"So, what do you remember from before you fell from the sky?" The knight asks as they step over the first hill, the obelisk already in sight a few hills over.

The shepherd answers in a cavalier way. "I was tending to a flock of sheep right outside of the city. One moment I'm petting a little lamb, the next, bam! Black and white. Why do you ask?"

"I was curious if there was some kind of connecting thread, or something you noticed that I didn't. The only real connection I see is that we were near animals at the time, which is rather weak." The knight is frowning as she tries to find any crumb of evidence in her memory pointing to any direction whatsoever.

But nothing springs to mind, so she turns to finding out more about her travel companion.

"So are you a shepherd by trade?"

The shepherd lets out a disdainful huff of air as if the idea itself is absurd. "God no, I'm not one of those types who chooses to live life the hard way. The sheep herding is therapy that's turned into a hobby. Otherwise I just hang with friends, go out into nature, read, do whatever really." He follows his words with a shrug, as if the things he does aren't that fun to him.

"How about you? What's up with the armor?"

The knight frowns at his answer, new questions springing to mind as he confuses her further.

"I'm a knight of the Velrun Order, we're duty-bound to slay creatures wherever they harm the common folk. I like to read too, in what little spare time I have."

"The Velrun Order? Is that like, a re-enactment thing or something?"

The two stare at each other, the confusion is palpable.

The knight breaks the stalemate.

"I… you've… never heard of the Velrun Order?"

The incredulous look on the knight's face rouses some anger in the shepherd, anger that tinges his voice. "Why should I know of some stupid re-enactment group? The only order I know is the Sacred Order of the Sun."

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The knight opens her mouth to speak but thinks better of it, settling on

"Never mind."

The shepherd stares after her, frowning but shaking it off as he re-focuses on their current objective: the obelisk which they've now arrived at.

The obelisk is set in the middle of a small valley, as far as there are valleys when talking about hills. The entire thing is made of sandstone, and about 2 meters tall, decorated by carvings. At the base of the obelisk there is a very small basin that is currently being inspected by the knight. At the base of the obelisk there are small holes connecting to the basin.

The shepherd knocks on the obelisk with his crook, sounding out a hollow tock.

"What the fuck is an obelisk doing here? It's gotta be significant somehow right?" The shepherd just looks over the obelisk as the knight inspects it further, only giving him a short glance when he speaks but not replying.

The knight works long enough on the obelisk that the shepherd grows bored. Which happens to be somewhat of a blessing, as he notices the goopy black abomination flying toward him at high speed.

The red glowing eyes are the only thing that make it distinct from the backdrop of the sky. The shepherd before wouldn't have been able to react in time. The current shepherd quickly takes a stance, grabbing his crook in two hands, steps slightly to the side and slams out with a thoroughly loud whack, hitting the beast squarely between the eyes.

And although it's body seems to be made of greasy goopy darkness that's only barely keeping its shape, the strike does not manage to destroy it.

As it composes itself, numerous webbed tendrils righting themselves. A mouth opens wide, revealing a whirling mass of teeth. Numerous new red eyes open over its body and with a loud hiss-

WHACK

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK

WHACK

Impact after impact, strike after strike, destroy whatever cohesion was keeping this creature together. Tentacles get crushed, red eyes wink out. Flesh is deformed and eventually the thing collapses into black goop, losing any semblance of its previous form.

The shepherd is breathing hard as he stares at the corpse of the thing. The knight, who was ready to throw down only to see the shepherd turn the thing into mush, calls out a quick warning.

"Behind you!"

The shepherd turns to find three more beasts hovering above the hill, their eyes focused on the man that killed their sibling.