villainy commenced [[1x1 w/ the-nug-king & hexspecs!]]

[grey matter]

"Alright, people... I'll bring forth... The Platform." Lazarus took a small rectangular device out of the box, placed it on the table, and tapped it once before it glowed and spoke in a voice that didn't sound... uh, canny at all. But not scary nor uncanny, either. It sounded like it sounded.

"Game for how many players?" it asked.

"Uh... I think... Nine? Am I counting that right? Well, we can add more midway anyways if somehow that happens. Nine!"

"You're doing this even before you've picked the deck?" DVS asked.

"Yeah, this game's cool like that. I'll explain some rules but there aren't... too many. We'll just go single-goal this round and I'll explain a bit more once I-"

"Number confirmed and processed! Would you like to synthesize a prize?"

"What? It can do that?" Bon Voidage asked.

"I've been connected to the prize network on this thing for... who knows how long. Yes!" Lazarus took a small pouch from the box and placed it atop the Platform.

"Confirmed. Remove object(s) and place return object(s)."

"Alright, let's see what we got..." Lazarus pulled out an orange cube-ish thing from the bag and a slip of paper. "A greebled cube! Winner gets this. It apparently... plays MIDIs. Alright, Lucas, can I-"

Lucas passed over two of his sour candies, wrapped, and an already filled slip like the previous one. "You owe me, like... Six of these, now."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." He placed the candies and slip into the pouch and tapped the pouch before the Platform responded again.

"Confirmed. Please build overall deck and tap to surface."

"Uh... I think I've got a good setup for this. We'll get to look at all the cards before it reshuffles them and pairs them and whatnot... Alright, I'll add..." Lazarus started looking at the box intently. "Ridley and Remedy and Rondo... you can't have one without the other two... Uh, the Kids in the Trenchcoat, the... hm..."

"I want the Alchemist in this deck."

"Ooh, what others do you have in there?" Bon Voidage asked.

"A lot. You could probably list off just about... uh, anyone, and it'll be a goal or a character, but I've got a few picked out already, and some goals that would go well with them to begin with? Not to mention some special traits with them... But you guys can help too, why not? Just suggest something and I'll... See if we have it or if the Platform can make it."

Lazarus placed the selected cards face-up. So far, there was Ridley, the Psychic who had the ability to look at all the cards and find out who was under each mask, making them quite overpowered... if you knew what you were doing and you got a goal involving brewing chaos or fun, Remedy, the medic, who could de-infect anyone unless she was infected herself, Rondo, the musician, who can play instruments (which could become relevant in specific rolepaly interactions), the Kids in the Trenchcoat, Nadia and Aiden, who could wield two masks at once, and Lex, the Alchemist, who could... alchemy, for whatever reason. Each of them had personality descriptions written on the card and goals they couldn't receive in case of multi-goal mode... It was a lot.

[[Entirely valid, we can make up so much with this and I had Ideas. So I think I can probably lead you through this even if you don't get the rules.
Also, feel free to just throw a few more ideas down here! And... if DarkBoard is playing, be sure to mention that! Or if Lazarus counted wrong. Etc.
Also did I mention a table? There's a table.]]

[the-nug-king]

"What cards are there?" Scorpius asked. "Can I be the, uhh, ferret? I spent all of Professor Arthenes' class watching ferret videos yesterday. They're really cool."

"I want the God-Emperor," said Aurion.

"I was under the impression we didn't get to choose our own specific cards," Three pointed out.

"I need something in the deck to be worthy of me, if I am to play with you scum."

"Hmmm. Can we add glitter to the deck?" Cazenar asked.

((Yeah I think nine's right, DarkBoard's disqualified on account of being too omniscient. Morgan is also disqualified on account of being too Baby, but is gonna be helping Three.))

[grey matter]

"We don't, but I just wanted to see if any concept struck your fancies and you wanted them in the deck for a chance at playing a certain playstyle... I do kinda wanna know if ferrets or god-emperors are in here... and glitter." Lazarus tapped the Platform and started looking in the box before noticing that the Platform brought forth Ismene, The Shapeshifter (who could very well be a ferret if one wanted her to be), Archaos of The Void (who... nobody really knew about but they were known to be quite powerful? or was it all a rouse?), and Cress, the Man of Metal (who was pretty dang shiny). "Well, I think those three should suit your desires... Saying you even get them. Anyone else have suggestions? We kind of have to pile them all into one... Maybe just some keywords?"

"Uh... Water!" Bon Voidage said.

"EARTH!" Lucdust spelled out

"Oh, now I'm obligated to say it... Fire." DVS said. "And if nobody else wants to say it, I'm also saying 'air.'"

"Oh! I know one good for that. Blake, the Elemental!" Lazarus drew it from the box. "Now, I'm just gonna set up some goals that should play well with our cluster and their personalities... I think..." He started looking through the deck. "Hmmm... The friend finding one could, yeah, yeah, the Platform would probably get that one. Infection has to get in there, but not mind control, I think that'll make it too complex..." He murmured as he assembled the deck, finally stacking all the cards and placing them on the Platform as it shuffled and sorted them into characters and goals. "This might take a moment, it has algorithms to go through."


[[The Platform might be able to accommodate omniscientness though, considering they could just assign them Ridley anyways? Or I could give Ridley to Lucdust to make up for then knowing what Lucas knows...]]

[the-nug-king]

"So, how's everyone's week been?" Scorpius asked. "Apart from babies and dueling, and didn't you guys mention life saving earlier? I visited Dev! We went to this really cool resteraunt and had dreams of the innocent!"

"I have been consolidating my power," Aurion announced.

"You've been throwing out my glitter, you mean," said Cazenar.

"You got it on my cape! How am I meant to terrify worlds with glitter on my cape!"

"I have been studying parenting," said Three.

[grey matter]

"Growing and crossbreeding more plants," Lucas said.

"WATCHING HIM DO THAT AND ALSO SLINKING AROUND AND BEING A PILE OF DUST," Lucdust spelled.

"I'm kinda debating over whether or not I should incorporate plague doctor elements into my outfit... I'm feeling kind of iffy but Voidage suggested it and it might be nice to... carry around a stick and a spife. Also, I can make objects appear a bit... better, now," DVS said, looking satisfied with his wording of that.

"I've also been training! I haven't passed out while making big objects in a while. And we're probably adding some sort of tower to the Void Valkyrie!" Bon Voidage said.

"I think the plague doctor thing is a sound element. And, as for me, I've... What have I been doing... uh, well- no, can't really... uh... Oh, I half-kidnapped Lucas at... one point. I don't think I should tell too much of that story. But I half-kidnapped him!"

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Lazarus, I don't know how much we should be talking about that."

"Well, yes, but also no." The Platform glowed again, this time with small stacks of cards separated out. "Alrighty, nine sets for nine players. Just... grab one, then I'll hand out the little mask tokens, break out the board, then I can start explaining everything. And... As a heads up, do NOT show anyone else your cards. Unless you have questions. Then... well, actually, it depends on who gets the pys- oh, okay, actually, I'll deal these out, I need to make sure this one set gets to someone and it's... It's for explanation's sake, I'm not trying to cheat right now but... Ah, it is really hard to justify this without spoiling a role... Oh, well. I suppose first games are usually modified anyways. Lucdust, you're getting Ridley and the Host goal. That way you can safely look at all the cards and using knowledge Lucas has from playing this with me previously, you can explain anything that needs to be explained."

"SURE I GUESS!" Lucdust spelled as Lazarus did some tapping at the Platform for it to specifically separate the Ridley set from the rest of the sets. "As for the rest of us... We'll pick from the rest of these sets. I'd recomend waiting until all the cards have been dealt before looking at them..."

[[I'll randomly assign everyone sets after your next turn. Minus Lucdust, of course. They're the Assigned Explainer for Explaining Stuff That Is Specific And Player-Specific.]]

[the-nug-king]

"Oh plague doctors are cool!" said Scorpius. "What about the kidnapping thing? Was that part of the rivalry?"

"It was a commander-minion thing, you don't get to know about those," said Cazenar quickly. "Unless you want to be my minion too, I guess. I'm a very good commander."

Scorpius glared at him. "Not as good as Kinistra! I'm not betraying her for you!"

"She doesn't even go here!"

"If you could continue your argument after the game," said Three, "May I show Morgan my card? I'd like them to feel included. And I don't think they'll be able to tell the rest of you what I have, in any case."

[grey matter]

"Oh, certainly! Morgan can see just about... all the cards, because Morgan is a baby, and a cool baby at that." Lazarus picked up a set and motioned for the rest to do the same, to which they probably would. "Once everyone has their cards, we'll do some initialization things, like mask taking one by one... I suggest we'll just go clockwise from Lucdust? For player order, that is. Getting the masks is a closed eyes ordeal with some of the cards we have, otherwise we'd be doing it eyes opened. The Platform will guide us through that part, with the mask-getting and whatnot, but I'll have to explain the rules unless you want what is basically straight out of the rulebook and not even close to being paraphrased... It'll probably end up reading irrelevant sub-rules too, because my Platform does that sometimes."

[[Hopefully these are explained well enough - please tell me if not!
Also, warning, you get to see who my characters are playing too, since I know who yours are playing and all... https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gdn ... p=drivesdk ]]

[the-nug-king]

Three and Scorpius took their cards, while Aurion tried to push Cazenar off his lap. "You're clearly just sitting on me to try and see my cards!"

"Oh, how little you know me, Malisar. I'm sitting on you because the chairs are too unstylish, seeing your cards is just a bonus. Ow!" he jumped up, holding his left arm, which Aurion had just stabbed. "You cut through my shirt! It's going to get blood all over it! Minion, I need a bandage! And the best card! And a better chair!"

Scorpius sighed. "No stabbings on board game nights! We've been over this!"

((Aaaa nice! I skimmed past your characters so I don't currently remember what they have, at least. Sorry Cazenar and Aurion distracted things with stabbings.))

[grey matter]

Lazarus began to get up to grab one but then he realized he wasn't Cazenar's minion at the moment. "Uhhhh... Well, I'm technically not you're minion right but I'll be doing this to... keep board game night going according to plan?" he attempted to excuse his bandage-getting, which lead to him leaving the table for a moment, rooting around a little in his bathroom, before coming back with some bandages, which he passed over to Cazenar. "Okay, there's those. Without further ado!" He tapped the surface of the Platform and placed a small pile of multicolored mask tokens on the table.

"All players should close their eyes except for Player One. Player One, please select your mask and place it on top of the Platform with your cards."

Lazarus held his eyes tightly shut before speaking up again. "This keeps track of things in the system... Also allows for the mask duplication for Ismene."

"Wait, can Lucdust even... close their eyes?" DVS asked, eyes still opened.

"NOT HAVING AUDIO COMMUNICATION WILL BE A PROBLEM. I WILL... TTS THIS. ALSO I CAN DO THAT BUT- OH WOW THIS HAS THE CHANCE OF BEING A PROBLEM! BUT MOSTLY AVOIDABLE." Lucdust drew out their personal DarkBoard terminal, hoping to find some sort of text to speech engine. "I DON'T LIKE THE PROSPECT OF TRYING TO FORM VOCAL CORDS AND VIBRATING THE AIR A TON."

"Well, I hope that goes well." He closed his eyes.

"Wait, what did they say?" Lazarus asked.

"They can and now they're trying to find a text to speech thing to use for audio communication."

"Oh, alright."

Bon Voidage would close her eyes, but Lucas would keep his open in case Lucdust couldn't find any sort of text to speech thing.

[[Didn't know if DarkBoard would have this sort of thing. If not, Lucdust can just borrow Lucas's phone for a bit.]]

[the-nug-king]

((Yeah that sounds like something DarkBoard would have!))

Cazenar bandaged his arm, before covering his eyes with his hands, pearing through to try and see Aurion, who was watching him from half-closed eyes.

"I would prefer to be able to keep watching Morgan, if that is all right," said Three. "May I simply look at them, instead?"