this is so cute! i love how everyone just has stuff for the dark lord's birthday for some reason. the pixel art looks great, especially the characters!
for the menu problem i think you might be able to fix it if you use "joypad input: remove attached script" and remove "start" on your menu screen - just remember to attach script to start again upon exiting the menu.
(also, i noticed that if you go in the inn again or open the menu, the bartender calls out to you again)