The Worst That Could Happen Foundation

[Kobold King]

Kobold, have there been reports of any Armored Elephants elsewhere in the world?

 

Nope. Not that the Foundation's heard about, at any rate.

 

 

Do our satellites pick up any sign of the hostages leaving the barn? It appears they may have warp technology as we feared, and are using this to transport the hostages. I'm doubtful we'll learn much more from our small team if we can't get inside the barn. Clearly they're hiding something in there. They're not as certain of victory as they want us to believe. Why take hostages if we never stood a chance? 

 

EDIT: Fixed a spelling error. 

 

Your satellites pick up no sign of anyone leaving the barn, apart from a few elephants that drift in and out with no visible pattern

[the winter system]

They want us to believe they are more powerful than they are. Or they could be toying with us.

 

The second is more likely. 

 

I don't believe we should send in a soldier. It might cause them to kill a hostage. 

 

What do the elephants do outside?

EDIT: Spelling

Edited March 3, 2015 by Winter Cloud

[Mailliw73]

Let's send the group first to see the close up video and audio footage. If nothing on the outside is visible, then we may need to risk an incursion into the barn.

[the Gleeman]

Yeah, the hostages at least seem to be harmed so we should be in a more damage-control mode for them. We should just see where our infiltration team gets us. 

[Lindel]

Any chance an electromagnetic pulse would disable their warp technology, assuming it exists? 

[SmurfAquamarineBodies]

Any chance an electromagnetic pulse would disable their warp technology, assuming it exists?

Assuming it runs off electricity, maybe.

[little wilson]

I've been following this for the last day or so, and now I finally have something to say.

 

Why do we need to send in a team now? I understand the point of sending a team in before, but now that we've made contact and know without a doubt that the whirring sound is warp technology, and that there are no more hostages besides Kyle left in the barn, what's the point? HWTBTS is in there along with a bunch of other elephants. I think it would be more beneficial to use the LRAD to incapacitate the elephants on the ground, including HWTBTS. They took hostages, and we can take some too. They might just leave us alone if we have their commander. Maybe.

 

Also, if everyone in the barn except for Kyle was moved, let's track their cell phones. Even a dead cell phone can be tracked if the battery hasn't been removed and I doubt the elephants know that. They hadn't taken the phones away from the hostages before, and I rather doubt they did afterwards, so let's see where the warp sent them. That could give us a better idea of where they're going to attack next.

[the winter system]

I think the kidnapping would be at terrible idea. No offense, but what if they don't have commanders? They might form biological connections with some sort of hive mind and they all know what the other knows? Plan for the worst. I like the cell phone tracking, though. 

[Mailliw73]

Also, if everyone in the barn except for Kyle was moved, let's track their cell phones. Even a dead cell phone can be tracked if the battery hasn't been removed and I doubt the elephants know that. They hadn't taken the phones away from the hostages before, and I rather doubt they did afterwards, so let's see where the warp sent them. That could give us a better idea of where they're going to attack next.

That is a great idea and should now be our first priority. I vote to track those. 

 

I still think sending in that team is the best plan, but now they should take the LRAD with them. 

[the winter system]

What's the LRAD?

[little wilson]

I think the kidnapping would be at terrible idea. No offense, but what if they don't have commanders? They might form biological connections with some sort of hive mind and they all know what the other knows? Plan for the worst. I like the cell phone tracking, though. 

 

From the first contact with them: 

He Who Trumpets Before The Storm... First Lord over the Twentieth War-Herd... Charger across the Invisible Sea... S-son of the Great Westernmost Empire."

 

While they don't refer to him as a commander, he's the First Lord over the Twentieth War-Herd. He's clearly very important.

 

 

I definitely think we need to track the cell phones before doing anything else. However, we should also plan for the worst. The worst in this scenario is that the hostages have been moved off-world. If that's the case, and we still want to get those hostages back, we're going to need leverage to do it, and the best leverage that I can think of is the First Lord of the War-Herd. Even if there are multiple War-Herds involved in this attack on Earth, they'll be a little more wary of us if we've captured one of their First Lords. It's not ideal, and we'll want the information from the other hostages cell phones before deciding, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're not on Earth. Or there are multiple War-Herds attacking.

[SmurfAquamarineBodies]

If we are sending people in with a weapon then only volunteer military personnel can go. If they are taken we need people who are tough enough to stand, potentially, a little torture. If we are able to take live hostages I second that we take them. We don't even need them as hostages but as a source of valuable information. If needs be we can take them apart to see what makes them tick, ascertain any and all strengths and weaknesses. We will need to know these things if we are to have any hope of winning this war. 

 

Also if we are sending in a weapon all countries must immediately be informed that we are truly about to be at war with an alien culture. Any information we can gather about their weaknesses is to be immediately shared with everyone.

 

 

 

Also wow 141 posts and we are only on the first scenario. 

Edited March 4, 2015 by SmurfAquamarineBodies

[A Joe in the Bush]

We can safely ignore the hostages now. All of them are transported away, and Kyle is likely dead.

 

So I propose a new plan. Surround the area, make a final call, If Kyle picks up, we send in the diplomats, if he doesn't pick up, then he's dead, we send in an airstrike, round up any survivors, sedate them, recover any technology, and see what we can learn.

[Mailliw73]

How about this to please both groups? We send in our small diplomat team, which still has a couple soldiers, who see what they can find on the outside of the barn. We also have a full team of military personnel with LRADs. If nothing can be seen, they storm the barn and take what hostages they can. If necessary, they will be authorized to use lethal force.

[Edgedancer]

I've been following this for the last day or so, and now I finally have something to say.

 

Why do we need to send in a team now? I understand the point of sending a team in before, but now that we've made contact and know without a doubt that the whirring sound is warp technology, and that there are no more hostages besides Kyle left in the barn, what's the point? HWTBTS is in there along with a bunch of other elephants. I think it would be more beneficial to use the LRAD to incapacitate the elephants on the ground, including HWTBTS. They took hostages, and we can take some too. They might just leave us alone if we have their commander. Maybe.

 

Also, if everyone in the barn except for Kyle was moved, let's track their cell phones. Even a dead cell phone can be tracked if the battery hasn't been removed and I doubt the elephants know that. They hadn't taken the phones away from the hostages before, and I rather doubt they did afterwards, so let's see where the warp sent them. That could give us a better idea of where they're going to attack next.

This and

 

We can safely ignore the hostages now. All of them are transported away, and Kyle is likely dead.

 

So I propose a new plan. Surround the area, make a final call, If Kyle picks up, we send in the diplomats, if he doesn't pick up, then he's dead, we send in an airstrike, round up any survivors, sedate them, recover any technology, and see what we can learn.

this.

 

How about this to please both groups? We send in our small diplomat team, which still has a couple soldiers, who see what they can find on the outside of the barn. We also have a full team of military personnel with LRADs. If nothing can be seen, they storm the barn and take what hostages they can. If necessary, they will be authorized to use lethal force.

We can already see the outside by satellite and have audio, so I doubt a team like that would achive much more than giving them more hostages.

 

On another note: Why is HWTBTS still on the ground? I can understand soldiers but why someone important? Maybe some kind of honor duty?

Anyway, they don't seem to want us to enter the barn, meaning there could be something in there, but they may just have wanted to cover for the hostages being taken away or it could be a trap, so I say we should try to disable them from a distance with LARDs and if that doesn't work I'm willing to take the risk of an airstrike destroying evidence.

[Unhinged]

New here, I'm just wondering what's our plan if/when they do decide to attack a city we know Naples is the closest one but they said a city not the closest city. 

 

​If we do know that they are in fact headed for Naples I propose we take a leaf right out of Rodel's book (i'm assuming that at least most of us have read the wheel of time) we evacuate the city of civilians and leave solders in civilian dress when the war heard shows up expecting to engage in mass slaughter we spring the trap. 

 

the only problem with this is if they have eyes in the sky that we can't see. But if their using teleportation they might have their mother ship docked well outside the range of any sensors, they might not even need a ship and if they do have some form of cloaking device that's keeping them hidden then we're probably screwed.

 

one last thing that I noticed they aren't all arriving at once it's possible that the teleporter needs time to cool down or recharge between uses.

[the winter system]

I believe that any form of attack will lead to something bad happening. This is for the WORST Case Scenario, right?

[Blaze1616]

All right, I'm going to begin with my reactions and thoughts to the update, then move on to responding to some of the comments since then as well as giving my own opinions on what to do next.
 
 

It's been half an hour since last contact was made. Over the course of that time, Foundation surveillance specialists have tapped every cell phone in the building, recording as much audio information as they could. For the first ten minutes, few sounds besides the constant grumbling of the elephants can be made out. At one point commotion is heard over the line; the loud whirring sound from before starts again, prompting the usual trumpets and blares of the elephants--but this time, the whirring and the trumpeting is accompanied by what sounds sickeningly like sobbing.
 
There's a brief spat of what may be a man shouting--he's indistinct over the sonorous machinery, but the words "--not going!" are distinguishable. The argument is short-lived, ended by the The whirring stops as abruptly as it's done each time, and no further incidents are heard. The barn is a quieter place from that point, with nothing but a few low and indistinct mumbles from the Chargers.

 
It's clear to me the hostages have been moved. They've potentially been harmed as well, given that the sobbing sounded "sickeningly." This also all but confirms warp tech for me. It does not, however, reveal the size of their warp tech. I'm still of the opinion it is "personal" sized, but we simply don't know. I'll discuss where I feel the hostages were likely moved later in the post.
 
I want to make note, however, of how quiet Kyle is after everyone has been moved. Before we were hearing mostly rumbles from the Chargers, but there were other sounds. After we hear nothing except for some rumbles. For a kid who stumbles through his speech on the phone, presumably out of fear, he's rather quiet. In addition, the fact that we hear "a few low and indistinct mumbles" tells me that the majority of their force is gone with the hostages. To top that off, the fact that we still get audio after everyone has been moved means they've left behind their cell phones.
 
 

Finally, the Foundation representative receives her instructions from the board of directors and makes a second phone call.

The phone rings for almost two minutes before your contact answers, sounding slightly more composed than before but terrified nonetheless. "Kyle here," he says nervously. "Th-the First Lord is with me too. He's listening."

 
Two minutes! That tells me they weren't expecting another call, but rather that we either meet their demands, or break them. It's a shame we didn't hear the whirring during the phone ringing, for that would have revealed they had the ability to communicate possible vast distances instantly. It would also reveal more information about their warp tech. Ah well.
 
Kyle's comment that the First Lord is listening tells me that the Chargers understand our language. Given Kyle is a U.S. citizen, I've been assuming we're speaking English with them. The kid doesn't mention any translation device, so either it is too small that he doesn't know it exists, or the Chargers simply naturally understand.
 

"My directors are processing your demands, First Lord," the representative assures through the line. "We are requesting that you receive a team of scientists and diplomats. They will carry no weapons, nor will they interfere with your operations in any way. We just want to talk."

An indistinct snorting is heard in the background, somewhere between the sound of a trombone and a man blowing his nose. The noise is clearly that of an elephant.

Kyle gulps, but interprets hesitantly, a quiver to his voice. "Uh... he, he's not exactly laughing. He Who Trumpets Before the Storm, I mean. But... he thinks you're funny. He... he says... if the clever apes want to come and gawk, then they're welcome to. There will be no Charge until tomorrow morning. But... they may not enter this building. If they approach this building, he will.. he will personally grind their skulls into powder."

 
The fact that First Lord laughs is, first off, hilarious. Well done Kobold. Second, it tells me that the Chargers are cocky. That tells me they've done this to other planets with little hassle. It also tells me that other planets have tried rebelling, and been crushed. We should not take their military capabilities lightly.
 
Also, to nitpick Kobold's specific wording, Kyle himself interprets the First Lord. So Kyle understands their language. How? When Kyle revealed his name, we did the digging necessary to learn he's an average 18 year old boy. But I'd like to note we do not have anything other than his voice telling us he's Kyle. There's no video to compare looks, just audio. Is Kyle really Kyle? Hmmm.... I'd also like to say that the only reason I can make these observations is because we're reading this. If such a situation were to actually occur, we'd have no idea whether Kyle can understand or not given all we hear is the audio, so I'm dropping this from my knowledge base for the sake of realism.
 
 

Another pause. There's silence but for Kyle breathing and the elephant continuing to snort quietly in the background. Suddenly--startlingly--the teenager sucks in a deep breath and launches into a ramble:

"They--they moved the other hostages! I'm the only one still here! There's a p--"

A furious bellow sounds over the line, and Kyle is heard crying out in pain. The line hangs open for a full minute with nothing but indistinct trumpeting in the background, until the call is disconnected.

 
Well, Kyle clearly gets assaulted, though to what degree we do not know. Given that the line hangs open for a minute but we don't hear more cries of pain, or even whimpering, my guess is he's dead. Sorry Kyle.
 
So what does that "P" mean? Plan? Plane? Path? Person? Pink Gorilla? Hmm...

---

Now on to what some people have said since the update.
 

Clearly they're hiding something in there. They're not as certain of victory as they want us to believe. Why take hostages if we never stood a chance?

 
Science. You come across a new planet, what would you do? Particularly from a military perspective? Check out the competition. They are confident they can beat us, likely due to the warp tech (which would probably decimate us, we likely don't stand a chance). They've also probably been watching us, planning their Charge, like any good military minded people's would. So their confidence is probably well founded. So what would I do given that? Capture specimen, study them in the event they can stand up to us, learn their weaknesses and how to exploit them, etc. It makes perfect sense to me, and doesn't make me feel like they're hiding something (though they definitely might be).
 
 

Any chance an electromagnetic pulse would disable their warp technology, assuming it exists?

 
It probably would, but that doesn't help, really. If the warping tech is "unadvanced," and they are using, say, paired platforms (think of the oathgates on a smaller scale), then yes, this would inhibit them from warping. I feel we have enough evidence to rule out this kind of warp tech, though, because if they do require paired platforms, how did they get into Snowey in the first place? They couldn't have without being dropped off, and either placing or building the platform within the building. Highly unlikely given no signs of space ships have been detected as of yet.
 
Advancing the warp tech to the point of un-paired platforms, or any advancement beyond that, makes disabling their warping a bit pointless. All that'll do is prevent Chargers from escaping, but won't keep them from bringing reinforcements. Given the militaristic attitude, I doubt they'd be trying to escape anyways, it's likely dishonorable in their culture. So disabling the warp tech, though a possibility, likely won't help us in any way.
 
 
 

Why do we need to send in a team now? I understand the point of sending a team in before, but now that we've made contact and know without a doubt that the whirring sound is warp technology, and that there are no more hostages besides Kyle left in the barn, what's the point? HWTBTS is in there along with a bunch of other elephants. I think it would be more beneficial to use the LRAD to incapacitate the elephants on the ground, including HWTBTS. They took hostages, and we can take some too.

 
I agree with this. More on that later, though I do want to note that we don't know the whirring is definitely warp tech. It's just the most likely possibility given our knowledge of the situation.
 
 
 

Also, if everyone in the barn except for Kyle was moved, let's track their cell phones. Even a dead cell phone can be tracked if the battery hasn't been removed and I doubt the elephants know that. They hadn't taken the phones away from the hostages before, and I rather doubt they did afterwards, so let's see where the warp sent them. That could give us a better idea of where they're going to attack next.

 
Though we should definitely try, I doubt we'll get anything useful. As I mentioned above, our phone tapping continued after the hostages were moved, and the phones seem to have stayed in the barn, given we hear no more human noises. Tracking the phones will likely just ping the barn in Snowey.
 

Also if we are sending in a weapon all countries must immediately be informed that we are truly about to be at war with an alien culture. Any information we can gather about their weaknesses is to be immediately shared with everyone.

 
We're not at war yet. Rather, we are trying to avoid it if possible. In addition, given TWTCH is above the jurisdiction of nations, and seem to answer to the UN, information reaching the countries of Earth is already happening. No worries there.
 

We can safely ignore the hostages now. All of them are transported away, and Kyle is likely dead.
 
So I propose a new plan. Surround the area, make a final call, If Kyle picks up, we send in the diplomats, if he doesn't pick up, then he's dead, we send in an airstrike, round up any survivors, sedate them, recover any technology, and see what we can learn.

 
While I agree the hostages are gone and Kyle is likely dead, I don't think an airstrike is a good idea. We have no idea what kind of natural defenses these creatures have. They may have developed Parshendi like bone armor, which they then accessorize with additional armor, which we know they have. How strong is this armor? Do bullets even have a chance of harming them? And airstrike could kill everything in that barn, or do absolutely nothing to the Chargers. We just don't know. Given there is much higher value on capturing a live Charger, I think an airstrike is not the correct first move in this game of chess. 
 

On another note: Why is HWTBTS still on the ground? I can understand soldiers but why someone important? Maybe some kind of honor duty?
Anyway, they don't seem to want us to enter the barn, meaning there could be something in there, but they may just have wanted to cover for the hostages being taken away or it could be a trap, so I say we should try to disable them from a distance with LARDs and if that doesn't work I'm willing to take the risk of an airstrike destroying evidence.

 
My initial thought was that he wasn't on the ground, and came back to recieve the call, which would explain the near two minutes of waiting. But lack of the whirring noise during the wait pretty much shoots that idea down. So my next thought is that, this is a militaristic culture, and as such they might view it as necessary for the Commander to be on the front lines. They likely gain leadership by being great warriors, and so not being on the front lines is likely an act of cowardice.
 
To delve deeper into their possible culture, the reason they have any soldiers on the ground could be due to a rule of the Charge. Given they came in advance, gave us advanced warning, and are offering us a chance to survive the onslought tells me they have rules for this. Perhaps one of them is that once a Charge is initiated, personel must be on the ground at all times. Or perhaps the commander must be there at all times. My point is, it is likely a cultural issue. That's my guess, anyways.
 
 
 

If we do know that they are in fact headed for Naples I propose we take a leaf right out of Rodel's book (i'm assuming that at least most of us have read the wheel of time) we evacuate the city of civilians and leave solders in civilian dress when the war heard shows up expecting to engage in mass slaughter we spring the trap.

 
Warping tech means they could attack anywhere. Spending the time and resources to evacuate Naples just to have them attack Berlin would be a waste.
 
 
 

the only problem with this is if they have eyes in the sky that we can't see. But if their using teleportation they might have their mother ship docked well outside the range of any sensors, they might not even need a ship and if they do have some form of cloaking device that's keeping them hidden then we're probably screwed.

 
With warping capabilities, cloacking seems a little overkill, though very possible. I'm not sure why they'd be using it though, given warping doesn't imply a mothership. They could easily be warping to Earth all the way from their home planet, wherever that may be. They may also be a terrestrial threat, having lived beneath us since the dawn of humanity. We have no idea. Regardless, I think we're screwed with or without cloaking. If they use their warping tech the right way, we stand no chance.
 
 
 

one last thing that I noticed they aren't all arriving at once it's possible that the teleporter needs time to cool down or recharge between uses.

 
I thought of this too, but I think it is unlikely. Though it would explain why they aren't attacking until tomorrow, it is slightly contradicted by the fact that they are constantly jumping soldiers back and forth from Earth to wherever. If a cool down time or recharge were required, I'd expect they'd conserve for the attack, and perform the attack as soon as able.

---

All right, so now what I think we should do. First and foremost, track the cell phones. I'm convinced they are still in the barn given our audio feed, but it would be foolish and just plain stupid to not at least try. As for where the hostages were taken, I'm betting off-planet, wherever the rest of the Chargers are.
 
Second, we send in the assault team. Hook them up with cameras and mics (which the military already does) and send them in. Have a team of engineers, a team of zoologists, and really any other useful teams watch the footage of whatever goes down to come to conclusions. There's no point in sending non-military personel anymore. They've taken the hostages. It's time to act.
 
Equip this team with LRADs and preceed their assault with an electromagnetic pulse, as Lindel suggested. If we're lucky our Earthly weapons will harm them and we can capture at least one of them, preferably First Lord (though we have no idea which one he is). If we're unlucky, they'll wipe the floor with our assualt team and we're all doomed.
 
What's the worst that could happen? Edited March 4, 2015 by Blaze1616

[the Gleeman]

I'm agreed to the plan, so let's vote. Yes

[Kobold King]

The fact that First Lord laughs is, first off, hilarious. Well done Kobold. Second, it tells me that the Chargers are cocky. That tells me they've done this to other planets with little hassle. It also tells me that other planets have tried rebelling, and been crushed. We should not take their military capabilities lightly.

 

Also, to nitpick Kobold's specific wording, Kyle himself interprets the First Lord. So Kyle understands their language. How? When Kyle revealed his name, we did the digging necessary to learn he's an average 18 year old boy. But I'd like to note we do not have anything other than his voice telling us he's Kyle. There's no video to compare looks, just audio. Is Kyle really Kyle? Hmmm.... I'd also like to say that the only reason I can make these observations is because we're reading this. If such a situation were to actually occur, we'd have no idea whether Kyle can understand or not given all we hear is the audio, so I'm dropping this from my knowledge base for the sake of realism.

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying this.

 

Some realism must be sacrificed for prose. I won't give any indication whether or not your speculation is correct. But I will try to be more careful with my word choices next time, both to keep from letting pertinent pieces of information slip and to spare you from chasing down wild rabbit trails.

 

 

I'm agreed to the plan, so let's vote. Yes

 

For the sake of your slow GM: Are you currently voting on the plan that involves attempting to track the phones, and then sending in an assault team armed with LRADs?

 

Also, those of you in the pro-assault camp: should this team employ lethal or non-lethal weaponry, and under what circumstances?

[little wilson]

Predominantly non-lethal weaponry, but it would be best if they had lethal with them if necessary. Ideally, by directing an EMP at the barn and then following it up immediately with the LRAD, we won't need lethal weaponry, and we can just take the Chargers, but as this is worst case scenario, we should at least give the assault team the ability to defend themselves to the death if it comes to that.

[Blaze1616]

Mmm, I'm thinking deploying with lethal weaponry. If they go in with non-lethal weapons in hand, the time it takes to change over to a lethal weapon could be all the Chargers need to kill the group. I vote have them enter after the EMP and LRADs with lethal weapons in hand and orders to not shoot to kill unless deemed necessary. If more rogueish individuals start killing without proper provocation, they can be tried for their actions later once this is over, as we will have video and audio footage of the assault. So, to be clear, I vote lethal weaponry over non-lethal.

 

Edit:

Some realism must be sacrificed for prose. I won't give any indication whether or not your speculation is correct. But I will try to be more careful with my word choices next time, both to keep from letting pertinent pieces of information slip and to spare you from chasing down wild rabbit trails.

 

Bah, I wouldn't worry about it. Like I noted, stuff like that will be ignored by me in terms of making decisions, regardless of whether conclusions they lead to are pertinent or not. You always exhibit good prose techniques, so there's no reason to strain for a game such as this.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Blaze1616

[Blaze1616]

Dang it! I was trying to edit, not post. My apologies.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Blaze1616

[Edgedancer]

 

So what does that "P" mean? Plan? Plane? Path? Person? Pink Gorilla? Hmm...

Prision, poison?

 

My initial thought was that he wasn't on the ground, and came back to recieve the call, which would explain the near two minutes of waiting. But lack of the whirring noise during the wait pretty much shoots that idea down. So my next thought is that, this is a militaristic culture, and as such they might view it as necessary for the Commander to be on the front lines. They likely gain leadership by being great warriors, and so not being on the front lines is likely an act of cowardice.

 

To delve deeper into their possible culture, the reason they have any soldiers on the ground could be due to a rule of the Charge. Given they came in advance, gave us advanced warning, and are offering us a chance to survive the onslought tells me they have rules for this. Perhaps one of them is that once a Charge is initiated, personel must be on the ground at all times. Or perhaps the commander must be there at all times. My point is, it is likely a cultural issue. That's my guess, anyways.

Cultur would also be my first guess as to why he's there. Although, that also raises chances he isn't as vital to the Chargers as we might have liked. I'm more worried that he may not be there at all and we are running into a trap. With warp-tech they could have placed something like a bomb down there and we have no way of knowing. Especially given that Kyle still wanted to tell us something. (Even though he didn't go for the classical "It's a trap!")

 

LRADs have a pretty long range, so we should be able to use them from a safe distance. (Is Snowey a real town, because I can't find anything about it?) Should they still stand after that and we decide to send in soldiers, I'm afraid that we can't effort to use non-lethal weaponary. As has been pointed out, these Chargers could potentially be very dangerous, holding back could turn this into a catastrophe.

[Kobold King]

Snowey is not a real town. I can chart out a bit of cartography for it if you need it, though.