It was a wind-swept plain in Northern Therilon. Two lonely cowherds stood there, wrapped in furs, watching over their herd of cows.
"It's awful cold this time o' year," said one cowherd.
"Yup." said the other.
"It's awful boring, standing around here watching these cows eat."
"Yup."
"What say we play a few quick games of dice?"
"Yup."
"You got any dice?"
"Nope."
"Then I guess we can't play dice."
"Nope."
There was a long silence. The wind picked up, sweeping across the plain. One cow mooed piteously before lowering her head and continuing to eat.
Suddenly, a serpent-like monster, bleeding ferociously, materialized with a howl high up in the air. It crashed to the ground among the cows, who moved out of the way to give it room. After recovering from the shock of its landing, the beast began running frantically in the direction of the city of Masaoc. The cows, after the initial burst of excitement, returned to their job of eating.
"You see that?"
"Yup."
"That was some kind of monster, eh?"
"Yup."
"I've heard there's good eating on one of them things."
"Yup."
"What say we chase after it a bit, see if we can kill it?"
"Yup."
"Stab it with a sword, maybe?"
"Yup."
"You got a sword?"
"Nope."
There was another long silence.
"Then I guess it's just potatoes for dinner again, eh?"
"Yup."
"Unless we kill one of these here cows."
"Yup."