 20% HP now, and had enough MP for only one or two spells. The chicken was taking its time, which helped him to regain mana due to the Meditate spell. However, he knew that another Flare or Mana Beam would probably just be deflected with a Chicken Ray. He looked in the direction of this terrifying malignance in the form of a chicken, and it looked back expectantly. Knowing that he had no other choice, he gave up on his new spells and cast [Spark] on the chicken that was not a chicken.
The sound of clucking stopped, and he saw the shape of a chicken stand still, then gradually wither onto the ground under the mana's suppression, eventually falling limp to the floor. Cael was tired, and felt almost excited to see his foe slump to the ground. It felt as if the exhaustion and torment of the battle was a black hole, and his target had fallen in first and now lay dead on the ground.
However, when he went up to the corpse of the chicken he had just downed, he saw that he was near the bright entrance to the building, facing the same chicken corpse that he had left to bleed for the sake of summoning the boss. He looked around, but saw no sign of the chicken that was not a chicken. Lightly touching the bleeding corpse of the original chicken, he could feel the sense of constriction where he had used [Spark], but none of the other furore or attacks of the battle were reflected on this chicken's body. He checked his quest log, and saw that the quest had registered as completed and the EXP from it had raised him to level 22. However, he hadn't received any additional EXP for killing the boss. For a moment, he stood still at the entrance to the makeshift coop, and looked around quizzically, overwhelmed by the mystery of the chicken that is not a chicken.
As he stepped outside and prepared to leave the farm, he heard a loud, wicked chicken cackle from inside the coop he had just left. He quickened his pace away from the building.
As he found his way - too slowly, it felt - onto the brown, dusty path towards Kruxol, he prepared to meet up with Jarius and the GildedKnights Guild, to tell them that the quest was done. He figured that he would omit the story of his encounter with the chicken that was not a chicken. But you, dear reader, have heard it, and hopefully agree that this Chicken with a Thousand Faces is the central figure of not only all storytelling, but also of all serious political philosophy.
Chapter 2: Boss Fight! The Protagonist Vs. a Chicken that is not a ChickenCael leafed through his quest log. He saw that he had completed most of the standard MMO quests for new players: kill 20 rats, deliver a potion to the Alchemist's Store, kill the rat boss, kill the chicken that is not a chicken and is rather - wait, he hadn't completed that quest. In the lowest tier of quests, there was a quest with the following task: 'Kill the chicken that is not a chicken.' It was marked incomplete.A strange task. However, before he took to questing, he sought new equipment and spells in Kruxol. Cael entered the Alchemist's Store. Looking around, he could see some tightly locked containers, probably containing high-level scrolls or equipment. He wasn't going to be looking through those just yet, however. He asked the shopkeeper what basic staffs were available, and was told, "Two are available that you may wield. One is the Minor Arcane Staff, which boosts INT by 240 but cannot block attacks. It costs 2300 gold. The other is the Adept Combat Staff, which has two slots for gems, can block enemy attacks based on your agility, and permits you to use a special ability that strikes the opponent from afar. This costs 2800 gold, the extra cost is mostly due to it having gem slots."As he said this, the shopkeeper drew out two staffs. The Minor Arcane Staff was a finely carved length of coarse wood, cylindrical and smooth on its sides. The Adept Combat Staff was more rough and uneven, with a slightly haphazard carving process. However, it contained two open slits for gems. The gems weren't an option for Cael yet, but the chance to block attacks was still quite valuable along with an extra ability. While he was tempted to purchase this staff, the 240 INT from the other staff would almost double his current INT, as well as being boosted by his Spellcaster Trait, and based on his recent experience this could make him much more powerful. Besides, his Agility was on the lower end, so the ability to block attacks would be limited for him. Slightly hesitantly, he decided to forgo the defensive option and purchase the Minor Arcane Staff.This left him some gold remaining for spells. Most spells available to him were still the same, as INT from equipment didn't unlock further spell options. However, he had gained 25 stat points to invest by levelling to 21, and invested 20 of those into INT with the rest in the Constitution stat. This was enough to make two additional spell scrolls available: Flare, and Mana Beam. He was slightly pleased that they were both offensive options, although this meant that their cost was higher. They gave him an alternative to his Spark spell.As he purchased them both for 1200 gold, the shopkeeper warned him that Flare was an elemental spell, and using any more powerful versions of the spell would require a Pyromancer subclass. Since Flare was one of the most basic elemental spells, it was available without the subclass, but if players got into the habit of using it then they might have to leave it behind if they did not choose the Pyromancer subclass. Cael wasn't yet sure which subclass he would opt for, but he felt that the need for extra alternative spells was enough to justify getting Flare. Besides, he was feeling slightly daredevil after leaving aside the staff which could block attacks. So he simply thanked the shopkeeper for the warning, and then set off to memorise the spells.He could see why the Flare spell was considered a low-tier fire spell, as its scroll specified that it was different from a usual fireball because it only drew on thin, unstable, smoky wisps of fire. This could easily burn out or disappear as it made its way towards the opponent, but was still quite damaging at this level.New spell! Flare. 70 MP.New spell! Mana Beam. 65 MP.Leaving the Alchemist's Store, he walked to the outskirts of the town and began thinking about how to solve the quest of the chicken that is not a chicken.Thinking back, he had received the quest from an old NPC lady named Ruby Rubi who was standing by a road to the West of town. She said that she had been working at a farm to the West, but the owner had been attacked by a chicken that was out of the ordinary. While she did not say specifically that it was 'not a chicken,' the quest log apparently expects players to have understood this intuitively.Cael was slightly taken aback at this cannibalistic chicken, that seemed, indeed, to behave more like a demon than a chicken. As he slowly crept into the building with it, he saw it turn up its head and look him in the eyes. The chicken's eyes had an aggressive, almost crazed look. Cael was contemplating a hasty retreat, but decided that running back to town without completing the quest would subject him to mockery by Jarius' Guild. Instead, he quickly cast Meditate, to increase his ability to cast spells. Seeing this, the chicken stood up and faced him, preparing for a fight and letting out a deep hiss. Nervous, Cael decided to begin by casting Flare.As a few strings of fire began to dance around his fingers, the chicken mockingly cackled at him. He released the spell at the chicken, and it reduced the chicken's HP to 90%. Cackling again, the chicken took a large bite out of the bleeding chicken intestines on the floor, and its HP increased back to 100%. It then used an ability of its own. As it was a boss, its skills had names that displayed when they were used. The chicken screeched loudly at Cael, and the game helpfully denoted this the Chicken Alarm skill. Cael suddenly became paralysed, and the chicken rushed towards him, grabbing his legs with a claw-like foot, and tossed him flat against the wall using the Chicken Attack! ability. Cael was now at 70% HP, slumped against the floor. He quickly aimed a Mana Beam at the chicken, and concentrated his mana into a beam aiming straight at the chicken. However, the chicken responded by opening its mouth and releasing a powerful ray of energy, with its Chicken Ray ability, and this collided with Cael's Mana Beam. Cael felt himself thrown back slightly by the impact, but the two attacks had cancelled each other out.The chicken skipped around the building, occasionally letting out the stray 'bawk bawk.' As Cael crawled to his feet, he saw an ability name appear next to the chicken, Massively Forced. The chicken seemed to gather the power of the air around it, and turned it into a series of fine, sharp spikes like shattered glass, which it then flung at Cael. Cael collapsed straight to the ground at the impact, now at only 35% HP. He could barely get up, and his arms hurt as he tried to lift himself from the ground. The chicken danced around him, skipping merrily over the weakened body of its adversary and occasionally stepping on him when he tried to get up.Cael tried another Flare, but the chicken mockingly dispelled the wisps of flame by aiming a Chicken Ray at them. He knew that the chicken could have just killed him while he was down, but it seemed to be toying with him instead. This reminded him of the quest log, which spoke of a chicken that was not a chicken. He could clearly see that this chicken did not act like a chicken at all, and more like a malignant spirit that, as a poet may say, 'never wert' a bird. As he considered the failure of his new spells to do much at all to this chicken, the chicken wandered the room clucking busily as if unimpressed with Cael's performance. It occasionally eyed him, with eyes that seemed to him now hollow and vicious. As if impatient for something, it cast Chicken Alarm on his fallen body as he tried to get up, then walked up to him and kicked him down to the ground.As the paralysis ended, he saw the chicken start to charge towards him. As it approached, he fell slowly to his right side and used Mana Push to divert its path. Due to his higher INT, the push clearly repelled the chicken away from him, and due to its trajectory it ran into the wall. This reduced it to 80% HP. However, he turned towards it to see it nonchalantly collect itself and cluck amusedly. It then looked towards him, and used Chicken Attack! to lightly slam him facefirst into the ground.Cael was at 20% HP now, and had enough MP for only one or two spells. The chicken was taking its time, which helped him to regain mana due to the Meditate spell. However, he knew that another Flare or Mana Beam would probably just be deflected with a Chicken Ray. He looked in the direction of this terrifying malignance in the form of a chicken, and it looked back expectantly. Knowing that he had no other choice, he gave up on his new spells and cast Spark on the chicken that was not a chicken.The sound of clucking stopped, and he saw the shape of a chicken stand still, then gradually wither onto the ground under the mana's suppression, eventually falling limp to the floor. Cael was tired, and felt almost excited to see his foe slump to the ground. It felt as if the exhaustion and torment of the battle was a black hole, and his target had fallen in first and now lay dead on the ground.However, when he went up to the corpse of the chicken he had just downed, he saw that he was near the bright entrance to the building, facing the same chicken corpse that he had left to bleed for the sake of summoning the boss. He looked around, but saw no sign of the chicken that was not a chicken. Lightly touching the bleeding corpse of the original chicken, he could feel the sense of constriction where he had used Spark, but none of the other furore or attacks of the battle were reflected on this chicken's body. He checked his quest log, and saw that the quest had registered as completed and the EXP from it had raised him to level 22. However, he hadn't received any additional EXP for killing the boss. For a moment, he stood still at the entrance to the makeshift coop, and looked around quizzically, overwhelmed by the mystery of the chicken that is not a chicken.As he stepped outside and prepared to leave the farm, he heard a loud, wicked chicken cackle from inside the coop he had just left. He quickened his pace away from the building.As he found his way - too slowly, it felt - onto the brown, dusty path towards Kruxol, he prepared to meet up with Jarius and the GildedKnights Guild, to tell them that the quest was done. He figured that he would omit the story of his encounter with the chicken that was not a chicken. But you, dear reader, have heard it, and hopefully agree that this Chicken with a Thousand Faces is the central figure of not only all storytelling, but also of all serious political philosophy.
