The horned goats are all moving erratically, all of them are clearly stressed and afraid, but they are not making any sound. Unlike normal goats they are eerily silent, their mouths closed shut, the only noise they are producing is from the movement of their bodies.

There are almost 50 of them, all crowded together lightly touching their horns together. I can see the horns vibrating and I feel something from it, like a soothing emotion. Maybe they don’t have language, but can instead express their feelings better than most animals?

They look pretty similar to most goats, though a lot bigger, and their fur coats seem to be only shades of gray. The fur around their neck and head also seems thicker than the rest of their bodies. Though their most impressive characteristic is their horns. All of the goats have very long horns, slightly longer than their own bodies. The horn points straight forwards and is spiraled, it comes out of the top of their head, it seems they do not grow normal goat horns at all. Most of them are Level 20 or so, with one exception.

Spiral Stone Goat Lv36

A magical species of goat that can live both underground and on the surface. Extremely hardy, these goats can go for months without food or water, surviving only on mana. Their spiral horns are great at manipulating stone, metal and earth.

One of the goats sees my specter, its eyes go wide. A vibrating horn hits the ground and this time I feel its message clear, a warning of danger. The goats all stop and turn to stare directly at my specter, the goat once again strikes the ground, this time the message is a bit more confusing, something like…’explore’ or ‘verify’?

Seven goats move apart from the herd and level their horns against my specter. The rest of said herd turns back and starts to hit and prod the stone wall with their horns.

This is a little irritating. I am interested and want to help these little goats live, but if they think of my undead as enemies that might be a little difficult. The seven goats start to stomp the ground and their horns start to vibrate so hard it actually produces sound, something eerily similar to a flying wasp or a drill.

I can see the goats behind are also vibrating their horns, though much quieter, they seem to be tapping the stone, maybe some form of echolocation or seismic sense?

Merlin is going to their location, but it's going to take a while, unlike the specters he needs a pretty big open passage. Asterion is going on ahead, but unlike Merlin, I don’t think he can really communicate with the goats.

One of the goats stabs its horn in the ground, the motion surprisingly smooth, then it rears its head upwards, shooting a bunch of rocks at my specter.

Now, normally, rocks or most physical stuff is not a problem for an incorporeal undead. They can just move through it, the exception is physical stuff that is warded or extremely rich in mana, such as the rock walls all around us. My incorporeal undead simply goes back into a crevice in the wall to dodge the attack, but he can’t stay there forever. I want to try and herd these goats, closer to me.

The specter comes out of the crevice, the goats seem to have expected this because they all shove their horns into the ground and start to stomp on the ground harder. My specter then simply points back at the crevice, similar to how you point at a toy you want your dog to bite, multiple times.

I can see through their eye motion that they seem to recognize the gesture. Pointing at something is a thing a lot of animals can’t seem to fully understand. I expected that these goats would, especially with their huge straight horns, and it seems I am right.

Their horns vibrate again, this time there are multiple meanings, though most have to do with ‘deceit‘ and ‘trap’. Then it changes to ‘ally’ and ‘enemy’, then it goes back to trap again, but this time it seems slightly different? I can tell that the rest of the herd has also come to a conclusion, they are also signaling ‘enemy’ and ‘hunt‘.

I’m pretty sure there are pieces of the conversation I am not fully getting, but it seems that they have come to a conclusion. The ones in the front point, using their horns while looking at my specter.

My undead goes inside the crack in the wall and the goats follow shortly after. It's quite a thing seeing them work the stone so closely, my undead can see the mana working within their horns, enlarging this narrow crevice into a large opening for 50 goats to pass through.

The goats are moving in a line, three goats up front leading the way. The ones in the front start by making a hole only large enough for them to pass through, more of a corridor really, then the ones behind make it slightly larger for the rest of the group to pass through. At the very back there are seven goats, who are actually closing the tunnel slightly behind the rest of the goats.

We keep moving for a little while, my undead leading them to Asterion, who’s making a tunnel towards them.

Shortly before they meet I tell my undead to stop moving and turn to the goats. My specter does so, turning towards the goats and opening their hands wide, the goats stop. I can tell it’s because the specter stopped moving, not because they got the gesture.

The goats immediately close in on themselves, forming something similar to a phalanx. The very first line touches their horns to the ground and I can see their signals to each other. ‘Movement’, ‘approach‘ and ‘one’, it seems they can tell Asterion is coming. It is interesting to see that while the first line has their horns down, the very second is covering them with their own, and as soon as Asterion is close enough the goats that are about to face him lift their horns up.

Asterion breaks through the ground, his huge horns and claws the first thing you see. The goats all seem slightly nervous, their body tensing up, their horns vibrating and their hooves striking the ground.

And then, suddenly, I can understand them better. Not exactly me, rather Asterion can understand them better.

Their vibrations, both on their horns and on the ground, carry a lot more information than my specter realized. Asterion, however, works with stone a lot and can tell these vibrations apart.

“Just one?” One of the goats says.

“Just this one. There may be more incorporeals or more enemies outside of our range.”

I tell Asterion and the specter to point to the tunnel, the one leading closer to Merlin, who I hope can talk to them.

“Should we go? Our enemy is still following us.”

“How can we know it’s friendly? It may still be a trap.” Another goat one answers.

I tell Asterion to try and communicate with them. Now Asterion has never vibrated to try and communicate, but as an undead he does have a bigger control of his body than a living thing might have. He should be able to do an approximation, though he will not be able to do anything too complex.

I go back to their conversation and pass it to Asterion, hopefully he can imitate it well enough. He puts his hand on the ground and vibrates it, trying to say ‘ally’.

What comes out makes quite a bit of sense, in that this is technically Asterion’s first words. He sounds like a baby trying to speak, meaning it makes basically no sense. It did grab the attention of the goats though, they all stop and stare at Asterion.

They clearly understood that as an attempt at communication. They all start talking about it, mostly wondering if they heard it right and Asterion was actually trying to say something.

Asterion for his part, covers his face with his huge claws, very embarrassed. I try to tell him it was a good enough attempt, but it's drowned out by the discussion of the goats.

Asterion had enough though, he puts his hands on the ground and tries again.

Now, imagine a baby’s first word, now imagine as the baby is about to speak it gets stage fright. That’s kind of what this attempt sounded like.

Asterion gets up, now doubly embarrassed and runs back. The specter points at him and the goats start discussing.

“Should we follow?”

“I don’t like this.“

“This is better, even if it’s an enemy. It can’t eat, while the other one can burn us.”

With that they seem to have come to an agreement and follow Asterion. Hopefully Merlin can talk to them.