When Hyacinth comes home to her new apartment for the first time after a long day at university, it's to the sight of moving bots just finishing dropping off the last of her stuff and moving furniture into place. The full-immersion VR pod her parents gave her is safely hooked up in the pod room, her bed is in her bedroom, she has chairs and a desk and some bookshelves. Clothes are mostly still in boxes, waiting to be hung up in the closet. Holovid and a cozy chair occupy the living room. She doesn't have any food in the small kitchen yet.
Hyacinth goes down to all fours, holding her staff close on to her body.
"Okay," she says softly. "Demonic goats, soon to be encountered."
She shimmies up to the ridge's edge and looks over.
Hailey scoots along the ridge next to her, just far enough to easily avoid touching.
Down below them are a herd of about fifteen goats. Their eyes are red, their horns are black, and black veins are visible along any exposed skin.
"Goats," Hyacinth mutters. "Why did they have to be goats."
She looks over at Hailey. "Normally I'd start casting and hope to force them around the ridge, but they'll almost definitely just come right up it. Getting caught in the middle of that herd sounds like a bad time."
She taps her fingers together. "If we use the ridge I can throw them back down it with Repel, but not if you're right next to me. It's an omnidirectional burst, it'll toss you just as much as them. If I set up Glue and fire on the approach we might be okay, but overall this is tricky. Have any ideas?"
"Bothered by goats?", she asks with a raised eyebrow. "As for the plan, if we time it right I can take advantage of your repel for an extra boost to launch me past them. I'll pull demon-mode out and jump off just before you cast, then pin them against the ridge."
"Just bothered by the climbing skills they've got as goats. This'd be easy if they couldn't come up the ridge."
She concentrates. "I want to lay Glue down first. Ready in case they spot it?"
She summons and flares her wings, horns arcing over her head, tail twisting out behind her, complexion washing out, then braces to be ready to leap.
"Ready."
She casts, laying down the slowing field on the approach to the ridge. She makes sure to exempt Hailey from it as well.
Glue is not a very flashy or loud spell, but it's not invisible. A couple goats wander toward the field to check it out, bleating cautiously.
She focuses, aims for the main mass of goats, and throws a Flare right into the most densely packed area.
Much angry and panicked bleating ensues! They flee away from the fire, and charge toward the adventurers as the obvious source of the attack! Most of them get stalled in the glue field, but a few started far enough out that their path toward the ridge takes them just outside the edges of it. Those few start up the ridge toward Hyacinth and Hailey.
Just at the goats start getting close enough to almost reach them, Hailey leaps out, wings spread wide.
She swirls her staff and tosses off the Repel Hailey needs for her launch, then quickly assesses the situation. All goats accounted for, can she toss a Flare into the ones stuck in the Glue?
The goats who'd been approaching get blasted off the ridge and land in the Glue field. A couple are struggling closer to the edge of the field, but not out of it yet.
Hailey soars out over the Glue and then dives down toward the near edge of the initial Flare.
Eat Flare, evil goats.
She hurls it at the front rank, the ones most likely to break through.
More panicked bleating and struggling ensues. The front half of the herd all catch fire as the field of flames spread around and ahead of them.
Meanwhile, Hailey darts forward, wreathing her blade in lightning. She stabs sharply into the back few goats, which stumble to the ground as their muscles spasm. A quick leap and some hard flaps bring her up the ridge, where she does the same to the lead goats in the fire. Would the goats like to have an even harder time escaping the flames?
Easy enough. She can just stand back and lob more selective Glue and Flares at the bunched-up pack. She watches her mana, but so far she's comfortable.
She kind of feels sorry for the poor goats.
Hailey darts back and forth through the goats, dodging slowed headbutts and cutting them open. Occasionally she switches to lightning for a burst of disabling stabs, but otherwise she keeps her shadow cutter going.
This is not a situation that bodes well for these corrupted goats. They quickly start dying.
Well, that seems to be well enough in hand. She'll lob another Flare and then take a moment to scan the area. Hopefully nothing has been attracted by screaming goats.