Shady business (Open for all squad members)

[Dave Syrinx]

The rain keeps drizzling down. Along the boards on the path, the two marines move on leaving their comrades in the clearing. After a couple of turns and twists of the path they come upon a shed being the South edge of a small village. From their survey point at a low Point of gravity, they see the roofs of nine or ten sheds further along the path. This being the higher point of the area, at the crest of an uphill climp, the shed would make a good Place to keep lookout. Mullins leaves the path before the two reaches the top, still knife in hand. He is quickly swallowed by the green.

The only thing facing the South direction is a small glass less window. A wooden chime can be heard from somewhere in the village. No sign of anyone living in the village can be made from this location.

[Dave Syrinx]

Berkowiz waits on the path, covering the window and the ridge of the path. The chime rattles to the ground and all is quiet.
A noise comes from the shed, followed by something moving inside the shed. The movement is ended by a scream of anger. The voice is of a man and most certainly not Sgt Mullins´.
The scream abruptly changes in to a gurgle.
The chime is audible again.

[Pickman37]

Berkowitz is uneasy. He wants to call out to Mullins but thinks better of it....besides his mouth is ridiculously dry, despite the humidity and weather, and he is unsure of what is happening in the shed...

Better stay quiet...don't want to make myself out to the enemy...

Berkowitz begins to slowly step towards the window of the shed to take a look. He keeps his M16 at shoulder height, sighted and ready but slowly moving it back and forth from the window to the ridge of the path then back again...

[Dave Syrinx]

Sneaking up to the window, Berkowiz sees Mullins pull out his combat knife from the neck of a vietnamese farmer. Beside the farmer´s cot a rifle is leaning. Mullins slowly glances in Berkowiz´ direction. He raises Three fingers and motions to Tobias to join him.

[Pickman37]

Berkowitz is relieved to see Mullins alive. He quickly and cautiously enters the shed to join him...

"What's the plan now, sarge?" Tobias whispers.

[Dave Syrinx]

Having pulled out the knife, Mullins turns back to the dead farmer and kneels by his side. He works on him for a bit and uses the knife to cut something off. He tucks something reddish to his belt and turns to Tobias.
"We go from one side each. I take the left side, and you and the others take the right."
He rummages through a pile of papers on a table next to the bed. Then he joins Berkowiz at the door.
He seems quite excited by the job so far.
Mullins points at the lyaout of the small village of ten sheds, barely worth being called houses and whispers. "The Three larger buildings to the left are likely gathering halls and social sites. The six to the right looks like sleeping cottages like this one. Wait for the others and join me at the middle of the Three larger buildings. Make sure you secure all houses. We don´t want anyone alarming the VC. And we are finding their hideout" He eyes Tobias, "Understand, private?"

As far as Tobias can see, there are no activity in the village. Most certainly the villagers are hiding, or they had already met them running past at the river bed. Another thing that bothers Berkowiz is the first squad sent to this hill. Had they been here already or will they arrive anytime soon?
From the tales he´s heard from friends coming back from tours, the actions of others played a larger role in the events than the actions they themselves had taken.
Like in life itself, no matter how good a driver you are - there are Always a schmuck who drives intoxicated and brings death to the highway of life.

[Pickman37]

"Yes, Sir! Understood sir!" Berkowitz takes his place by the door to await the rest of the squad then take the sheds on the right, meeting in the middle building on the left....

"While I wait, should I take out any hostiles I sight or are you doing this on the down-low?"

Berkowitz is in awe of Mullin's killer instinct and determination....

[Dave Syrinx]

"Just make sure they don´t escape. Use whatever force you need, Prisoners, sure. Bring them to me in the middle shed." He then leaves the shed and disappears to the left.

[Pickman37]

"Yes, sir!"

Berkowitz takes a position by the door with his M16, eyeing up the path to the village but also checking back for the rest of the squad...

[Dave Syrinx]

Tobias scans the village, all nine remaining sheds. Seeing no apparent movement he also starts checking the treeline and the rising hill beyond, scattered with trees.

Rolls:

Spoiler:

Roll a spot hidden to find anyone hiding, or evidence of something being wrong.

Having scouted the premise, he peeks around the corner after having shown two fingers doing the v-sign before popping his head out. Better lose a finger than something else, right?

From down the path, the Walking Dead stay hunched down, preparing to advance up the last bit of the stretch.
Sarge stays low in the back, beside Hobbes who stands tall, biting down on a cigarette trying to light it. "Makes the bugs fuck off.", he mutters.

[Dave Syrinx]

Inside the shed there´s basically only a cot with a stabbed farmer in. He has blood all over his upper body. Beside the cot stands a table with papers all scattered across it, and a rifle is resting against the wall next to the cot.

[Pickman37]

Tobias sees no signs of life in the village or the surrounding area...

Tobias scans the hut, noting the body, rifle and papers but decides he should wait by the door before securing the rifle or investigating the papers....

After signalling outside the door, he peers out...

Again, all seems quiet in the humid, jungle rain. From up the path, he thinks he hears something...

Must be the rest of the squad....

Tobias, mildly distracted, keeps glancing up the path in order to signal the rest of the platoon to his location....

[Mr. Handy]

Eric follows the others towards the shed, keeping alert to his surroundings and behind cover whenever possible.

[Kadael]

James stays close and keeps quiet, staring at the chimes like they might mean something.

[committed hero]

I will collect the papers to see if they contain intel.

[Pickman37]

When the rest of the squad arrives, Berkowitz fills them in....

"Mullins is taking the three sheds on the left...the larger ones that look like gathering places. The rest of us are to secure the six sheds on the right then meet at the middle one on the left. Any force necessary is allowed, as well as prisoners."

Despite his fear, Tobias feels emboldened by adrenaline and his training...

"I've scoped the perimeter and think we're clear. I can go first and secure that first shed then give the signal for others to follow. Maybe someone should stay back to cover us from this point, being as it is at a slightly higher elevation...."

Berkowitz prepares to quickly cross the path and approach the first shed from the jungle cover on that side while he waits for his fellow grunts to reply...

[Dave Syrinx]

Whitehouse, Hobbes and Sarge enter the cottage as Berkowiz provides a cover arc over the village. Inside, Sarge checks the papers finding they are in Vietnamese. They have some maps and diagrams, though. Guessing someone at camp can translate, he pockets them with his other gear. Hobbes covers the crest they arrived from via the small window facing west.
As Sarge is checking the papers,
Whitehouse helps out scanning the village with Berkowiz. Becket checks the the chimes, as in trance. As he does, his eyes wander to the dead farmer in the bed. He sees that his tongue has been ripped out…
The drizzle keeps coming down.

Berkowiz´ set up for the team echoes in Becket´s ears and he snaps back to the task at hand. Let him take point. The rat at his job.

The tunnel rat moves to the first of the row of sheds.

The others follow his route from the crest shed.
From the large buildings, a loud crack from a sniper rifle is heard.
The sound gives Whitehouse a general direction of the shooter. Then a second shot is fired, only five seconds later - giving away the location up on the hill behind the village.

Whitehouse and Becket can shoot at the target as the two have a clear line of sight.

Keeper rolls,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3511531/]Mullins´ wounds[/url] [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3511578/]Team alpha ambushed[/url]

Berkowiz reaches the first of the three sheds as the first shot is fired. As the second one cracks, he can either enter through a closed door (opening it) or check the shed by a small window next to the door. An alternate action is to see if he can spot the sniper from his location.

Hobbes stays at the window of the crest shed, just in case the VCs were on the way back. "Get that sniper! What are you waiting for sissies?"

Sarge can head to the rear window with Hobbes or join the others at the front.

[Pickman37]

Berkowitz jumps at the sound of the first shot. The patter of the rain on the leaves of the jungle trees almost had a hypnotic effect and lulled him into a sense of calm but now his mind was at full attention. The sound of the second shot finds him pressed up against the outside wall of the first shed, gun raised to its sights. He mulled over his options...

In the distance, he can hear Hobbes barking orders to locate the sniper...

He glances around, unsure where the shots may be coming from. Then he remembers the armed farmer in the first building that Mullins had killed...

What if this gunfire brings out more armed farmers?

Berkowitz decides to enter the first shed, hoping to kick open the door and surprise any occupants there, if any. Once secured, he can monitor the main path for any hostiles which may appear...

[Dave Syrinx]

Tobias forces the door and finds the shed, vacant. Two beds, a low table with wooden plates and mugs sit are in the middle of the room. The food on them are still warm.

From the lookout through the bashed door, he sees no forces coming running at the houses.

The patter from the downpour keeps on drumming.

Berkowiz sees a movement in the trees on the hill behind the village as the sniper looks for new targets.

[Pickman37]

Berkowitz crouches down at the doorway and attempts to signal the location of the enemy sniper to one of the other squad members but cannot see any of them...

Geez, I'm not a sniper...Where are those guys? Dammit!

Berkowitz takes aim on the point in the trees where he saw the movement and hopes to get a clear shot...

Dammit..dammit..DAMMIT!

He can feel the sweat build on his brow and begins to pray for the best....

Syrinx,So if I get a clear shot, am I to combine Direct Fire(55%) and Rifle(25%) for this shot (80%), based on my understanding of the rules or have I misunderstood the Rules and Guidelines? Or, are there other qualifiers here, such as the rain, stress, etc.?