[Duty & Honour] Session 5: Goin' on a Lion Hunt, I Ain't Scared!

Session 5: April 6, 2012
April 1809, Portugal

The chaos caused by the lion attack soon was reduced to cries of pain and the burying of the dead. The Spanish refugees streamed across the bridge and re-set up their camp farther towards Portugal. The 13th Light Dragoon and the 30th Northumberland were stretched to the extreme, at least until the wounded were treated.

Lt. Hardrick realized the lions would come back and cause more trouble, so he ordered Sgt. Finkauf, Corporal Limekiller and Privates Crossley, Pennymore and Habib to hunt the lions down and bring their hides back to the 13th Light Dragoons. Private Greenleaf, while in great pain, wanted payback on the lions, even at the expense of missing out on finding the cognac! So he joined in the patrol.

Once across the bridge, Crossley attempted to track the lions but led the group into a French patrol. Private Crossley managed to grab the French Eagle in the fight but he lost it in the crush of the fight. Right in the midst of the melee, the lions attacked both French and English, but Sgt. Finkauf managed to wound one of them and they ran off.

Private Pennymore took a French sabre meant for Corporal Limekiller and, though the 13th Light Dragoon won the battle against both the French and the lions, his loss was a sorry blow. Strapping him to the back of his horse, Private Habib led Pennymore's horse as the patrol continued the lion hunt.

Following the wounded lion's blood trail, they found the lair. The patrol split into two pairs, Limekiller and Greenleaf and the Sgt and Crossley. One of each pair would act as the bait, while the other would swoop in and stab the hell out of the beast. At least that was the plan.

The lair turned out to be a series of caves and the pairs soon split up, with each pair taking a different path. Sgt. Finkauf and Private Crossley fought and took down "Fantasma" while Corporal Limekiller and Greenleaf defeated "Oscuridad."

With the lions defeated, the patrol returned with the corpses to camp.

There, wrapped in one of the lion's hides, Sgt. Finkauf tried to rally the 30th Northumberland to act like true soldiers for the King! Unfortunately, his rousing speach did nothing but sour the men of the 30th towards him and earned him a reputation with them, a reputation born of the hate fueled by 10,000 suns.