Mourning the Lich Hunters

[Sage (Cast)]

[[Time stamp: Monday afternoon, the day after July game]]

Francis looks behind him. The mounds of disturbed dirt mark the fresh grave that he has dug. It was hard work, but it's all apart of his job.
Turning back to face the small assembly surrounding him, he observes the familiar faces of his friends. He clears his throat. Partially to prepare his voice for his hastily-written sermon, and partially to signify the start of the funeral.


"Thank you all for joining me this afternoon, as we celebrate the lives, and mourn the loss of friends that could have been. Oliver, Enna, and Isla were only in Holdfast a brief time, however they played an important role in defending our town during their stay.
As I'm sure most of you are aware by now, the three lich hunters themselves were undead. Kept alive by the man they hunted, they tracked him all the way to little Holdfast, and once here they performed perhaps their greatest show of strength... They asked us for help.
When all was said and done, their final wish... was to pass on to the land beyond."


Francis waits a moment before continuing.

"However, I believe that that is not how we should remember them. I propose that it would be more constructive not to remember them as 'those undead fellows who helped us kill a lich once,' but instead as friends, and as people with sprawling, complex, rich life stories like you and me. People we were given the privilege of befriending, and the privilege of helping.

Enna, Isla, and Oliver were people of great faith. Let us take a moment of silence as we acknowledge their passing into the arms of Nordin, the god they devoted their very lives to."

The young priest bows his head and closes his eyes. He stands there in silent meditation. After a few moments he clears his throat again.

"If anyone would like to say a few words for our dearly departed, now is the time to do so."

[[I'm sorry this took so long, guys! Life is messy sometimes. Anyways I'll leave the thread open for a week or so for people to speak their IG eulogies]]

[Pierre]

Pierre stands before the three graves. A somewhat somber tone on his face matches the tone of his words.
“Death is no stranger here, in these parts especially. It’s so strange how, sometimes people come back, and some not at all. It makes you think if mourning is even worth it. Sometimes it even feels like we don’t get the chance.”
“Thank you for your kind words Father Francis, and for your hard work. But I think some of the information might be a little off. Enna, Isla and Oliver were not undead. Well, I mean they were for a brief time at the end of Saturday night. But they were human, they were young, but most important, they were our friends. They came to this little place in search of aid in their quest to stop the lich. Enna first came to me to talk to me in private about what was to happen that night. She and her friends trusted us to help them. She told me how it was suppose to end, how it needed to be. By them sacrificing themselves so that they could save so many more. She told me how they studied relentlessly on how to stop him and that this was the only way. They embraced their fate. To me, that was the defining moment, that I saw them as one of us. We all show the same strength, to put our lives on the lines for our friends, our comrades, to our family.”
“They were too young, Enna told me they were all at the age of 21. That they were on this personal mission for at least a year. That’s way too young.”
Pierre stares at the three mounds, “I wish I could have done more for them. To help them have a full and plentiful life”
“So even though death is a mystery, and that someone come back and some don’t. We should always pay our respects to the dead. And so I not only mourn for the three here, but to the fallen in Applevale, to others I may have crossed in the past, to all persons that we may have lost in our difficult times...To Hugo.”
Pierre drifts off a little, collecting his words, “I know we may have butted heads against each other on occasion, but I feel like we had a certain connection. A kind of chemistry of working together. You’re inspirational in ways that I wish I could be stronger like you. I will miss you my friend. And I hope to you again”
Pierre bows his head toward the mounds and again to Father Francis in a gesture like form. He then steps aside to allow anyone else to say their piece.

[Prof. P. P. Pendergast]

At this point, the Professor stands, his face marked with lines of paint going from the bottoms of his eyes down each cheek. There is a mark in the same type of paint on his forehead, in the shape of a holy symbol dedicated to Nordin. He is not wearing his usual dapper clothing this time; he is now wearing ashen gray robes, with a silver trim on the cuffs and seams.

"When I was a young man, my master taught me an important lesson about life," he begins, clearing his throat. "He told me, 'When we die, the important thing is not how many years were in your life, but rather, how much life was in your years.' By that standard alone, they were indeed more alive than most I've met in all my years, the fact of their undead nature notwithstanding."

At this point, he draws a ragged breath. "After my abduction at the hands of Nero, it was Isla who brought me back from death. They were willing to go out of their way to help a perfect stranger, and through their kind act, I live once more. And when I learned of their young age, I wanted so much for them to live. But when Enna told us in that final moment that she wanted to pass beyond this life, to be with her father and her friends... and told me that she was already dead... I had a hard time accepting it.

"The truth is, I loved Enna, dearly. I couldn't bring myself to admit it to her, but her vigour, and her lust for life made me feel something which I thought had been long dead in me. Feeling that love for the first time in so very long made me feel alive once more, since the death of my wife, my children, my town. Even though she was alive in Holdfast for a day, that one day made me feel such... joy. I never thought I would ever feel this way again.

"Knowing this, putting her to rest with my own hands was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. But since then, I've come to realize that granting her wish was the best way to repay my debt to all of them, because it gave them freedom from the fate they had been bound to for far too long. Though the pain of their passing persists, we should take heart in the fact that they are all truly free from the cruel fate that bound them. Though we knew them for only a day, they died as friends, and they will be remembered as friends."

The professor clears his throat, gently wiping his eyes. "Enna... Oliver... Isla... May the ghosts of Eldershire walk with you on your journey. We will remember you, for you died free."

With that, the professor kneels in respect for a moment. Then he stands, nods to Father Francis, and takes his seat, quietly.

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