Are these guys part of a quest, or just a joke?

A joke. Like any cuisinart they are good at slicing, dicing and chopping. But before your party arrives they have run out of things to slice, dice and chop.

Essentially they are super-hard enemies that you can try to tackle if you are really powergaming. They are much harder than anything you need to face in order to win the game normally. There are actually a few places in the game that are designed to be extra difficult for the powergaming player. Players who are trying to max our their characters often fight the cuisinarts because they are worth ridiculous amounts of experience if you can kill them.

And they are one of the few eoncounters where you can find a Doomsday Box. The only other one I can think of it the Cat from Hell.

Speaking of Doomsday box. I just found one off the lich lord gurading mr. wizard (killed him without holy word - it's easy since he only attacks or cast implosion on 1 character, so it's 7 attacks + 1 heal till he's dead... the only trick is to resists his disintegration, which at my party level is pretty easy).

Anyway, are doomsday boxes special in any way? other than giving you unbelievable rewards (Titan pike +27... my strongest so far was +10)

Cool. Thanks.

Lucky bastard! That's better than I got last time I played.
Pluses go up to +64, and I think only Doomsday Boxes can yield something better than +32.
First time I played I remember having a Spear+49, but when I replayed it last years the best I got was am Accurate Sword +31.
But I am wondering if there may be a difference between the DOS and Amiga versions. First time I played I played the Amiga version and got better than +32 items, but I can't recall anyone playing the DOS version getting anyhing better than +31.

I think this chance of getting something really good is what makes MM2 such a great game. In MM 3-5 they dropped the pluses and alignment restrictions, and Obsidian items were the best, but you found the best stuff before the end of the game, while in MM2 there is always better stuff to be found. It's a bit like Diablo 1 and 2 in that regard, as there is always the chance that the next encounter will drop something good.

Damned, I'm feeling an urge to replay MM2 right now...

When I played MM2 when it first came out, I just set a Lloyds beacon and just kept coming back to the cuisinarts over and over. Huge experience and great items.

Wow I just figured out what Titan's pike does! It's better than all my weapons, nay all my items, combined. I completely agree. The charm of MM1 and MM2 is that every next encounter could bring a surprise.

In most other RPGs you kind of know what to expect... in MM2, every next encounter could drop something good. You can end up getting the sword of uberness +20 in one fight only to have a seductress paralyze everyone in the one after that and send you back to the inn before you could save your reward...