Throughout the first three seasons of The Legend of Vox Machina, Critical Role has proven it isn’t afraid to make major changes to the story originally unfolding in their actual-play Dungeons & Dragons campaign. From skipping Kraghammer to reshaping character arcs like Pike and Grog, Critical Role and Titmouse pursue a story that, while not hitting every narrative beat of the original campaign, comes very close. However, as the latest batch of episodes from season 4 of The Legend of Vox Machina revealed, some of these changes aren’t just affecting Campaign 1: Vox Machina, but Campaigns 2 and 3 as well.
The following article contains major spoilers for episode 7 of The Legend of Vox Machina, “The Ghosts of Whitestone” and Campaign 3 of Critical Role.
After the previous episodes of turmoil, trauma, and heists, several members of Vox Machina have returned to the city of Whitestone to recuperate and await news from Pike (Ashley Johnson) and Grog (Travis Willingham) about the mysterious cult of the Whispered One that has risen in Exandria. However, Percy (Taliesin Jaffe), Vex (Laura Bailey), Keyleth (Marisha Ray), and Vax (Liam O’Brien) soon find out they’ve got their own problems to deal with.
In the first season of The Legend of Vox Machina, viewers were quickly introduced to the diabolical Delilah and Sylas Briarwood. These two not only eradicated the De Rolo family, leaving only Percy and Cassandra (the latter they took on as their surrogate daughter), but also terrorized the people of Whitestone during Delilah’s attempt to cure Sylas of his vampirism. Vox Machina dealt with the pair, but as revealed in episode 6 of this season, Delilah is back and working for The Whispered One.
As it turns out, Delilah’s experiments have been going on right under Vox Machina’s noses — hidden deep within the tunnels beneath Whitestone Castle. While the rest of Vox Machina deal with these revelations, it’s Vex who discovers a character familiar to fans of Campaign 3: Bells Hells.
Who is Laudna?
While looking for clues about the experiments Delilah was conducting beneath the castle, Vex gets separated from her brother, Vax. She’s transported to a room with menacing dolls that glare at her from above, as well as a creepy, smiling figure.
The figure soon reveals herself to be an ashen-skinned woman with black-and-white hair, ragged clothes, and a penchant for the macabre. Though the figure doesn’t introduce herself, Critters who watch Critical Role’s actual-play campaigns will recognize her as Laudna, Marisha Ray’s player character from Campaign 3. If that doesn’t satisfy you, further evidence appears in the credits of “The Ghosts of Whitestone,” which confirm that Ray voiced both Vox Machina’s druid Keyleth and Laudna in this episode.
Laudna was first introduced in Campaign 3’s first episode, “The Draw of Destiny,” as a Hollowed One sorcerer/warlock. A capable and vital part of the adventuring group Bells Hells, Laudna’s real name was eventually revealed as Matilda Bradbury. Matilda was a human woman who, during the events of Campaign 1, was strung up by Delilah and Sylas and hung from the Sun Tree as a warning to Vox Machina, who was in Whitestone to try to stop the Briarwoods.
What is Laudna’s role in The Legend of Vox Machina?
Laudna explains to Vex that she was invited by the Briarwoods to dine with them (as seen in season 1) and that Delilah had promised to teach her to control her magical abilities. Instead, she was killed and mutilated to look like Vex. Sometime after the events of the first season, Laudna woke up after being cut down from the Sun Tree, where she had languished for a while. Soon, she began hearing Delilah’s voice in her head.
We don’t get a full explanation for why or how Laudna is trapped in these secret rooms of the Briarwoods in “The Ghosts of Whitestone”, but it’s made clear by her general fear of Delilah that their relationship was far from a good one.
Their relationship also doesn’t seem mutually beneficial. Laudna fears her own powers and relies on Delilah, her mistress, to help control them. Only when Vex encourages Laudna to use her powers against Delilah does the former seem to gain a grasp on her abilities, using them to trick Delilah long enough for Vex to seemingly put the necromancer down with an arrow to the throat… for a short while, anyhow. Delilah is soon revived and vanishes.
Before Vex can explain Laudna’s appearance to the rest of Vox Machina, however, she disappears. While it might be the last time we see the character in The Legend of Vox Machina, the reality is that her journey is just beginning.
How does Laudna’s appearance change Campaign 3 of Critical Role?
On the surface, Laudna’s appearance in The Legend of Vox Machina doesn’t seem to change much of her story. The character, along with the other Bells Hells members, eventually meets Percy, Vex, and Pike in Whitestone during Campaign 3, and later, the rest of Vox Machina learns about Laudna and her tragic backstory.
However, the circumstances surrounding Laudna and Vox Machina’s first meeting have changed drastically. In “The Ghosts of Whitestone,” this was entirely by chance. Yet in Campaign 3, the meeting between Vex, Percy, and Pike was the result of the rest of Bells Hells searching for a healer of great renown to bring Laudna back from the dead. This was shortly after the party had been ambushed by Otohan Thull in Bassuras.
Vex, Percy, and Pike were initially suspicious of Laudna due to her connection with Delilah, but they eventually came around after realizing the girl was just as much a victim of the necromancer as they had been during their Campaign 1 adventures. This was a particularly meaningful meeting, as it required legacy characters, such as those from Vox Machina, to set aside their well-earned distrust to help save Laudna’s life. It also showed Vex, Percy and Pike that they weren’t the only ones who suffered at the hands of the Briarwoods.
It’s currently unknown whether Critical Role will ever make an animated adaptation of the Bells Hells campaign — though co-creators of Critical Role, Marisha Ray and Travis Willingham, have expressed plenty of interest in adapting everything they do. However, if that campaign makes it to animation, it’s clear Critical Role will have to grapple with the loss of a meeting that was so impactful in Campaign 3.
The first nine episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina season 4 are now available to stream on Prime Video.
