The Cookie is quite possibly the rarest item in the game. When used, the Cookie is basically a beefed-up version of the Mandrake Root, restoring all of your quest points and allowing you to gain a plethora of Fame points with the extra set of quests that you're endowed with. But since Cookies are so difficult to get a hold of, many people don't think that it's worth the trouble to find one. The Hercules in Hie Brasil is the only monster in the game that drops Cookies, and you'll either have to kill him or answer his question if you want to get your hands on this elusive item. As if it already isn't hard enough to encounter a Hercules, the Cookie has a very low drop rate. Consider yourself to be lucky if he drops a Cookie for you.
Kookies
If a Cookie is left unused, it becomes a Kookie as soon as you log in again. If you aren't the type of player who enjoys collecting (rare) junk items, allowing your Cookie to turn into the Kookie probably isn't what you want to do. They're basically junk items that are so useless that the in-game shop owner doesn't even want to buy them from you - to the shop owner, they have the same value as those Turnips and Troll Warts that you've reluctantly been amassing during your adventures in the Dungeons and Mounds. Since the in-game shop owner doesn't want them, your best bet is to trade your Kookie(s) with people at the Trading Post forum. Luckily, you shouldn't have a problem finding someone who's interested in buying the Kookie from you because they're sought after by a lot of people. Unfortunately, many of the Kookies that are being exchanged in the Trading Post forum are "hacked." This is pretty evident when you see a player offering "500k Kookies!" for your 17a/5d Gladius 100a Silver Gladius.
Newer Cookies
After the DC Upgrade on April 8, 2002, Cookies didn't turn into Kookies anymore. Hercules was still a source for people who wanted to get their hands on a Cookie, but it was no longer necessary because there was now an easier way to get a Cookie. Because every single character created after the April 8, 2002 Upgrade was given a Cookie as soon as he or she logged in again, people scrambled to create new characters. Some characters were lucky enough to be left with 3 Cookies in their backpack while others were disappointed to find a Bottled Faery instead.
These new Cookies were also a lot more versatile than the ones that Hercules was dropping. These special Cookies didn't turn into Kookies as soon as you logged out. Instead, they stayed fresh and it was actually possible to trade them with other players without having to worry about them turning stale. Most people who didn't want their Cookies gave them away to other players, seeing that the in-game shop owner would only offer 0 marks for it. She certainly wasn't a fan of these mass-produced Cookies because she was willing to offer around 20,000 marks for the Cookie obtained from Hercules.
Why Kookies?
Even though Cookies no longer turn into Kookies if you don't use them, why did they turn into Kookies anyway? Well, it makes sense that a cookie is going to become stale if you leave it in your backpack for a whole year (one Dragon Court day = one year). Then again, this isn't a good example because items like Gold Apples and Food didn't rot as soon as someone logged in again. My guess is that Cookies turned into Kookies to protect the prestige of the item. It prevented people from being able to "hack" Cookies by using programs like the Cheat-o-matic.
Cookies Today
Unfortunately, new characters no longer come with Cookies and I don't know if Hercules is still handing them out. I created 8 new characters in May 2006 and none of them came with Cookies.
