Quai's journey started all the way over on the other side of the planet. Far away from Lucid Mansion. Far FAR far away from any city that this mansion resides in. A travelling monk walking through the sands of a desert - parched, thin, and tired. His sand-blasted clothing clung to him in the furious winds as he fell face-first into the ground. Unable to stand or grasp his staff and straighten himself. About to give up and let his bad luck do away with him... If only it would. No, this time something was in the air that may change the cougar's life forever.

His furry ear perked up at some noise a few leagues away. It just so happened that some tourists were camel riding on this certain day, at this certain time, in this certain area. However Quaidis was too screwed over by karma at the moment to call out to them for help. That's his forced way of living. Good luck comes and he can't even reach out to grab it. So instead the half mummified cat watched and listened to the characters from afar. "This ride's boring" one said. "I'm feeling sick" another qualmed. The third voice, a young female one most likely to that of a bird anthro through her sheer squawking shrill voice, shrieked "Shut up Shut Up SHUT UP! I'm trying to read the news on my lan and I don't wanna hear you jerks whine!" Everyone quieted down to hear her out... Or maybe they just bickered in whispers that the cat couldn't catch. A few moments passed by sizzlingly until... "HEY! Look at this! Some bigshot Dao guy opened Sooome Lucid Mansion place to the public. To the Public! Something about taking people to a dreamworld... Probably where all their dreams can come true or something! Either that or he's a scammist trying to get people into drugs... The jerk." Up from the roaring wind, a small voice sounded, "I wanna be therrre! This place is to borrrring!" And the final words from the loudest, "SHUT UP!" The last Quai saw of the group before the sand kicked up was their camels trailing away.

To that he sighed. Out here in a desert, dying. Thinking quietly to himself, "How I wish I could be in a dreamworld. Some place where I could live in peace... Where my karma can't reach me." What depressing things to hope for. His eyes closed.

And opened not too long after in a caravan full of colorful tents and talkative sand-elephant anthros. Their thick grey skin adorned in deep red and rich purple robes with hoods and fancy headdresses of a similar color. Quaidis looked at them quietly, then towards a camel that looked down at him... Thereafter spitting on him. Retching inaudibly, the cougar anthro sat up and tried to rub off the facial slime and wet sand with his brown vest best he could. After this he reaches for his staff, but it's not anywhere near him. Frantic, Quaidis forgets for the moment that he's now hydrated and safe from the sands, if only he could find his staff! What will a monk do without their commemorative walking stick? He scrambled to his feet and was hit in the face by a trunk holding a weapon. Rubbing his head now, Quaidis looked up then screamed as an elephant anthro stood above him with a beating stick! But not just any ordinary stick... His! He prepared for the worst but was instead treated with surprise when the elephant quietly extended trunk to set the staff down in front of Quai. Quietly taking his staff back in safe paws, the monk was treated to a friendly welcome from those around him. The elephant caravan told him of how they stumbled across him in their travels while Quai ate whole-heartedly on their vegitables - careful to avoid any dried meat and always making sure to thank Buddha for the meal. Quaidis inquired about the Lucid Mansion news but the elephant leader shook his head with no acknowledgement. An agreement was made to travel with Quai to the nearest town.

After loosing a few camels in a quagmire, a desert fever breaking out amongst the herd, and a giant sand roach eating one of the tents, the elephants were almost too glad to kick Quai out of their caravan when they saw the town far off. The nice attitude and inviting nature was long gone after that first course of bad luck with the broken wheel. They completely hated him towards the end. Whimpering, Quai stumbled blindly towards the nearest town and, Thankfully, it was not a mirage.

In the town, which was a nice beach resort, the monk intended to walk into a convenient internet cafe nearby, but found it closed due to a power out with no one to question. Quai then turned to a hotel which would not let him in due to his dirty physique and general sandy, begger look. So now that left him to one option, the local tavern. Ears flat against his head, he cringed upon entering with expectations of the worst only to get a mouthful of fist from the local piggish thug who mistook him for some random feline enemy. Apologies were given but the damage was done. Free drinks were offered but he refused due to his monkhood. With a black eye and a few missing teeth, Quai meekly asked for information about the Dreamworld and Dao. Luck played tricks on him, "Dao? Zen Dao? Sure! I know that news." The bartender, an indian gazelle anthro, responded. This was information that Quai got bucket-fulls of. Where the mansion was, what it looked like, what city it hailed from, what ship to take to get over to that side of the world. The only thing he did not receive news on was the dreamworld, itself. So this only left Quaidis with more questions up to the imagination, if not a mis-guided hope of freedom from bad karma.

On his way out the tavern, the entrance buckled and half the building collapsed. Scrambling from the rubble, Quaidis cried out a, "Sorry! Bad karma!" before fleeing with haste to the docks. There he used the last of his funds (which consisted of a watch someone dropped on the street but he could not return, a story, and a lot of begging) to get aboard the S.S.Cannonfodder.

It took almost a week. A week of famine from the ship's food going bad, seven days of horror from a ghost haunting that terrorized passengers, and one-hundred sixty five hours of anguish from a cabin fire that took out one-third of the rooms, before the S.S.Cannonfodder was attacked by pirates and simultaneously ran aground on the rocks. While the boat capsized, Quai fell into the chilly waters screaming, "I'm Sorrry!!!"

Quai woke up on a beach; a new beach. This one was littered with debris and his fur was slick with gunk and what could only be oil. He slowly sat up, thankfully still clutching with a death-grip on his priest staff. Practically hugging it. Which raised many a question about the plastic 6-pack ring around that particular staff-clutching wrist. Quietly, the cougar put the staff down and tugged at the trash stuck to his wrist to no avail. And this was when lights flared to life around him, someone shouting, "DOWN ON THE GROUND! DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND GET DOWN NOW!" Helicopters buzzing high above. A swat team quickly confiscated Quaidis, his staff, and - disconnecting the plastic ring off his wrist with a knife - cuffed him.

***

The jail is best described by a certain polychromatic dragon. Quai was shuffled into the jail cell and thereafter tossed in. He protested and cried to them that he did nothing wrong, but was ignored. The door slammed on his face. His staff was rested on the opposing wall to the cell and that was what Quai stared at quietly as he tried to piece together what just happened. Some reptibird in a cage scrawked at him, but he attempted to cower away from it in fear of getting harmed somehow. And this, This was when the earthquake occured. The ground shook, the jail walls whined. Everything toppled down around him. Quaidis curled up even more whimpering, "I'm sorry, karma. Bad kar-" but was stopped when debris caved in on him.

Quickly, Quai pulled himself from that unpleasant experience of roof tiles to find that he's been caved in with the dragobird and a one way ticket to freedom. He looked to the freedom, then the scrawking quetzalagon. Blinked. Then turned towards where his staff should be - right behind the jail-cell bars. He reached through the bars with all his might to no avail, grabbed the bars with aggravation, and the bars (or what was left of the bars) came loose in his hands. He looked up as the rest of the ceiling began to creak, dived forwards to grab his staff, turned quickly, and in an movie-fasion grabbed the dragon's cage in his escape to the streets.

While the situation behind them culminated in chaos, Quaidis tried to pry the dragon from the cage with no use. All the while holding a short conversation. "I am Quaidis, and you are?" He learned Yao's name. "Yes, I know of this mansion. I came from farther than you would ever believe to get there. But there is something I must tell you should I help you get there... Um.. No.. Nevermind."

They traveled. First Quai walked a few miles with the anguish of dragging Yao's heavy cage with him (And it wasn't Yao that was heavy, it was the blasted cage. It didn't seem all that heavy at first but after that first mile, sheesh!). Only to find that the so-called mansion a few miles away was not the Lucid Mansion but the Lucky Mansion.

They were given directions and Quai, using his occupation as a monk, gained passage on a bus to the next town with his 'pet' feathered dragon. Halfway there the wheels on one half of the bus all blew in unison, sending the vehicle into a spin that, upon coming to a stop, blocked traffic for who knows how long. This, of course, is when Quai and Yao were kicked off and Quai walked the rest of the way there.

To learn that this was not the mansion to Zen Dao but a field of Cow. That bus driver must have been hard of hearing, Quai mused as they were given a ride by horse-pulled cart to the nearest town where the mansion could hopefully be. And were thrown from the road as something ignited a fire on the cart, which thereafter blew up in a grand explosion. On the fall Yao's cage opened slowly, but Quai knocked into it afterwards and everything had locked up once again. He was yelled at for this one, but meepishly whimpered, "Sorry, bad karma."

Quaidis walked past a large tourist sign that beamed, "DREAMWORLD" and took a detour with Yao in tow to see if this was it. Only to come across a band of hippies. The hippies, sadly, were refused by Quai when they offered a ride. He was not going to go on a trip with drug-taking, smoking hippies. Though Yao could have probably differed.

This led to the last few miles on the short quest. And Quai nearly dragged himself past the mansion after getting muddied by a passing taxi, but his dragon companion stopped him, thankfully.

***

Now Quaidis was at the gate of the Lucid Mansion. He put Yao's cage carefully down on the pillar over the intercom. Delicately, from a distance, the cougar anthro pressed the intercom button with the butt of his staff. He winced and trembled when static came. Thankfully, however, nothing blew up or broke. With a sigh of relief, he tried again. 5-7-5 psychedelic avatar. Chin scratched, he began to literally type 5 7 5 p s y c h e d e l i c a v a t a r into the com (provided Quai remembers which number provides which letter). When Yao yelled haikus at him, the monk flinched and replied whiningly:

"But the monk wants in
Hitting buttons doesn't work
And I fear the worst"

He was going to take another jab at the intercom but instead, with defeat, lowered Yao's cage and let him type in what he wanted.