Knightfall

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Duck One
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Knightfall

Post by Duck One »

Hudol quickly wipes away the droplet that had fallen from his cheek onto the shield. He quickly glances up to see if anyone is passing through the room to see the source of the droplet, and thankfully nobody is. “Knights don’t cry… Morgan wouldn’t cry.” The thought flashes like a slap of cold water to try to jolt him back into focus. He is trying to maintain composure and do his solemn duty. Thus far, he has managed to move from chore to chore while keeping collected, but his fatigue is growing and emotions are starting to get the better of him. After spending an entire day in Yintros, and tangling with vampires two times in the early evening, he has spent the whole night and well into the morning executing his final responsibility to Morgan, punctuated by occasional remarks that unconsciously seep out reveal emotion he is trying to conceal.

A long march from the Font to the Lodge to carry the body. “This must be a mad dream. Surely I will wake up and he will be fine.” Grunted straining to handle the weight and exhaustion.

The body was washed and dressed to make presentable for Kelemvor. “It should not have been you, good knight. It should more rightly have been me.” Mumbled with a guilt-ridden sigh.

The armor was polished to a shine brilliantly enough to see a reflection. “I will see your plan through to completion. There will be righteous vengeance! Vansa’s destruction shall be your vindication!” Snarled through gritted teeth.

The armor-clad body was laid in repose on a table in the Lodge main hall, with an array of Morgan’s weapons discretely placed around it. “Your valor shall be sung by bards in hero’s ballads.” Spoken evenly in reverence.

He takes a knee in front of the scene and says a prayer to Mystra to beseech Kelemvor to accept Morgan into his fold as a hero. He then rises and turns to address Vana, who has quietly been watching. “Miss Vana, I have the honor of seeing to Morgan’s final wishes. Please pass a word to the rest of the lodge as they pass to spread word that at sunset tonight we will pay our final respects to him. I will ask those who are willing to speak, then I will speak last, concluding with the reading of his final will and testament. Then I shall be taking Morgan back to Baldur’s Gate.”

Hudol stands guard in full armor in front of the body until memorial service begins. "I shall miss you, my friend." said through a cry hidden under his helmet.

// ooc – use this thread for your character to speak at the memorial ceremony
Duck One

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Wynna
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Re: Knightfall

Post by Wynna »

"Morgan." The pages of the artifact in her hands crackled. She eased her grip, and wished she had her notes, instead, but he deserved all honor.

She looked down at the book she held, heavy, and imbued with Knowledge. "A life is a book from which the text vanishes as one's eyes touch it. One can never put the words back on the page. The loss of a good man is the ending of that book." Her eyes stung. The words of protection hand-lettered across the parchment blurred. She let most of the tears reabsorb, before she raised her face to the others.

"We may never go back to a time when your tale was unread." He lay on the table, his armor glowing with the fire, and her remaining tears. "It is part of us now. A frustrating, brave, heedless and headlong part of us, and we are the better for that part of us. You have made us better." She shouldn't cry. She told herself it was anger, as much as grief, but it was grief. She had been unkind to him, to his face and in words to other's ears. Guilt and sorrow ripped her.

Although, there was some anger, a coal of it, in her heart, that she would use to ignite the searing light that would burn the cold queen.

He was with Kelemvor. He had fallen doing his duty.

She took a breath, and managed an even tone. "All a man can hope for is to make an impact on this world before your Lord leads him onward to the next. You did so, in great ways and in small, in public good and individual encounter. Your story lives on after you. When I write your father, I will tell him of how you fell, defending your friends from vampires, the accursed undead. He will feel the pride of such a son. When I write him, I will tell him also of moments few or none others know of. I will share the day you and Hudol and I were trapped within the City of the Dead at night, and walked the Dungeon of the Crypt together for our egress, a night nothing could touch us. We were three, and also one. Your strength inspired and lifted up. I entered afraid, and exited confident...if ready to brain the both of you." She loosed a small chuckle. Not a sob. It sounded like a sob.

"I will tell him also of the day I looked into your heart, by the Binder's grace, and found such strength and goodness there that it humbled me. The power of your conviction shone outward when revealed by the eyes of Oghma. I was changed that day by the answers you gave within the Zone of Truth. Changed in my opinions of you, and remade in a desire to equal your potential."

Her voice faltered. "Our last meeting was one I would wish to unread and write again. My intemperance was measured against your fidelity to your oaths, and found lacking. Thank you for what you did offer that night; it will be used by the Seekers in the pursuit of Truth and Knowledge. Your nobility of manner did you credit. As for the greater endowment, the Font of Knowledge is as grateful as I am stunned. I swear that as it came from such a man so shall it be used. Only in the furtherance of goodness, and protection, and the mitigation of the threat that you gave your life to combat."

She stepped forward and lowered the book to rest lightly upon his armored breast. "Binder bless and keep you, as he has blessed and kept those for whom you sacrificed all." She closed her eyes, and felt the power glow within the book, brightly to her internal eye, as the protections against the negative powers that had felled him flowed into his earthly remains. May that keep you safe from the depredations of undeath. She did not believe Vansa would have him; she did not think he would have risen again. But with that, she hoped to at least do what she could, privately, to make amends for not being there when he fell.

She stepped back. "Goodbye, Morgan Thane, holy warrior of Kelemvor. May he guide you to your eternal duty at his side."
Last edited by Wynna on Thu May 23, 2019 10:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ravin
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Re: Knightfall

Post by ravin »

Wren, still weak and pale from her injuries , approaches and sets an unlabeled bottle of clear alcohol among the weapons.

Her voice trembles as she speaks to the silent, still form of the paladin.

“ fucking iron clad idiot. I told you not to go. But you had to.” She choked “ your damned duty made you. Driving you forward no matter what the danger. I don’t know if that’s brave or stupid. Only the gods can judge that. I choose to believe that you were dedicated heart and soul to your duty. While I may have bitched, I respect you. You were ballsey enough to drink with me . But you did what I couldn’t do. Ran out to hunt the creature that nearly killed me and faced its mistress. And if I know you, did so without hesitation or fear. If that’s not a hero I don’t know what is. You will be avenged. You won’t be forgotten. Rest now. Damn boneheaded paladin.”

Wrapping her arms around herself she retreats , attempting to find some solace near the fire.
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Duck One
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Re: Knightfall

Post by Duck One »

After watching the others come up to speak, Hudol pauses to see if there are any more. He still in full armor and standing guard in front of the body, when the moment lingers and he steps forward. He removes his helmet revealing a tired and emotionally wrought man. He clears his throat, and begins to speak, panning his gaze around the room to those who have gathered to pay their final respects.

“When I came to this city, it was not my choice. I am here on assignment from my order, and had to leave my home and all those I care about to be here. I am here because I was told to be here. Morgan arrived soon after me, also because he needed to be here. However his need was a calling. Word of the undead had reached him in Baldur’s Gate, and he traveled here to help, to destroy the menace of Vansa and all that comes with her. As a knight of Kelemvor, it was his mission, his calling, his honor.

“So many times in our travels, we found ourselves in the same place at the same time doing similar things, but for slightly different reasons. Down in the crypt as we left the City of the Dead looking for a way to return to the city, I was there to see a fallen man delivered to his final resting place, and then see Clarianna safely home. He, however, saw an opportunity to right a wrong and destroy that which was unnatural. Both of us where there doing the same actions, but with modestly different missions in our hearts.

“So it was too with that fateful night. After tangling with a vampire long enough to get Wren back on her feet and covering their retreat, we found ourselves back here at the Lodge. My first thought was to secure the Lodge in case another vampire attack was coming. When Morgan came up from the basement and heard there was a vampire on the loose slaughtering innocent Waterdhavians, his concern was first and foremost to attack the threat head on. He was off to the Company to rally aid, then off to the city to find the wicked dead. My job then too changed. I knew I should be at his side.

“So after gaining support from Sarenna, Laird, and Smokey at the Company, we returned to the place of the last attack searching for signs of the monster. Not finding him, we feared that perhaps he was tracking Clarianna, and made for the carriage. It was there that Vansa herself appeared. I thought of protecting the carriage driver, Sarenna, the others. But again, Morgan took immediate action and charged the ice queen. Full of purpose and without concern of his own safety, he engaged her.

“Once again, in that moment, I was reminded of what my purpose should be. My place is at …” Hudol falters, clinching his teeth to hold back emotion “… the side of my friend. I so I too charged and engaged her. Close enough to feel the chill of her skin. Close enough to smell the taint of evil in my nostrils. In a flash of magic and act of cowardice, she was gone, taking Morgan with her.”

A very long pause as Hudol fights to tame his emotions and continue to speak, “I don’t know what his final moments were like, but I can imagine. I know he fought her with every ounce of his being, never surrendering. And I know he should not have faced that fate alone, for I should have been in my place, at his side.” His lip now quivering.

“We have lost more than a good man. We have lost a brilliant example of the kind of character this world needs. I shall live the rest of my days trying to emulate the level of courage, conviction, and drive that Morgan Thane has shown me. Now, he is going home secure in the knowledge that his mission was well done. And I have the honor of doing my duty for Morgan once more. After I read his will, I will be traveling with him to Baldur’s Gate…” he turns and faces Morgan, puts his helmet back on, and slowly salutes, “… at his side.”

//OOC - Feel free to continue to offer in-character speeches presumed to happen before Hudol's Farewell.
Duck One

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oldgrayrogue
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Re: Knightfall

Post by oldgrayrogue »

Thank you all for the wonderful Eulogies
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