THE BLOODY BUCKET-norry1

THE BLOODY BUCKET

keystone

THE BLOODY BUCKET
Norry...

A night patrol
Reb, Robbo, Tina Yates, CPT Panoke, and MAJ Tyler???

.... Brooke asked the Major "What are we going to do with these two?"

[von Fischer] "Take them with us, of course. As long as they don't cause trouble."

[Berger] Berger tied their hands behind their backs with thick wire, and then gagged both men with rags kept in his satchel. Neither of the two caused much of a problem. They were no sooner secured than Panoke uttered two words, pointing toward the VFW building.

[Panoke] "Company coming..."

Everyone hit the dirt. Berger stamped the back of one guy's knee to help him down. The man moaned abit for some reason...

[GM] A single person could be seen carrying a flashlight, 90 meters away, approaching the group from the direction of the VFW building. FYI - both lookouts were armed with BA rifles. 5 rnds in each wpn, and another 5 spare... Both are in civilian clothes.

Reb mentioned a phone in the treestand. Sure enough, there was black coax cable running out of the treestand, and back toward the VFW, at a height of about 2.25 meters.

Presumbaly, the guard must've heard something off in the opposite direction. He turned, and headed off back toward the VFW building. Not running, not walking, somewhere in between...

02 MAY 03 / 0123 hours
VFW Recon Party

[Reb] O'Herren watches Von Fischer's hand signals with a mixture of concentration and perplexity. Once the Major has finished, Will pauses a moment then nods in understanding. Moving low and with as little noise as possible, Reb eases away from the patrol, looking for a place of concealment between 10 and 15 meters away that will allow a safe enfilade fire upon whoever approaches with the flashlight. Once found, he'll hunker down and wait for orders...or the shooting to start.

02 MAY 03 / 0123 hours Major von Fischer whispers to the prisoners "Heros die, noisemakers too" and punctuates the remark with a motion from his pistol just to be clear.

He indicates by sign for Ms. Whittacker to take one of the lookout's rifles, and takes the other for himself. Still using hand signals, he indicates that Berger and himself will cover the approaching flashlight wielder, O'Herren should move a bit for a flanking shot (no more than 20 yards out though), Whittacker will watch the prisoners, and Panoake will cover the rear. Following once everyone is in position, the group should start moving away from the building and deeper into the woods west of their present location.

Reb likely finds his hand signals a bit clumsy. A couple are probably made up on the spot.

Assuming that we break contact (ha ha) - "Sergeant, Corporal, get us the hell out of here ASAP. We've earned our coffee."

[Berger] In response to a question from the Major, Berger said yes, Lithia Springs Creek is fordable. "The creek itself is only about 1 meter wide, but at the Danville Highway area, and also the RT 11 area of the creek, it is at the bottom of a 4 meter deep, 10 meter wide gulley... What are you thinking, sir?..."

[Major] "Just thinking of dogs, sergeant. Lets get out of here."

02 MAY 03 / 0125 hours [Berger] "Where to, then, sir? Home?..."

[Major] "Just out of here..."

Elsewhere...

02 MAY 03 / 0237 North of Northumberland

[GM] I believe I have Tim and Sean at 3-, and 4-o'clock, respectively, on the perimeter.

At about this time, someone on the north part of the perimeter came back from a nature break, covering two prisoners. They have a horse. The young lady is dressed in civilian clothes, and leads the horse. The man is in an improvised litter, and apparently hurt.

Royce left his position, and reminded everyone to stay alert. "Alright, recess is over, back to studying what's out in front of you..."

The interaction occurs about 20m from both Sean and Tim. They are able to hear bits and pieces.

[young lady] The short-statured gal tried to explain who they were, and what they were doing out here. She might've been small, but she had some spirit. That's an understatement. She was a spitfire...

[Thomas] (the guy leading them in) "Look, girl, I don't care who you are, or what you're doing. Just shut up, or I'll gag you. You'll get us all killed." He tied the girl up. She got rather wide-eyed at this point...

[Jake] (A large man. 6'4" and about 225#) "OK buddy. I'm sure you have a pistol under there. If you wanna cap me, that's fine. But I've been shot 2 times already, and I managed to break the necks of both guys who did it. Now be quiet and don't piss me off..." He took a sidearm from the man in the litter...

[Royce] Saw that the man was sick, and not bluffing. "Sir, I see you're hurt. We won't bind you, but so help me sweet Jeezus, you make one ever-lovin' peep, and I'll stick my blade thru your other parts real slow..."

Someone came and took the horse, and looked through the packs. You heard the name "Christ!" mentioned. Then Royce, went and cuffed one of the men in the platoon on the head, for talking so loudly.

Apparently, the girl and the sick man had quite abit of equipment on the horse, including an M16, and some grenades. These were divvied up among people on the perimeter. The horse seemed contented to hang out with others of it's kind.

After about 5 minutes of settling in, the short gal is resigned to the facts, and quiets down. The sick man wasn't heard from, save for the occasional snore.

===================

The evening passes quietly, until:

02 MAY 03 / 0415 North of Northumberland

Forms can be seen in the shadows, 100m east of the perimeter. Occaisionally, the moonlight revealed more detail. It was at least 4 people, heading right for the perimeter. If they continued, they'd certainly run right into the easternmost people on the perimeter...

[Royce] SGT Royce came around and tapped Tim on the shoulder. Wordlessly, the two acknowledged the sighting. Then Royce pointed to Tim, Sean and himself, and forcefully pointed down to the ground. Next, he pointed over his shoulder, and made his fingers "run away".

Some noise could be heard from behind Sean and Tim, as though the other men and horses were making ready to leave. It was a wonder how those approaching the perimeter hadn't heard...

Royce crept over to Sean, and likewise filled him in, using gestures. Royce set up in a position along with Tim and Sean.

[GM] So we have Tim at 3-, Sean at 4-, and SGT Royce at 5-o'clock. Each person is about 30m from the next.

[Tim] Tim picked a target out of the 4 and takes aim. He will select a target based upon any equipement that he sees, large weapons like machine guns or assault rifles taking priority. He will track the target as it moves. Once given the ok from Royce or if another fires, he will engage.

[Sean] Sean took aim on the person in the middle. He knew nothing abot military tactics but assumed if he was in the midle of the line he should shoot at the middle target, Sean silently wished his pal Guiness was along for added security.

Sean and Tim saw that the shadowy forms had closed on the perimeter. They were now less than 100 meters away. What had the orders meant? And was Royce intending for them to fire? The men and horses behind Royce, Sean, and Tim made an awful lot of noise, but they did get away cleanly, without a shot being fired. Surely the scout party had heard it all...

The scout party had gone to ground. Probably they didn't want to engage a group nearly 4 times their numbers. They would wait. Soon, they came up from their positions, and began advancing toward where the horses had been.

The four scouts approached the position, looking for anything in the way of intel on the cavalry unit...

But the ambushers were there, between the scouts and their destination. They were in good cover, and more importantly, unknown to the Scouts...

Range = 50 meters

02 MAY 03 / 0415:00 / INIT = 3 Royce was the first to fire. He opened up with a 10rnd burst from his L85. It caught Scouts #1, #3, and #4.

Sean fired his LA 30-30, having aimed at the guy "in the Middle". Well, there were 2 guys in the middle, so I left it to chance. The aimed shot hit #3, square in the chest. That guy is down. Make that DEAD. Rounds 2 and 3 were misses. Mark 'em off, Unkus!

This leaves Scouts #1 and #4 slightly wounded, and knocked down. Scout #2 is still up, and will return fire...

02 MAY 03 / 0415:05 / INIT = 2

Why he hesitated earlier while Royce and Sean fired was a mystery. [GM- not really, just a matter of INIT...]

Luckily Tim was quick thinking and had a handy, pointable weapon, and fired. He tried to see weapons, or equipment, but really couldn't tell any difference between the scouts at this range and in this light.

Tim opened up with the Tommy Gun. The "chopper" made a tremendous, distinctive sound.

Scouts #1 and #2 were hit by the hail of bullets. Scout #2 joined his buddies on the ground. Tim, mark off 15 rounds.

Sean saw Scout #4 crawling around on the ground, rifle in hand, and aimed at him.

Royce switched to semi-auto and fired a few quick shots at #2. One hit. Scout #2 moves no longer.

02 MAY 03 / 0415:10 / INIT = 1

Scout #2 worked the bolt on his rifle, and fired. The round whacked .8 meter from Royce. Royce hunkered down a little bit more...

Scout #4 focused on Royce. He fired twice with a shotgun.

Royce caught some pellets in his arms. He cursed, you're sure. You just couldn't hear it above all the firing.

Tim buzzed the rest of the clip at Scout #2. His fire was ineffective.

Royce fired several quick shots at Scout #2. One found it's mark. In the Scout's head. Scout #2 moved no longer.

Sean fired at Scout #4, who he had aimed at for nearly 5 seconds. It mustn't have been enough, as he missed. Mark off the round, Unkus.

02 MAY 03 / 0415:15 thru 0415:25 / INIT = 6,5,4 hesitation, looking for targets, peering thru the cloud of smoke you all caused in the cool night air.

02 MAY 03 / 0415:30 / INIT = 3

Sean fired again at Scout #4. Mark off the round as a miss.

02 MAY 03 / 0415:35 / INIT = 2

Royce was hit a few seconds ago with the shotgun blast, and it slowed him down some. He fired a few more quick shots at Scout #4. One of them hit him in the chest. Scout #4 was down.

Tim put a fresh mag into the Thompson. This leave you with one empty, one full mag in the wpn, and a spare 20 rnder still full. By my count the BBB page is wrong. You have the above situation, plus 80 rnds of loose .45ACP, not 100 as the BBB page says.

Sean had time to partially top off the LA 30-30. He inserted 3 rnds into the tubular magazine. So there are 5 in her and 11 in your pocket. Scanning around, it would appear that all of your foes are down...

Royce covered the other 2, then changed mags, even though his wasn't completely empty...

[Sean] Reloaded the LA rifle with loose rds, and held tight, until Royce told him what to do.

McCain will scan the area and fire a short burst at anyone who isn't down or goes for a weapon. If no movement, save for wounded, is seen he will continue to keep an eye out while Sean reloads. Once he has reloaded, McCain will refill his empty clip with his loose rounds if time permits.

If movement is seen or more bad guys come, McCain will fire short bursts at the most threatening targets.

Once reloaded, McCain will ask "Sarge, want me to check out our fallen foes out there? What is the procedure for the wounded, should I try and help 'em or is this part of that convict crowd?"

02 MAY 03 / 0415:40 / INIT = 1

[Royce] "MacCain -- cover those men. They move, shred 'em. Cunning'um, go check 'em out. Grab their weapons and ammo, and anything else they're carryin'. And finish any of 'em that need it."

[Sean] Sean pulled out his .45 after going over the gear and paused for a moment while he silently said a prayer in Gaelic. Then with no further thought he put a bullet into the head of each of the men still breathing.

[GM] Upon closer examination, two of the four were dead, the other 2 were unconscious/incapacitated. Two were armed with BA .30-06 rifles (5 round mags, total of 41R between them), one was armed with an M16A2(3- 30rnd mags) and the last was armed with a 12 gauge PA shotgun (7 rnd mag, 5 rounds in wpn, and additional 15 rnds.

There were no interruptions while the 3/103rd men reloaded and searched their foes. Sean gathered up all the weapons and ammo, and a few bits and pieces of equipment. Canteens, satchels and the like. A knife or two. More details later...

[Royce] "OK fellas, ya done good. Damn Good!. Now let's get the F*** out of here..."

[Sean] "Sarge, you want me to tend to that arm?"

[Royce] The SGT held up his arm, while Sean hastily bandaged it with one of the dead scout's shirts. Not the cleanest, but it would do. Royce even produced a little vestpocket flask of alcohol to sterilize the wound.

[Sean] "I tell ya both right now...if Guiness were along we could have all had a nap whilst he disposed of those lurking in the dark!" Sean showed no sign of jest as he made the statement.

Royce led Sean and Tim approximately 1 klick north west of their position, to a secondary rally point. The rest of the platoon was there. Royce smiled ear-to-ear, and bragged up Sean's and Tim's participation in the ambush. He made it look like he did nothing....

[McCain] "Yeah, right Sarge...if it weren't for this man we'd have had 2 angry bandits breathing down our necks right now...." McCain goes on and retells the story a couple of more times in post-combat excitement.

Elsewhere....

02 MAY 03 / 0125 hours

[Berger] "Where to, then, sir? Home?..."

[Major] "Just out of here..."

Maintaining the same travelling order, the group headed north into the woods.

[GM] That is: Reb on point, followed closely by Berger, von Fischer and Whittaker in the middle, and Panoake bringing up the rear...

They put some distance between themselves and the VFW. As Berger sneaked a look behind himself, he tapped the Major on the shoulder, and pointed south, back at the VFW.

Lights were coming on, and several small groups of people could be seen, some with flashlights. If that wasn't enough, the cloud cover began to pull away from the moon. The groups fanned out from the building, and were most certainly searching for something or someone...

02 MAY 03 / 0126 hours The group walked for 15 sec, then Berger urged them on, breaking into a trot for nearly 30 sec. In all, the group put a little over 100 meters between themselves and the VFW. The search parties continued their efforts. One group headed due north from the VFW -- more or less right at the group.

Shots ring out!

02 MAY 03 / 0127:00 hours, INIT =2 Bark flies from the surrounding trees as several rifle shots pierce the air. An automatic weapon soon adds to the noise.

Panoke is hit in the abdomen! He is knocked down. He can't act until next phase.

von Fischer is hit in the rt arm! He is knocked down. He can't act until next phase.

[Berger] Sprinted off in a perpendicular line to the direction the group had been going. They had been heading north, and he tore off east, crashing thru the trees and brush...

[von Fischer]
[grits teeth, tries not to curse, waits for next round - in both senses of the word]

02 MAY 03 / 0127 hours VFW Firefight

[Reb] At the first sound of shots, Reb sprints about 10 meters to his left (West), looking for cover and stopping when he finds some. Turning to look toward the trouble, he quickly assess the situation. How many bad guys and how bad are the wounded?

Reb prepares to lay down some covering fire at the nearest group to aid the flight of the others if necessary.

"This has gone to hell in a handbasket, but fast!", he mutters.

[Brooke Whittaker] Brooke lets out a short scream of surprise as she realizes that the group is under fire. She immediately drops to the ground and looks around to find out which direction the shots are coming from, momentarily tensing up with each shot she heard.

Besides the shots, she was increasingly aware of how hard her heart was beating and the sound of her own breathing.

Brooke pulled her rifle up to her shoulder. As soon as she could make out a target, she was going to start firing in that direction. Maybe if these people found out that her group was also armed, they would be more likely to break off their attack, especially if they were as scared as she was right now.

Brooke heard Reb's clipped yelling.

[Brooke Whittaker] Reb's command agreed with what her subconscious has been saying as soon as the shooting started. "Which way?!? Which way?!?" she half-shouted back in confusion.

[Reb] "LEFT! TOWARD MY VOICE!!" Reb barks, prepared to lay down cover fire as necessary.

02 MAY 03 / 0127:05 hours, INIT =1

Brooke heads for Reb. Both search for targets. None are seen.

von Fischer grabs Panoake by the scruff of the neck and drags him a few meters to safety.

Panoke, although hit, and momentarily stunned, crouches beside von Fischer. Yes they are both bleeding. Yes they both are in pain. But both are conscious.

Panoke, once in cover and able to act, checks out both his and the Major's wounds. He swears under his breath and tries to spot to firing point.

[Brooke Whittaker] Brooke continues to nervously scan the area to discover the direction from which the shots are coming. She notices Berger lighting up the cigar.

..."How can that S.O.B. be so calm at a time like this?", she thinks. "...He's got to have something up his sleeve. He's giving himself away lighting up like that."...

Brooke continues to search for targets and a possible direction for escape. Not knowing this area, she wants to avoid becoming separated from the group.

02 MAY 03 / 0127:10 -- 0127:20 hours, INIT =6,5,4

A burst of automatic weapons fire ripped through the trees. Apparently, it hit nobody.

Panoke ignored his own belly wound. The kevlar vest that he cursed wearing had probably saved his life. It still hurt. Kinda like someone used a hammer on his bladder. He turned to the Major. Von Fischer was hit in the arm. It was bleeding pretty freely. It didn't look too bad, probably was buckshot. He retrieved his First Aid kit, and prepared to treat the Major.

[von Fischer] (to Panoke) "My arm won't matter squat if we get pinned here! Put a band-aid on it later! *OUCH!* goddamitthathurts. Lets get out of here Captain!"

[Panoke] "Agreed sir, just sit still for a min, then you can play run Rabbit. Okay the rest of you, every one okay ? if so as the Boss says lets get out of here.

[GM] Both prisoners remain with the group. They are cowering 7 meters EAST of REB & BROOKE. They are about 15 meters WEST of BERGER(he's somewhat hidden at the moment). The prisoners are about 10 meters north of Panoke and Von Fischer...

Occaisional single shots could be heard in the night. They must've been blind firing. Nobody was hit.

Brooke and Reb continued to search for targets. None were seen, but it sounded like people were converging on the team's position in some numbers. The Major's command seemed like a good idea. They prepared to move.

It sounded as if Berger was using his bow, from time to time....

Finally, he called to von Fischer and Panoke, "Sirs, you ready?..."

[von Fischer]: "Hell yes!"

02 MAY 03 / 0127:25 hours, INIT =3

[Berger] "Let's go! GO! NOW!...." Berger stayed low, and sprinted north thru the woods. The entire team saw which way he went.

02 MAY 03 / 0127:30 hours, INIT =2

[Reb] "Follow him Brooke; I'm right behind ya..." Reb whispers hoarsely as he gently pushes her in the right direction and sprints behind, staying low and looking toward the officers. If they, or Reb and Brooke, come under direct fire, Will shall lay down some covering fire as he runs. As low and fast as possible, O'Herren moves toward Berger.

02 MAY 03 / 0127:35 hours, INIT =1

[GM] The moon lis up the woods making visibility fairly good. All PCs could see each other, and the prisoners. Berger was not seen. His last known position was marked above.

[von Fischer] - lumbers to his feet, and sprints off into the woods following Berger, keeping the prisoners covered.

Every now and again the rest of the group could see the "cherry" glowing at the end of Berger's cigar...

Panoke brings up the rear using the m16 to discourage any one else if needed from following them.

More gunfire shreds the trees around the group. A few rounds whack into the tree just to the left of Panoke and von Fischer. A burst lands among the prisoners. They dance and flop around (as best the can while bound), yet one is hit. A few rounds ping of some rocks near Berger's position to the east.

[Berger] Berger's cigar glows again in the night, east of where the prisoners are. Oddly, from behind them, Reb and Brooke hear Berger yell, "Let's go! Everyone! Now!..."

Reb and Brooke suddenly notice a shadowy form in front of them, perhaps 30 meters distant (south).

02 MAY 03 / 0127:35 hours, INIT =1

The cloud cover has completely vanished, now, and the moon shines brightly.

A series of explosions rip thru the night, a mere 35 meters south of the Reb and Brooke's position, and about 40 meters southwest of Panoke and von Fischer. This was somewhere near the spot where the "shadowy form" was seen, maybe abit beyond... In all there were several "groups" of explosions -- here's some sound effects for y'all:

3 BANGS, 4 pops, and a BOOOM! Perhaps all this goofy stuff is a clue to the power of each... Or it could just be nonsense...

The explosions were not huge, but they do make alot of noise, you all feel the blast, and they do splinter some of the pines, and kick up other debris in the area. The military PC's have heard louder grenades, and Brookes has surely heard louder demolitions what with her construction / civil engineering background. That's not to say that any of you would want to be near ground zero....

Berger again screams to move it! He ran to the north, and took up a new position behind a large oak tree...

Captain Panoke and Reb jog in a low crouch to the north. They pause here and there to lay down cover fire to the south. They can do this, they are professionals...

Not wanting to be seperated from the group, Brooke sprints past the others to where Berger is. She is quite fast, despite being so tall and lanky.

02 MAY 03 / 0127:40 thru 0127:50 hours, INIT =6,5,4 The group gets into a formation upon reaching a new position. They are panting somewhat from the excitement and the movement. They have put another 15 meters between them and their enemies, for a total of about 50 meters. All are in good cover, as the trees are not the spindley pines, they are now stout oaks.

It is deathly silent to the south of the group as they reach their new position.

The formation is now a box, with the Major and the Prisoner in the middle. Starting at upper left and going clockwise, it is Brooke, then Berger at upper right, Reb at lower right, and Panoke at lower left. Again left=west, upper=north, etc....

Wheezing and grimacing, the Major assesses the situation. Ms. Whittacker has vital information. CPL. O'Herren has his cartographic info, and can work up a map. SGT. Berger knows the way home. The remaining prisoner is also a vital resource.

"CPL. O'Herren, take charge of the prisoner. Ms. Whittacker, assist Captain Panoake if you would, please. SGT. Berger, lets hope that explosion slowed the opposition down for a bit, and take the opportunity to make tracks for home. I'll cover the rear. Lets go."

[Reb] "Affirmative Major" Reb barks as he grabs the prisoner by the arm, pushing him ahead of him along the trail.

Leaning forward O'Herren tells the prisoner in his best redneck growl, "Try anything funny and there won't be enough of you left for your Momma to cry over." Trying to keep his eyes focused on the surroundings as well as the prisoner, Will advances...his 16 held vertically, ready for deployment.

[Brooke Whittaker] Brooke continues to scan the woods in the direction that they had just came from just in case someone was still following them. While doing this, she looks for other signs in the woods such as deer trails, but more importantly human things such as campfire remains, hunting treestands, footpaths, etc.

She is quite nervous at this point, quickly turning to look in the direction of even the slightest noise.

She assists the CPT in moving, letting him lean on her and helping by supporting his weight

02 MAY 03 / 0127:50 hours thru 0200 hours

The group kept moving, stopping every few minutes to rest, regroup, and listen. Reb and Berger consulted maps, compass, and watches, to get a fix on the group's position.

Almost to confirm the Major's earlier suspicions, the barking and howling of dogs could be heard. Berger looked to the Major, and uttered a brief question. "The creek?"

The group headed for Lithia Springs Creek, and followed it west for about 800 meters. The water was anywhere from ankle or calf deep, to waist deep in some of the holes. And it was icy cold, being spring-fed...


Norry Oil Distribution Facilities-target info


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