Disclaimer:
I do not own Monster Musume (aka Daily Life with Monster Girls), or any of its associated characters or universe. They are licensed by Sentai Filmworks and MVM Films, who are doubtlessly a lot richer than I shall ever be.

Summary:
Kimihito and the myriad Monster girls who live in his own stumble across an old manual for a game he used to play, and decide to pass an afternoon playing it themselves. As dice roll and encounters begin, they're off on a quest to save their beloved Prince from the forces of Evil. Rated PG for fantasy adventure.

It had started out a day like any other at the Kurusu Household. Long before the sun had come up, Kimihito had risen to face the day. As well as cook breakfast. With so many guests staying at his home, he often had to get up quite early to cook enough for all of them. It didn't help they usually had special dietary needs to compliment their unusual monster biology. Extra sausage and bacon for Miia and Papi, some hash browns for Cerea, eggs for Rachnera and Meron (sunny side up and scrambled, respectively), and an extra-large glass of orange juice for Suu. Some of the girls were already waking up and slithering, crawling, cantering, rolling, or otherwise making their way into the kitchen to enjoy the meal.

The red-haired lamia girl, however, ignored the plate in her usual spot and slid around the counter towards the cook. She held something in her hands, but he couldn't quite look, his attention was split between the toaster about to go off and the bacon still sizzling away on the stove in front of him.

"Darling? I wanted to ask you about this thing I found under your bed..." she said.

Kimihito froze, feeling a chill roll up his spine. Oh no, he thought.

She'd found them.

Quick. Better say something defensive to downplay the situation. Turning, he rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Oh, well, you see its perfectly natural for a guy my age to have magazines like those..."

"Magazines?" Miia queried, confused.

Blink. "You uh... you didn't find my stash of Playmonster magazines?"

She shook her head. "Playmonster? What's that?"

Only the greatest collection of cute monster girls in the world, he thought. Not that I would know about something like that. I only read it for the articles. I swear!

"Uh... n-nothing," he said. Rapidly switching topics, he latched onto what was hopefully something less damaging. "So uh, what did you find?" he asked. A ding from the toaster drew his attention to rescue the toast before it burnt.

"Hmmm? Oh these old books," she said, holding them up. "And a lunchbox?"

First setting aside the toast, he then took the tomes from her and set them on a nearby table, recognizing them instantly as he picked up the topmost one. The cover art was fantasy, the typical sword and sorcery image you'd see on a novel. This, however, was a different kind of story. The kind you were a part of. The kind you helped to shape for yourself. "Oh wow, Catacombs and Chimeras," he exclaimed, brushing some accumulated dust off the front cover. It certainly had been a while. "I haven't seen these in years."

"What are they?" asked Miia, examining a second tome more curiously. "Some sort of reference guide to monsters?"

He chuckled at that and shook his head, though he could understand her confusion. "It's a game I used to play," he admitted. "We used to have a group back in high school... some of my friends and I. This was actually before the government revealed Monsters to the world..."

"How do you play?" Miia asked, unused to seeing her Darling speak so fondly of his past. Usually, he never spoke of it much at all, and that was fine by her. But if she was going to be a big part of his future (and she was, damnit), she should endeavor to learn more about his past.

"Play? Is it a game?"

Papi popped up beside the countertop, eyeing the books and the lunchbox. Suu slid into the seat beside her, adopting a similar curious expression.

Kimihito smiled, well imagining he must've looked just as enthusiastic as the little troublemakers once upon a time. "It certainly is," he said, showing them the cover of the book. "We had many fun adventures with Catacombs and Chimeras."

Cerea, having just stepped into the living room, paused as she overheard their conversation, trotting over to the kitchen countertop as well. "What's this about Chimeras? Are we expecting trouble?"

Blink. "Don't tell me Chimeras are real too?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a look that plainly said 'we've seen weirder' and he couldn't disagree with that.

"... no, we're not expecting trouble. I was just explaining the old C&C game we used to play as kids," he replied. He offered her the book in question.

"You mean it's a video game?" asked Cerea, turning the book around, as if expecting to find a disk or cartridge strapped to the back of it. "Is this the user manual?"

His hands gently caught hers. "No no this is really old school. Played with dice and pencil and papers and those little miniature figurines..."

"The ones you have in here?" Miia asked, holding up the small lunchbox.

Popping it open, it did indeed reveal its contents as a number of small lead figurines of fantasy figures: knights and wizards, goblins and orcs and even the odd dragon or two. Some were painted, some were only partially so. Time and wear had flecked some of the color from their features, but even a cursory glance could tell they'd been made with tender loving care.

"You painted these?" asked Cerea, lifting up the figure of a dragon and examining it curiously, mindful of its frail-looking wings. It was very well done for an amateur. His lordship was a truly talented individual.

Rachnea and Mero had wandered in by this time, the arachnea pushing the mermaid's wheelchair up to the kitchen table as they also gathered round to study the careworn items. Mero, in particular, found some older character sheets Kimihito and his friends had used.

"This looks like it could be fun," Miia said. "Can we play?"

"Yeah, play!" Papi agreed, fist upraised.

"Play!" Suu whispered, arm upraised to mimic her partner in crime.

The dark-haired master of the house glanced at the other girls, finding Rachnera nodding thoughtfully and even Mero looking enamored with the idea. Cerea as well.

"You want to play as well?" he asked.

"Mhm!" agreed Mero with a nod of her head.

"It sounds like it could be an enjoyable activity," Cerea stated. "And something we can all take part in, for once."

"I'm in," added Rachnera.

"Well then, if that's the case and you're all in agreement... then sure, we'll play... but the game'll be this weekend," Kimihito added, causing them to come up short.

"Why so far away?" asked Miia. She wanted to play with her Darling now.

A smirk stretched across his face. "Because preparations need to be made first."

Kimihito helped to walk them through character creations.

Rolling the dice for stats was easy enough, though he did also have to explain what each stat did and why it was useful. Like his old group had done before, he allowed some customization, but never more than three points off from the original roll, and always with a sacrifice of points from another stat to fill in one they desired. He also made sure to keep an eye on their roles so they wouldn't be tempted to cheat and give themselves better stats.

For some reason they all kept doing exceptionally well in charisma. And, once he explained it, kept wanting more. Odd, he usually considered that a dump stat not useful for the game. But to each their own style of play, he supposed.

From there, more individual tastes emerged as to what race, class, and profession they'd take in the gameplay world of C&C they'd find. Choosing proficiencies, buying equipment, and all manner of little details they had to look over before they were declared ready to play. He started them out at level five, not wanting to waste their time on mediocre foes and fun, but give them a chance to really delve into the adventure.

The really interesting part started with Miia presenting her Character Sheet to him.

"A Fighter... Lamia?" he read aloud, glancing up at her curiously.

"Mhm! I saw that sometimes they had classes as well and I thought, that could be fun! Plus it's something I know how to play," she said, wiggling her own tail for emphasis.

"Well, they're usually intended to be NPC's," he explained.

"NPC?"

"Non-Player Characters. Like, people I control."

"Oh," she said, her ears drooping a bit.

He gave her a smile. If it made her happy, who was he to fight against it? "Well, I guess we can make an exception for this," he said, not even bothering to consider the consequences of such a decision would have. But sure enough, moments later Cerea was being approved for a mystical Centaur, and Papi was the proud owner of a fantasy Harpy. Overall, however, this sort of thing wouldn't unduly upset his campaign. And if it made the girls happy, so much the better.

Of course, given that Miia immediately glomped him after making his exception, as was currently coiled around his legs and threatening to crush his hips... he privately resolved to be more careful about just how happy he let them be during the course of the game.

"You're going to play a wizard, Papi?" he asked, studying her sheet again.

"Mhmm! Papi wants to cast magic spells! Whoosh!" she said, gesturing with her wings.

He chuckled at her enthusiasm, hoping it wouldn't get her into too much trouble. "Well okay... now as a mage you get access to certain spells listed here, but you can only have so many in your spellbook... and you need to pick which ones you start the day with."

"I can't have them all?" she asked, head tilting to the side.

A shake of the head dashed her hopes. "Afraid not. Not how magic works in C&C. Besides, that's a lot of spells. You wouldn't be able to remember them all."

Not that she could remember much to begin with.

He made a point to take her aside later and show her which spells did what and give his general recommendation on which ones to put in her spellbook and which ones to memorize as a general stratagem. And then helped her write things down to show what they were and remind herself what she had available. He made sure to include copies of everything for himself. Naturally, she was drawn to the more destructive ones: fireball, lightning bolt, magical missiles... Papi was going to be dangerous in a random encounter.

Possibly her teammates as well. Fortunately, at least a few of them would be healers... maybe that would offset her destructive capability.

"A fighter/cleric?"

Cerea nodded solemnly. "I read up on the rules of multiclassing... it seemed to allow this... did I err?" she asked tentatively.

"No, no, nothing like that it's just... they level a lot slower, and with the experience you start with, you won't be very tough. I might have a better idea for you," he said, double-checking her stats and looking through the players manual. "Why not try a Paladin instead?"

"I considered that," she admitted with a frown. "But the rules stated that only a human can be a paladin. As if humans alone can possess the purity of heart to be such great and noble warri-"

"Exception."

"Wha-?"

"I'll make an exception," Kimihito said. "It's my C&C campaign, and I say in this game, Centaurs can be Paladins. I can't think of anyone who could possibly have hearts more pure than they."

Her lips quivered at that, and she brought a hand up to hide her expression as her cheeks went rosy. "My lord..."

"It's a lot of work to start over now but if you need any help..."

She took the manual from him, a bright smile on her face. "I'll get started right away. On a Paladin. And I'll do everything I can to be worthy of this great honor, I swear."

Well she definitely has the RP down, he thought as she galloped off to start on her new character.

Suu had picked a druid for her class and, in a surprising move, picked human as her race. Her character sheet had almost no corrections needed. Her stats were excellent, her equipment well chosen, even her choice of weapons and spells were well thought out, as if Suu was a veteran player of the game instead of a newbie who'd never seen an eight-sided die in her life.

Even so, her choices seemed a bit odd to Kimihito. He was half-surprised she hadn't asked to play a slime (he wouldn't even guess where he could find stats for such a thing) or a harpy like Papi. "What inspired this, if I might ask?"

"It felt right," was all she replied with.

It completely escaped his notice that her gaze refused to meet his when she said this.

"Well, uh... everything looks to be in order. Do you have any questions for me?"

She shook her head.

Gently patting the top of her moist head, Kimihito smiled down at the slime girl, who looked rather pleased with the silent praise. But she'd more than earned it. Actually rolling the dice or writing something down wouldn't be easy for her, but they'd secured some waterproof gloves she could employ during the game for those purposes. For the rest, well, she learned at an astonishing rate. By the end of all this, she might even be teaching the Catacomb Master a thing or two.

Wouldn't that be interesting?

Surprisingly, Meroune Lorelei du Neptune had gone with... a bard.

One of, if not the, single most underappreciated and unloved class choices in the entire game. It was an unexpected choice, and Kimihito found himself questioning just why she'd decided on it. What thought process had led to this decision.

"I will play a wandering minstrel," she explained. "Curious about life above the sea and venturing to the surface to explore the world, wandering it with open arms and a song in my heart..."

"Wow, you've really given a lot of thought to this... you don't have much equipment though," he noted, after examining her character sheet.

"Just enough to get by," she said. "I spent most of it on the protection bracelet that lowers my... armor class, is it?"

Kimihito nodded. "And that's good, but you used up all your gold on it. You don't even have a weapon."

"I know... it's so tragic... I'm liable to be a burden to the party, left behind to suffer some cold, cruel fate... and then if I get lost or separated, with no means to defend myself, my minstrel may perish, and they will all mourn her loss..." she said, starting to hug her arms in an effort to stop from shaking.

Whether from horror or arousal, Kimihito couldn't say for certain. Either way wasn't good.

Instead, he cut off this tragedy waiting to happen right here and now.

"Mero... you need a weapon," he opened the player handbook the appropriate page and held up a pencil for her to write down what she was getting on her character sheet. "Isn't it more tragic if a hero has their weapon break right before they're struck down tragically?"

Blink.

"Oh you're right... okay then, uhm... oooh, I know, maybe I can try using a trident... do I have the weapon proficiencies for that?"

All too easy, he mused.

"Uhm... Rachnee-san, is this... truly necessary?" he asked in a strained tone.

Stripped of his shirt and dangling from her rooms ceiling by thin strands of spider webbing, he was starting to feel distinctly uncomfortable. And that chill running down his spine wasn't just from the cold either.

"Just making sure your attention is firmly on the task at hand," she teased, sliding up behind him and pressing her voluptuous frame against his back. He couldn't see properly, but it felt like she'd discarded her top, and now there was absolutely nothing separating their two bodies from one another. He did his best to suppress a full body shudder.

"S-so you're having trouble coming up with a race to play?" he asked, trying to keep his mind focused on the game.

She nodded, even as her razor-sharp fingernails started to caress his chest. "Well I won't do humans, you know that. And I'm not interested in these elves, or dwarves, or... half-lings? I'm just not seeing anything that... speaks to me," Rachnea said, leaning in closer. "Could you recommend something, honey?"

As a matter of a fact, he had just the creature in mind. Well, sort of, but at the moment he wasn't about to second-guess himself.

"H-h-have you considered the d-d-drow?"

"Drow?"

"Dark elves," he said, reaching a hand free of his bindings and pulling up the Monster Manual. Flipping through the pages one-handed, he stopped on the appropriate one, showing her the custom artwork of the creatures in question. "Usually they're evil but I've heard lots of stories about ones who break away from them to be good as well."

Rachnera studied the image curiously, blinking all eight of her red eyes as she took in the sight of this 'drow' of which the Catacomb Master spoke.

"Hmmmm... well I do like their armor," she said, admiring the designs of the black metal the character was wearing in the picture. Considering it was drawn to resemble spider-webs, it was no great shock. "But what're they like?"

"Well like I said, most are evil, they live deep underground and practice dark magic... they're convinced they're the greatest of all the races in the world... oh, and they worship spiders," he threw in as an afterthought.

That sealed the deal for her.

"A drow then," she said. And like that, her Drow Cleric was ready to join in the adventure.

"Great! Now uhm... can you let me down then?"

"What's the magic word?" she sing-songed in his ear.

"P-p-please?" he stuttered out.

Authors Notes:
Roll 1d6. On a roll of three or higher, please leave behind a good review. On a roll of six, please leave a GREAT review. Critical!

In order to minimize confusion, from here on out the players are referred to by name, while their characters are referred to as class for the duration of their adventure. I didn't feel like coming up with one for each girl with their own descriptive characteristics. In fact, it's probably easier to imagine the characters as looking almost identical to their players. For maximum hilariousness.

Obviously Catacombs and Chimeras is based on Dungeons and Dragons, but renamed such for two reasons. One, I don't want to get sued, obviously. Two, it helps loosen the rules up so gamers can enjoy the humor without commenting on how X spell/ability doesn't work like that in the real game.