From the Boughs

is the 37th episode of the third campaign of Critical Role.

Pre-show
With the campaign's first anniversary coming up, the cast presents a new logo for Bells Hells! Per Twitter, the logo was created by the company's in-house graphic designer Jordyn Torrence. The announcement video's visual effects are by Christian Brown.

Part I
Chetney peeks out from the tunnel and sees a city that looks much like Whitestone, shrouded in green mist and with purple light in the sky, but no obvious visible threats. The rest of Bells Hells joins him, one by one, at looking at the city. Chetney realizes, through his blood hunter abilities, that there is a strong sense of necromancy about the city. All of the party can see the Sun Tree in the distance, and they all agree to make use of Ashton's continuing Pass Without Trace and go through the city rather than resting just yet.

The angles of the building seem exaggerated from the reality, the colors washed out and muted, and everything seems to be made of stone. The city rumbles and some of the buildings shift. Orym tries to open a door and the doorknob snaps off, and when Ashton tries to break a window, they find that the "glass" loses its transparency and becomes stone when broken. The buildings continue to shift, making navigation difficult. FCG realizes that the goal is likely to direct them to a certain place, though he is not sure what place.

As Chetney takes the lead, the skeleton of an unknown, massive creature suddenly shoots up from the ground in front of him. Orym climbs the skeleton to get a better view of the city and sees nooses hanging from the Sun Tree, a somewhat unformed city outside of the vicinity the party is in, and does not see Whitestone Castle. Ashton chips away a shard of bone to see if it's also made of stone, and finds that the marrow inside begins to bleed. Imogen takes some of the blood. She asks Chetney who he had seen in the hut earlier, and he said that the shadowy creature was similar to Laudna in form. Orym, on the rooftops, stabs into the building he is on as it begins to shift and finds that it bleeds. They all continue walking.

They hear a pre-teen boy talking in a nearby narrow alleyway, trying to urge a purple-flame girl named Matilda - who appears to be a child version of Laudna - to play a game called "Secret Treasure" in which she tells him a secret and he will give her a treasure. Imogen psychically tells the girl not to trust him, and Matilda tells her that she likes the boy. The boy then throws dirt at the girl, and she disappears into one of the walls. Orym uses Know Your Enemy to determine that the boy has a lower AC, but high HP, as the boy's figure seems to fade away. Imogen uses her telepathic connection to ask the girl where she is, and she tells her that she's in the barn, which is usually outside the city but currently is within it. Orym, on the rooftops, is able to locate a barn, the colors of which are more vivid than the other buildings and which has a light in the hayloft. Bells Hells rushes towards the barn, avoiding various buildings and bones that try to cut off the path.

The purple flamed girl is now much younger, and is playing with two dolls, one of which has a rose gold necklace with three inlaid red jasper stones wrapped around it. She also has made several drawings. When Imogen and Ashton ask her about the dolls and drawings, she says that she made a bird doll to take her away, and that everything outside the city is empty. Orym asks her if she'd like to come with them, and she says that the tree will not let her.

Chetney goes to look at the outside of the barn and sees greenish vines climbing and encircling it, and warns the rest of Bells Hells that it's a trap. When he tries to jump out, the ivy vines stop him, and when Imogen asks the girl for help, she disappears again. Orym cuts his way out, and Ashton is able to make a hole that Imogen can fit through. Ashton, Chetney, FCG, and Fearne all attack the vines from within the barn simultaneously, as the vines begin to sap their life energy. Chetney then puts a stick of dynamite in the vines and they are all able to leave through the hole the explosion makes.

The buildings are shifting much more quickly now as Bells Hells runs through the city. FCG flips their Changebringer coin and they go to the right, and come upon a small house where the girl, now a young woman, is getting dressed nicely. When Imogen asks, she confirms she is getting ready for a dinner. Imogen asks her not to go, but Ashton and Orym disagree, telling Imogen that they can't change Laudna's past but should instead be trying to "make more of her here." Meanwhile, Fearne, who had taken the dolls from the barn, takes the necklace. The doll it had been wrapped around disappears but the necklace remains, and Fearne puts it on.

In the house, Bells Hells sees two older figures, presumably Laudna's parents, also getting ready for the dinner. As Imogen inspects them, Chetney hears wood and buildings, and tells Imogen that something is about to happen and she should hurry. Ashton reiterates that they can't change the past, and they all hear the father figure call the girl "Laudna" rather than "Matilda". The girl turns from the party, and the parent figures attack Bells Hells. The two shadows become tendrils and attack Fearne and Imogen, but the party quickly fights them off. FCG heals Imogen as they continue moving.

When they exit the house they see a path straight to the base of the Sun Tree. They all heal and drink their Potions of Healing and walk towards the tree, where they are greeted by a spectral form of Delilah Briarwood.

Player characters

 * Ashton Greymoore
 * Chetney Pock O'Pea
 * Fearne Calloway
 * Little Mister
 * Fresh Cut Grass
 * Imogen Temult
 * Laudna (shade), Marisha and
 * Orym

Returning

 * Delilah Briarwood (shade)

New

 * Andy, a boy in Whitestone Laudna knew as a child (memory shade)
 * Laudna's mother and father (memory shades)

Mentioned

 * Pike Trickfoot
 * Vex'ahlia

Trivia

 * The plane of a twisted Whitestone that Delilah inhabits is similar to a Domain of Dread as described in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. These domains are innumerable, isolated demiplanes within the Shadowfell that each imprison an evil villain, called a Darklord. Each domain mirrors the Darklord trapped within by drawing on their crimes, failures, or impossible ambitions and twists their desires into ironic torment, to the point that the Darklord hates the domain. At the same time, the Darklord is the root cause of all suffering within the domain and has considerable influence over it.