Far above the world, with a horizon of twisted pillars, howling winds and flying dragons there stood a castle. The sun stood over it, basking it in its warmth but there was no one to savour the moment. The castle was empty, devoid of life, save for a lone figure. In the courtyard there stood a throne, and on it sat the Dragon God.

---

"DRAGON GOD!" A war cry resounded through the castle. Its source was a warrior, he bore extremely ornate armour and a sword that looked like it could cut boulders as if they were butter. Behind him stood other figures also opulently equipped. There stood a mage, a cleric, an archer and an assassin, all formidable, all out for blood. They stood amongst the ruins of a large stone door, the warrior drew another breath. "WE CHALLENGE YOU!"

The shout was loud enough for several nearby dragons to take notice, the archer saw them from a distance and put his hand to his bowstring nervously. But the dragons simply perched on the castle walls, as if to watch the spectacle. On the throne, the figure stirred. He opened his eyes.

"Who dares to disturb the slumber of the Dragon God?" A deep and melodious growl emerged from his intimidating face mask, and the party in front of him readied their weapons. "It would seem you are aware of the consequences of your actions." He continued. The party tightened their grips on their weapons and swallowed nervously. "But it seems you must be taught what it means to be, the 'Dragon God'." At that, his presence magnified until it turned into an aura of pure terror, that seemed to speak to their very souls.

Arcane Spell Failure chance increased by 90%!

Sword Skill Failure chance increased by 80%!

Resistance reduced by 50%!

These were but only some of the things that appeared before the party. Without another word, he suddenly disappeared from his throne and appeared behind the Warrior. His gauntleted fist crashed into the Warrior's back with the force of a battering ram, shattering the armour he was so proud of and leaving him paralysed. The cleric desperately tried to spit out a spell, but it failed due to the effect of his fear. The archer attempted a shot but he was already beside him, snatching the arrow out of the air as soon as it left his fingers.

He snapped the arrow, then the bow, then the archer followed a little bit afterwards. As the archer faded from existence, the assassin attempted to strike his back with all of her strength.

Weapon broken! Maximum durability reduced.

The dagger bent and snapped against his back, he turned around and cut down the assassin with his claws before she realized what had happened. The Mage and the Cleric, seeing the death of their friends and their chances of victory, they turned and fled towards the broken gate of the courtyard. He let them go.

He approached the helpless warrior, raising his claws to strike.

"You are so utterly foolish." He said.

A few seconds later, the warrior faded into grey light.

---

Kosuke took off his face mask with a sigh.

"Damn it." He said, the deep melodious voice had changed to a rather normal one. "I need a new door."

He looked at the wreckage of his door. It had been a gift from some dwarves he'd done a quest for, and that last party had gone and cut it to pieces. He'd even made it openable, those jerks. He sifted through his menus and quickly unequipped his 'Dragon God' equipment and put on something more comfortable.

"Whatever, guess I'll just do with that for the time being." He muttered.

He typed out a message.

To: Koumi(@Urbanliner)
Subject: I need a door

Some guys went in and busted the door in my castle, can you come down and make another one? Also, I've got a pretty interesting quest if you're down for it.

From: Datze

"May as well ask the others as well." He said.

To: Don’ttouchmyfood(@Lord Santa)
Subject: Got a good quest

I've got a good quest that may or may not involve some interesting cooking, come to the castle if you're interested.

From: Datze

To: Katherine(@Pyromania99)
Subject: Interesting quest

I've got an interesting quest if you want it. Bring some polymorph potions, we'll probably be needing them.

From: Datze

To: Nacht(@Liar)
Subject: A quest

I know you're definitely not busy right now because I haven't heard you conquering anything recently. I've got an interesting quest so you better come.

From: Datze

To: Momo_Hime(@karamonnom)
Subject: May or may not need your help

I have a pretty interesting quest and a bard would help. Come to the castle if you're interested.

From: Datze

To: Bonum(@onenote)
Subject: Your help would be appreciated

I've got an interesting quest that would benefit from some high Charisma. Come to the castle if you want in.

From: Datze

To: Erezin(@The ghost in black)
Subject: Got something for you

I found a quest that you may or may not end up enjoying. Come to the castle if you want in.

From: Datze

To: Grayliks(@Zetsuko)
Subject: Stop raiding for once

Yo, you raid too much. Do a quest with us for once.

From: Datze

"There we go." He said, "Hopefully they'll be here soon."

As Ao was observing the surroundings from a large towering black pillar with the top being covered by some clouds, a mage has made his way to the top of the tower probably exhausting his MP to do so, before tapping the girl observing the surroundings.
"Hey, wanna go on a quest with me?" The mage said playfully, but with a more perverted thought within.
In response, the queen shook her head, before standing up and looking straight at the mage, with a serious look on her face. "No, I don't go on a quest with someone I don't know."
She then looked away from her, observing the surroundings. "Then you'll suffer." The mage said in a cold tone, pushing the girl off the pillar. However, she was apparently encased by a large white pillar, with some windows. "Dammit, I can't land on it because it's too fast..." The mage muttered, looking at the pillar.
Meanwhile at the ground, the white pillar almost landed on the ground, before disappearing into thin air, ejecting the queen from a safe height. She then looked at the colossal tower, and muttered. "If the mage is willing to harm a queen.... he deserves to be harmed." She then snapped a finger, and the tower suddenly disappeared into thin air. She looked up, and found a human figure falling from the skies.
She dashed over to where the person should fall, and waited for a moment, before the person fell to the ground. She found out that the person that fell from the skies was the guy who tried to push her off from the tower. "Ran out of MP, didn't you? I hope someone finds you before someone loots from you." The queen said harshly to the mage, before walking to a nearby village.
While walking to the village, she noticed a message from one of people she trusts in game, Datze, the Dragon God.

To: Koumi
Subject: I need a door

Some guys went in and busted the door in my castle, can you come down and make another one? Also, I've got a pretty interesting quest if you're down for it.

From: Datze

"The repair part is a easy job for me, and I'm always eager for any quests." Ao muttered, checking her inventory to confirm she is ready for quests. She then typed out a response.

To: Datze
Subject: Re: I need a door

That seems like a easy thing to do, and I'm always eager for any quests. Will be at the the front of the castle soon.

From: Koumi

Koumi then jumped, before being encased in a shiny yellow rectangular pillar with windows on it. The pillar started it's flight to the castle, aimed to land in front of the castle.

This post has been moved down somewhere.

"Bam. Bzzt. Wappa wappa wappa." Katherine muttered as she controlled all of her dolls. She had found a new dungeon, one she hadn't seen before at least. Some of the dolls used "Ray of Flame" others shot out "Prismatic Orbs". Easy enough of a dungeon, really. So easy there was not really anything of value inside when she cleared it.

"What did I expect? Finding one of the last Havos Rings? Yea right." Katherine complained to one her dolls. She made it nod its head and pat her on the shoulder. "Thanks, Doll 217." She sighed and wondered what to do next. "Might as well just go 'home' for now." With a snap of her finger the girl and all of the thirty dolls with her disappeared from sight only to appear a half minute later back at the newly built "Doll Workshop."

There the remaining of her dolls stay, working, cleaning, sitting around, whatever they were set to do really. It was also here that her Doll Crafting Table was. With little else to do, "Dolls Fifty through Seventy, those of you still operational, front and center." Six or seven dolls, all similar looking appeared in front of her after a few seconds. "Any blemishes?" Katherine asked. The dolls all nodded, "No? Good. Durability. . . 57 and 60 stay here. Rest of you are free." The outside of the dolls looked fine, but the insides on these two are a different story. It was nothing difficult to fix. In fact it was over in just a few seconds. "Ok, you two are good to go. Just some loose joints it seems."

The two started to float off waving goodbye as they went back to their work. Katherine just watched as they went back to what they were programmed. "Ok, so now. . ." Bleep bleep. "A message? Whatsit say. . . interesting quest if you want it. Bring some polymorph potions?" Polymorph potions. Not something she kept on stock often. She had to look at her stash. "Umm. . . I have two of them. What do we even need these for? I'd imagine Datze would just eat his way through everything."

"200 throught 220, with me." The group of dolls floated over to Katherine, "It's easier to just talk in person than with a message." With a snap of her fingers again she disappeared from her Workshop and reappeared in the Castle of Datze. "Such a useful ability with these items. "Yoooooo, Datze. I know you're here. I mean, anytime I need to talk to you you're here, so I can't imagine you calling me out would be anything different." Not that she ever really needed to talk to him. Something felt wrong with it though. . . The door was missing! "Nice door. Remodeling?"

"We should have just not come!" A particularly low-level ranger whispered to a particularly low-level paladin from where they hid in a ditch as the giant ogre stomped around looking for them.
"I have to get it back though! He'll be here!" The paladin whispered back, hopeful.
"He's not coming you mo-" the ranger started to say when the ogre finally found them and picked the ranger up. "ACK!"
The paladin stood frozen, unsure of what to do, when suddenly there's a white blur and the arm that was holding the ranger up was suddenly cut off from the ogre. The paladin looked over and saw who she had been waiting for.

"You called?" Bonum asked with a smile before the ogre let out a yell and charged at him. "Hold that thought." he told the two low-level players before also running at the ogre, taking a running jump and slamming the point of his blade into the ogre's head. Without a sound the ogre started to fall back, disappearing in a light grey light, leaving behind an ancient looking book. Bonum bent down and picked it up. "This is what you asked me what to help get back, right?" He asked as he went over and helped the ranger up.

"Oh my gosh! You did it! Yes!" The paladin squealed happily, jumping up and down as her companion just glared at her.

Bonum smiled as he handed her the book. "This must be really important to you to risk going into a high-level area for it."

"My sister has been looking for this! I couldn't wait to give it to her, and then those jerks took it and put it into this area!" The paladin huffed.

"Don't worry, I'll have a talk with them later. Now we better get you two back to town before anything else comes out." Bonum said as he pulled out a teleportation scroll set to the closest town and used it on them..

"Thanks again!" The paladin said happily as she and the ranger disappeared in a flash.

Bonum smiled, and then he noticed he received a message from someone on his friends list. He quickly pulled up his menu and pulled up the message. "Now lets see what you sent Datze...a quest huh? It's been a bit since I've went on a quest with any of them. It'd be nice to...yeah! I will!" Bonum said to himself as he quickly replied back that he would be there shortly. He pulled out another telportation scroll, this one set on Datze's castle. One flash later and he was standing before the doors of the castle...or he would be if the castle still had a door left...

"This is why I don't have a castle." Bonum sighed as went inside. Usually he would know but since that wasn't an option, he called inside as soon as he entered. "Datze? You still fighting the guys that did this?" He asked, it was highly unlikly though. That's when he noticed Kathrine was there as well. "Oh, hey there Kathrine! Datze invited you over too?" Then something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned to see a yellow shiny yellow pillar land in the courtyard. "And Ao too! Though I guess thats for door repairing."

Grayliks was gazing off a cliff at the scene before him, he was in one of the high-level areas and had just beaten a mini-boss in the area a moment ago, it was a dangerous area but it had great scenery. he looked on for another minute before turning around to continue on when he received a message about the same time that a group of players came out the trees into the clearing.

the party consisted of a Knight, a Healer, a Mage, a Fighter, a Cleric, and a Crossbowman. they spread out the knight was in the middle with the fighter and cleric moving to either side, their mage and crossbowman were close behind them ready to use ranged attacks and the healer was a safe distance away waiting to buff and heal his allies, an then the knight spoke

"Grayliks, we challenge you to a duel"

Grayliks simply looked at them for a moment before responding...

"...I refuse"

and with that he used a portal scroll and opened a portal to the nearest town and closing it when he went through, leaving the knight standing there with a shocked expression, then he opened the massage from Datze. he laughed a bit at it and got his portal scroll out again an opened a portal to just outside Datze's castle and stepped through.

He looked back at the wrecked doors as he walked through them, looking forward again he noticed Bonum and Katherine "oh hey Bonum, Katherine" he looked over at the pillar landing in the courtyard "so Koumi's here too"

"I can't hit her!" One of the archers called to the rest of his group just before getting sent flying back towards a wall and dying. "Three down three to go" Erezin said as she stopped in front of the warrior that was fighting for this group and side-stepped his repeated swings of his broadsword. As the warrior swung her sword mages off to the sides began healing her, though it didn't help since Erezin activated "Road Connection" stopping the warrior in her track with paralysis and taking chunks out of the mages health with the burn status. "I... can't...move!" The warrior said before a fist went through her chest and she disappeared in a flash of light; after the light faded Erezin turned to face the one of the mages with lightning in her eyes "You're next”

The message from Datze popped up while Erezin was ripping the arms off of the last mage with a tornado. "A quest huh? I don't have anything else to do so why not" she said before she began running towards the Dragon God's castle leaving the lone mage to crawl away. As Erezin ran the wind picked up and created a walkway for her to reach the castle as it was high in the air. The wind path ended at the busted gate of Datze's castle and she stopped with a burst of wind following soon after. When the air settled she looked around noticing her trusted friends there as well and waved. Quickly walking over to Bonum Erezin slapped him on the back with a smile "how are you my fellow Paladin?".@onenote

Himeko was sitting in her peaceful cottage, checking all of her messages, there were at least fifty of them for her to go through. Half of them were requests for her help while the other half were more perverted in nature. She took the time to politely reject those who have asked for her help and apologized for not showing any interest. She deleted the others with no empathy. Then one message caught her attention. It was from the Dragon God himself, which was a pretty rare occurrence since he normally does not need a bard.

To: Momo_Hime(@karamonnom)
Subject: May or may not need your help

I have a pretty interesting quest and a bard would help. Come to the castle if you're interested.

From: Datze

"He may or may not need my help?" she chuckled lightly. "Well, since it is him, I'll accept."

To: Datze (@RoflsMazoy)
Subject: Re: May or may not need your help

Can't you just say you want me to come? I know you do~
Anyhow, I'm interested, so see you soon!

From: Momo_Hime

She got her equipment ready and pulled out a portal scroll that would take her to the castle. When she arrived, she saw that most of the gang was already here. "Hi everyone!" she greeted cheerfully. "This is kind of fun. It's been a while since we all went on a quest together, it's like a reunion of some sort."

She saw the busted door and smiled with understanding. "I see someone tried to mess with our beloved Dragon God, I can only imagine the fate they received for ruining such a perfectly good door."

"Why do people keep trying to message me? They know I'm busy." Food-kun mumbled.

As usual, he had a slew of messages from other players, most along the lines of challenges and complaints. Food-kun was the legendary master chef, immortal cooking legend. A post envied by pretty much everyone, but no one knew how much grief it brought him.

Fame cost him more than most people knew. Lots of people who knew his name meant lots of people who messaged him every single day.

To: Donttouchmyfood
Subject: Challenge!

I am the true iron chef! Fight me in a cooking battle!

To: Donttouchmyfood
Subject: Commission

I require the services of the best chef in the world. I want you to make a meal for me. I will give you 1 million gold for it.

To: Donttouchmyfood
Subject: ****

U **** SCRUB U STOL MY KIL
U WOT M8
1V1 ME RITE NAOW U **** **** ****

He began typing out a letter he'd typed out a million times before.

To: Whoever

I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but due to my current workload, I am currently unable to accept any requests. If it is an urgent matter, please see me personally. If I am not in my kitchen in the fairy forest, I may be in the Hydra pit, Dragon cave, Hell, Chimera den, or some other yet undiscovered hunting ground.

May this letter find you in good health.

Also, to any repeat recipients, please stop sending me messages.

He did this for every message in his inbox. It may have taken longer than people would appreciate, but in the end, he was a teacher. He appreciated some formality and he was very business-like when dealing with people. Even though he had a series of messages from people on his friends list as well, he automatically typed the same message.

To: Don’ttouchmyfood
Subject: Got a good quest

I've got a good quest that may or may not involve some interesting cooking, come to the castle if you're interested.

“To Datze. Due to my current workload…” Food-kun muttered as he typed out the message.

He sent the reply without any second thoughts. After all of the messages were gone from the inbox, he stretched. It was time for him to work.

“Hmm…” Food-kun said, checking his inventory. “My shipments are missing.”

He then recalled a message he’d replied to earlier, about how his shipment got stolen by some guild looking for him. The message was from the guild itself, commanding that he join their guild and cook for them in order for his shipments to be returned. It happened quite often, really. His cooking gave incredible stat bonuses, and everyone wanted his meals.

Some would say that it was a waste of his cooking skills to not share it, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to be the best chef in the world, he just wanted to eat tasty food.

“Looks like it’s time to collect.” Food-kun said, getting up.

-------------------------------------------------

“Where is that bastard…” The guild leader said.

His guild was the black wolves, one of the strongest guilds in the game. A proud and ruthless bunch, they were based in a massive stone fortress, cultivated by the hard work of the guild members. But they always wanted to be stronger, and they happened on a shipment of spices headed over to the legendary chef.

“He’ll have no choice but to join us now…” Guild leader said.
Suddenly, massive explosion was heard outside. The guild leader rushed out onto the terrace and saw smoke coming out of the fortress’s front gate. Made of cast iron, none of the guild could imagine it being destroyed, but there was a massive hole in the gate.

“Hello, all.” Food-kun said, emerging from the dust. “I’m here to collect my spices.”

“He’s here! Kill him! Kill him!” The guild members said, panicking.

The archers shot their arrows and the mages shot their spells, kicking up a dust cloud.

“Stop, stop, stop!” The guild leader called down.

He didn’t want to kill him; he just wanted him to join their guild. The guild members waited anxiously for the dust to settle, to see the result of their work. Suddenly, a cleaver came out of nowhere, smashing into the guild leader’s face, instantly killing the high-level tank.

“It’s you, isn’t it? Hurry up and gimme my spices.” Food-kun said calmly, walking out of the dust.

“Hekilled the leader!” One of the mages cried “Kill him!”

Food-kun dashed close to the falling leader’s body. His hand gained a metallic sheen and it darted into the leader’s chest before coming out covered in blood. In his hands was the leader’s heart. He began chewing on it as he was showered in arrows and spells.

For eating the heart of a vicious warrior, your stats have improved.

Maximum health increased by 100,000
100% of health has been restored.
+20 to Strength, Dexterity and Vitality.
+50 to endurance.

Effects last for a day.

“Hm. Chewy.” Food-kun said.

The leader’s heart wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t exactly great. He’d had better hearts, of course, but it wasn’t bad.

As he ate with one hand, he took the cleaver in the other and started swinging away. With every swing, he’d take another life. He ignored the items they dropped as it would be rude to take them.

He soon began killing every member that was attacking him, but he chose to ignore those who ran away. Food-kun continued into the stone fortress, breaking the walls in his way.

------------------------------------------

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck…” The second in command said.

The second in command, a powerful mage, regretted his decision to try recruiting Food-kun, the immortal iron chef. Food-kun was out there butchering everyone in sight, and the second in command could be next.

Second in command was grabbing everything he could from the storage house, before the wall burst open. Sunlight streamed in and Food-kun was revealed in all of his bloody glory.

Second in command shrunk away from his fearsome form, but Food-kun ignored him. He began rummaging through the storage stuff, looking for his spices.

“Ah.” Food-kun said.

He’d found his spices!

Pocketing his entire shipment of spices, he swiftly walked out of the hole in the wall he’d made, leaving a perplexed second in command in his wake.

--------------------------------------------

“All spices accounted for.” Food-kun said, taking inventory.

He walked slowly through the wrecked compound, through holes he’d dug himself.

“Guess I should do that quest that was found the other day.” Food-kun said.

He walked away slowly from the smoking, destroyed fortress of the once proud black wolves guild.

Before the Night's Conquest of Caevum, there had once been a luxurious reception room in the monarch's castle where the king invited dignitaries to converse to them on a more personal level than what the throne room offered. It was a beautiful room, plastered with the finest decorations money could afford with a large, spacious balcony that allowed a view overlooking the city. No doubt it was to demonstrate the splendor of Caevum.

However, since Nacht took the castle for his own purpose, he converted the room from its original goal of diplomacy to that of war. No longer was there majestic paintings or marbles of world-renowned artists and fabrics of the most beautiful silk and cloth. Instead he commissioned for a long table with the map of the known world carved onto its surface. It sat in the center of the room. At the head of the table was a throne for him to sit upon facing the city of Caevum below his castle, raised only slightly to subtly show that he was above everything like a judging deity.

It was in this very room where he gathered his subordinates and discussed war.

A majority of his subordinates currently in the room with him were non-playable characters. Though they were only artificial intelligence, they had been with him since he began playing. Nacht valued their loyalty and they were much smarter than most players would think. They had a keen mind for military matters. From experience, a majority of player characters were just awful when it came to planning and strategy. If anything, they were more like brutes who wanted to use force to get things done. He didn't need those kind of people in high positions.

"We've recently inducted some new recruits into our ranks," said Connor, formerly a spearman in his original army until they expanded. He was a veteran despite his seemingly young appearance. "They're plenty strong, but they're making a ruckus about their positions. They think just because they're powerful that it means they can just move up the ranks rather quickly."

Nacht smiled, an action hidden by his helm. There were many high-leveled players joining him because they wanted to loot and pillage. They had the gall to demand higher positions. Many didn't deserve it.

Before he could speak, a player in the meeting spoke up, "They just want a bit of action. We've been having trouble with Seathia lately, right? Just send them over to burn the farmland that surrounds the city. We can try to starve out the population there."

Connor frowned. "True. Various guilds use Seathia as their base of operations, making efforts to capture it ineffective because of the strength of those adventurers. Starving them would have the leadership of the city surrender to us eventually."

"You," Nacht said, glancing over to the player that made the suggestion. "What's your name?"

The player, a woman he noted, turned to him. Her eyes were dulled by a bit of a fear. He had that effect on people. In a voice fraught with shaking, she said, "M-My name is L-l-lucretia. Y-you promoted me a w-w-week ago."

Nacht nodded. He remembered now. She was one of the few players that understood the importance of subtlety. "It's good that I've made the right decision. Lucretia, Connor, I'm placing both of you in charge of capturing Seathia. I give you both command of the third and fifth army. Do not fail me. For now, this meeting is over. You're all dismissed."

Connor nodded solemnly, a contrast to the beaming Lucretia. The two paired up together to discuss plans for the upcoming invasion. It was good to see people that treated the NPCs like they were people. Nacht did the same, but he would never go as far as seeing them as real. They were disposable, but he understood it was easier to have their loyalty by treating them well.

As the last of his subordinates left the war room, Nacht began checking any messages he received during the meeting. Many were threats against his life, but they were easily ignored. He blocked them to ensure that they never send another message to him again. They were pests.

To: Nacht (@Liar)
Subject: A quest

I know you're definitely not busy right now because I haven't heard you conquering anything recently. I've got an interesting quest so you better come.

From: Datze

Nacht read over the message he received from the "Dragon God" and snorted. Sometimes the man didn't realize how so many things went into conquering a city. Logistics, subterfuge, diplomacy, etc. They were all necessary. Nevertheless, his interest was piqued. Knowing Datze, his "quest" could very well be a party and this was his way of inviting him.

"It's not like I'm busy," Nacht muttered to himself. There was no harm in seeing what Datze wanted.

To: Datze (@RoflsMazoy)
Subject: Re: A quest

Very well. I will arrive momentarily.

From: Nacht

Without even standing up from his throne, Nacht began teleporting to his friend's castle.

It was only a moment later that he stood in front of Datze's castle. It was a quaint thing, but it did its job to intimidate any would-be heroes that faced his friend. Nacht summoned five knight NPCs to use as his entourage. If he timed his teleportation correctly, he would be fashionably late to whatever Datze wanted him for.

Nacht and his knights marched inside the castle, sweeping in with dramatic flair as he allowed his cape to flutter behind him. His five knights guarded him, two on each side and one in the back, equipped with extravagant, black armor.

"I am the Night's Emperor, Lord of Caevum, War Lord of the Continent and the World's Future Ruler. I am Nacht!" He shouted with pride. "Dragon God, you've summoned the Great Conqueror. Pray that you do not waste my time!"

"Good, you're all here." Kosuke said, standing up and dusting himself off. Food-kun had said he wasn't coming in the usual manner, Katherine had brought some dolls which he hadn't thought was necessary and Nacht brought some soldiers, presumably to make a grand entrance. There were about five dragons perching on the towers behind him, visibly amused at his bravado, but Kosuke was most certainly not going to tell him that.

"May as well tell you all now, if you guys were looking for combat then you'll be disappointed." He said, although he'd already assumed that everyone else had assumed that he knew combat quests were way too easy for all of them and that this quest was probably something else. "I wasn't really sure if I actually needed you guys, but it's always funner doing quests with friends."

He pulled up the quest interface and pressed a few buttons. A few seconds later, a message popped up for the rest of the group.

Quest Received: Investigate rumours about the Monster Cafe

An old bard once sang a song of a haven for monsters where they would all go to get their morning coffee, but when adventurers went out to search for it, it vanished. Rumours circulating in Dural have said that the Cafe has appeared somewhere near the city but it is unknown where these rumours come from.

Investigate these rumours and find the Monster Cafe.

Difficulty: ???
Quest will only fail if abandoned.

"So, what do you guys think?" He asked them. "And Nacht, drop that damn act already!"

"A cafe where monsters go to get their coffee before being slain by people? That sounds like a nice place to go to... unless it vanishes again. I brought some stuff for combating things just in case, but guess I didn't need them. Not that I wanted to combat stuff, since that's boring now." Ao calmly said, looking at the Dragon God. She then looks around, seeing familiar faces. There were many males, but females like Ao can be seen, too. Ao then looked at the place where the door should be, and snapped a finger. Suddenly, a new door made of stone appeared where the door should be, displacing the rubble of the old door. She realizes she didn't create anything but pillars of varying types and sizes in awhile, since she usually denies the requests from people to make new things for them, believing that buying the required object from someone helps the economy and having people improve their skills to make the object would encourage them to not rely on people, the latter hopefully reducing the amount of message she gets. Although she has set her message system to not notify her of messages that aren't from her friends, the messages still catches her eyes when looking through the messages to find old messages.
Ao then shifted through the menus, trying to equip her light armor since her dress would reduce her mobility because of it's size, while the light armor doesn't. "Hmm... Let's deny the requests, block the perverts and check the gifts from my friends, if any before the quest begins." She thought, shifting through menus, swiftly typing out a message.

To: FluffyRabbit, SwarmSwarm and 50+ others

I'm sorry, but I do not take requests from people I don't quite know. If you absolutely need the item, you could help the economy by buying them from others, grinding through monsters if you need to. If that's not possible, try making it yourself, and help others by selling them, or even giving them to people who needs them.

By: Koumi

"Monster Cafe"? Katherine muttered. "Why not a Monster Girl Cafe? It'd be cute, and not so intimidating. Not that we can't take care of whatever we find anyhow." Now she was just curious about what a Monster Cafe would be like to serve coffee. "This might be difficult in it's own way, since it's not combat. Great idea Dragon Guy." She didn't want to egg Datze on too much. She knew she couldn't handle most of the people in this room very well in a one on one.

Think again about what he said in his message she spoke about it, "Well, I guess I can see why you said bring Polymorph Potions." after which she looked in her inventory and frowned about two she had. Not probably enough for how many people there were here. "Did we need more? I could easily go and get some more." Her methods were not exactly the nicest though. It was a pretty well known fact really. Usually tricking people out of their items if she didn't feel nice enough to just buy them.

"Nah, your two will be fine." Kosuke said, rifling through his inventory a bit. "I just didn't think I had enough of these."

He tossed a bag of scales towards Katherine.

Ding!

Item Received: Mighty Morphin' Dragon Scale x 7

A memento from a battle with the Mighty Morphin' Dragon Rangers, a rather unusual group with rather strange abilities. Not much is known about them, except for the fact that they may or may not have been dragons at some point, may or may not have been rangers at some point, and most definitely do posses some powerful polymorph magic.

Use to polymorph.

"I got these from some really annoying assholes." He said, "They kept turning into trees and stuff."

"Hey there Grayliks!" Bonum smiled when he saw him appear on the castle's courtyard in much the same way as he had. And shortly after that Bonum felt a gust of wind and looked up to see Erezin make her entrance. He waved back at her after she landed and when she greeted him, he replied, "I'm doing well, just got done with a few requests. It's been awhile since we've done a quest with one another." It was interesting to go on quests with Erezin, being a high-level paladin like himself, you could see a few of their class's similarities but also their differences since Erezin chose to specialize while Bonum stuck to the regular path.

Bonum gave another wave to Momo_Hime as walked in, followed by Nacht teleporting into the courtyard followed by his entourage of NPC's. Bonum saw Nacht being on the different end of the spectrum, with Bonum trying to help people and Nacht trying to conquer. But Bonum liked and respected Nacht and its not like Nacht was trying to ruin the game like common bullies did, he was a tactician after all and he sat himself up like a final boss.

Bonum was wondering where Food-kun was but it wasn't like he never missed out on quests before. So that made Nacht the last to arrive, which meant it was time to look over the quest. Bonum was interested in this kind of quest, fighting quests were too easy and he didn't care for them to much either way, and collecting treasure wasn't his thing either. Besides, a cafe sounded all nice and relaxing, even if filled with monsters. "Well, I got to say my interest has been peeked, so sure, count me in." Bonum smiled and stood back as the others got their stuff together and the polymorph potion situation sorted out. He did a quick check of his armor and put his weapon away for now. He wouldn't need it for awhile, and not even then if all went well.

"You didn't even need a bard, how sneaky of you Datze!" she playfully scolded. Hime noticed that Nacht has arrived, though it was kind of hard to miss with his grand, personalized announcement. "And you? You never change," she said while shaking her head. Hime did respect him as a player, but he was a bit too Napoleon-esque and dictator-like for her. Everything was always, always about strategy. Sometimes it was admirable the way he could utilize everybody to their fullest potential for the best possible outcome, but other times it felt like everyone was just his pawn. He also had the tendency of acting high and mighty. Sure, Datze and he are similar in that sense, but Datze was more relaxed and easier to get along with.

"Nice work, Koumi," she said, complimenting the well-built new door. She took a moment to admire it, even if it was something she created in mere seconds it was still better than what most players made in a day's work.

"Oh, right, the quest," she remembered in her head. "You can count me in too," she added after Bonum.

If Nacht was disappointed by the underwhelming response of his grand entrance, he didn't show it. The man heralded as the Night's Emperor remained undaunted and continued his march forward, integrating himself into the group seamlessly. He nodded at those that did manage to greet him. He also ignored Datze. Whatever could he mean by act?

However, the exception to his solemn greetings was to Momo_Hime. "It remains a pleasure to once again meet with you, my Lady Princess," he greeted her kindly. It wouldn't do to forget decorum.

Being with this particular group of people gave him a sense of nostalgia. Before they had risen into legendary figures within the game, they had all been reliable allies. Nacht could never forget people that never disparage him for his class selection and invited him to group with them. It was a kindness he would always repay a hundredfold.

Though Datze's quest was not what he expected, Nacht was fully prepared to join regardless.

"An intriguing quest," Nacht commented. "It would be interesting to locate the hideout of these monsters. Very well, Datze, I will join you! I shall have my agents begin scouring each city for information! Interrogation, spying, bribes, everything! I assure you that we will find this Monster Cafe! Once we do, we shall use the full might of our forces to decimate them once and for all!"

"Mighty Morphin' Dragon Scales?" Katherine questioned. "What kind of lame name is that?" She decided to just ignore Datze's comment about them turning into trees. She couldn't help but mumble to herself, "I swear this game has some of the most useless items I've ever seen." Something she would know, being a collector of useful and useless items. Now she was wondering just how these would be useful. Then she heard Nacht's comment about Interrogation and what-not. "I'm pretty sure if people in the city knew anything, there wouldn't be a quest. And let's not decimate it outright. I want to try this Monster Cafe out. I'm sure they won't start anything if I seem genuinely intrigued by it."

Nacht couldn't help but chuckle at Katherine's statement. It was a deep, rumbling laugh that bordered dangerously close to arrogant.

"Katherine, you misunderstand the scale in which I speak of. If you mean people by players then I would have agreed with you. However, there is a large host of non-playable characters in the world. I intend to ask them," he replied, folding his arms across his chest. "Though I admire the lengths of which you make your dolls, perhaps you have been spending too much time with them!"

Despite the seemingly harsh words Nacht spewed, there no hint of malice hidden in his tone. He spoke confidently, straightforward in his thoughts and speech. It was the general norm when dealing with a man like Nacht who was used to leading and standing above others.

Hime half-expected Nacht to just take her hand and kiss it. "Nacht, it has been a while," she returned politely. "Or should I call you, your imperial Highness?" She was confused by why she was the only one he acknowledged. Was it simply because she was a 'princess'? But Koumi was also here, and she was a queen. She didn't think much of it though; she was more interested in the quest itself. But she still couldn't help but intervene in his conversation with Katherine. "Your obsession with NPCs is just the same as hers with dolls. I'm starting to think you are more of an NPC than a player," she said, smiling sweetly at him.