Laudna

Having been killed before Vox Machina's arrival in the city and left during the rebellion, Laudna was unaware that Percival and Cassandra de Rolo had returned to power in Whitestone, saying that she became "a bit of a recluse" after her time in Whitestone. She didn't talk to people much, and they didn't want to talk to her.She spent the next thirty years going from town to town, living in fixed-up abandoned shacks in the woods until chased out by townsfolk denouncing her as an undead witch.It was during this time that she "kind of forgot who she was, being alone for so long", and while singing to herself, gradually changed her name to "Laudna".During this period, she did have one friend, a young girl who wasn't afraid of her.
About two years before the beginning of Campaign Three, Laudna met Imogen Temult in Gelvaan, with whom she became best friends.They left the town together when the inhabitants tried to violently remove Laudna from it, and Imogen saved her in an impressive, but also violent way.Laudna and Imogen roomed together in Jrusar with their landlady, Zhudanna,before meeting and joining up with Bells Hells.

"What Doesn't Break"
This novel traces Laudna's life from her young adulthood in Whitestone and the horrific events perpetrated by the Briarwoods against both the city and Laudna herself, through the approximately forty years during which she wandered through Exandria and established a tentative détente with Delilah, until her meeting with Imogen Temult near Gelvaan.

Laudna (then named Matilda Bradbury)grew up on a farm on the outskirts of Whitestone in Tal'Dorei, and always had innate magical capabilities. Her family was not especially religious, but went through the motions of paying symbolic respect to the Dawnfather, who was revered in Whitestone. She was something of a late bloomer when she was a child.Even as a young girl, she was thought of as the freak of the town. She would occasionally seek refuge in and explore the tunnels beneath Whitestone Castle.She once had a crush on a young boy named Andy, but he threw dirt in her face.The Briarwoods took over the city when Laudna was a young woman. Shortly before the Whitestone Rebellion in 810 PD, she and her parents were invited to dine with the Briarwoods and told they were going to serve a greater purpose. In addition to the promise of festivities, she hoped that the magical Briarwoods would take interest in developing her natural sorceress magic and becoming a powerful mage, a pursuit her parents supported. After the dinner, she was killed. Her ears were docked into points like those of a half-elf and she was strung up on the Sun Tree in effigy of Vex'ahlia.Laudna woke up hanging from the tree when a burst of necromantic magic hit her and mingled with her natural magic, turning her into a Hollow One.She left the city and never returned, and believes she is a cross between dead and alive.For a time she was just herself, but months later she began to hear the voice of Delilah Briarwood in her head around a year after Delilah died permanently, moment in which the archmage used the tether with Laudna she had established after her first death in Whitestone to become more tied to the world of the living.She heard Delilah "every now and then" during that time of her life.

"You see, at the end of all things, only yourself can be relied on, when all love is taken."When Bor'Dor Dog'Son betrayed the party, Laudna used Hunger of the Shadow again to kill him even though she knew it had the potential to bring Delilah Briarwood's influence back.

In stark contrast to her ghoulish appearance, Laudna is rather bubbly, personable, and easy-going, although her emotions can fluctuate wildly. Marisha Ray described her as "just a little joyful undead kind of manic pixie dream girl."She seems largely unaware of how frightening she appears (especially when she uses her Form of Dread power) and becomes offended when someone judges her based on appearances alone; although after some time she started enjoying people's reactions whenever she noticed they were scared of her. She is both gullible and innately hopeful.When asked by Orym how she is the "happiest person" in Bells Hells, she commented that "the worst thing that's ever happened to [her] has already happened," alluding to her death. She prefers not to dwell on the past, beseeching others to do so in kind, that there is "no point in being sad over what can't be changed".Despite her basic happiness, she has deep insecurities, paranoia, and worries, particularly about those she cares deeply for.[47] She fears rejection and betrayal, probably stemming from earliest childhood when her peers regarded her as a "freak".[48] After her death on the Sun Tree, she was rejected by all of society, and responded by creating dolls to be her friends, which she continued to play with even after joining Bells Hells.The first real person to accept her as she now is was Imogen, and she was devastated when Imogen seemed to reject her as well after Delilah forced Laudna to break the gnarlrock.Due to her isolation and arrested development, she isn't equipped to deal with big emotional moments, even if social interaction have improved her skills to a degree. She reacts most strongly to betrayal. During the combat with Fresh Cut Grass when he went berserk and attacked the party, Laudna was traumatized, having interpreted a message from Delilah as,Your friends are going to betray you." She cast Hunger of the Shadow for the first time on FCG and heard Delilah's voice saying

Later, just before the party traveled to Aeor, Laudna crafted herself (with her mind somewhat absent) a completely new outfit consisting of a black blouse with billowy sheer sleeves and a high collar, a small green gem on a choker chain, tight gloves, a breastplate formed of golden chains resembling a rib cage over a black corset, a long black-purple skirt under a cage-like golden crinoline. Her hair was now worn tied into a tight bun.Originally, when Laudna used her Form of Dread, her extremities elongated and a black veil came across her face, hiding a stream of black tears pouring from her eyes. After her death and subsequent resurrection, the form altered to embody aspects of the Sun Tree.But when Laudna cast Hunger of the Shadow on Bor'Dor Dog'Son after learning he had betrayed the party, she heard a slow heartbeat start up in the back of her mind, and the faint shimmer of a mourning veil folded over the top of her Form of Dread as Bor'Dor's life essence was sucked into her mouth. Although for some time she managed to keep her Form of Dread tree-themed, whenever she channeled Delilah's essence the veil appeared again. While exploring Whitestone Castle, the image became more definitively that of Delilah, with wider shoulders and wearing her choker, in an overlapping secondary shadow of Laudna.[36] After Delilah was trapped within the soul anchor, Laudna's Form of Dread became more like a generic noble banshee and less like Delilah Briarwood.Her eyes glow green at times, notably when she uses Eyes of the Runekeeper or Cling to Life.After Delilah was sealed inside the Pinion of Service and the device left inside Laudna's chest, she stayed mostly the same, although her body temperature raised ever so slightly, making her less clammy;the soul anchor's purple light inside her is barely visible.Moreover, she now has scars on one of her ankles where Chetney carved the letters "C-POP".