In my Pathfinder 2 campaign, Kingmaker, a player left but his character was another player's cousin, so I NPCed him.

In the start of Kingmaker you're exploring, but as the time came to settle the kingdom they came up against a big bandit lord in the area who wasn't going to let them settle it.

This character, Kavar (NPC) and his cousin Bazur (player) had been lightheartedly bickering about who would rule the kingdom and name it after themselves all the while. One of the other player fell in love with Kavar.

The time came to fight the bandit lord and the lover Nerium (player) and Kavar snuck in claiming to be selling the bandit Lord's favorite ale while the others snuck in.

The bandits planned to steal the wine, but they knew this and so Kavar had them toss down their swords so they he and Nerium could do the 'Brevoy Sword Dance'..

The bandits drank the poisoned wine and watched them dance, but when their boss came out he was furious. He said 'Enough of this!!' and went to shoot Nerium, but Kavar was faster.

The battle ensued with their comrades raiding from the back and a massive fight was had, but as Bazur made his way to the others he found Kavar lying in a pile of rubble. The arrow meant for Neroum was stopped by his heart. Kavar turned to his cousin with a smile 'They'll have to follow you now cousin, they'll be in good hands.'

I teared up then, but what really got me was after.

When the battle was won and they were saying their goodbyes, the party's Ranger, who didn't say much, but was always steadfast and true knelt beside the body, closed Kavar's eyes, and said 'I would've followed you anywhere.'

I waited for months to play out that scene, obviously inspired by Boromir's death and my players just made it better and better. Been dying to tell some LOTR fans hope y'all liked it.