Laudna

 is a human Hollow One sorcerer/warlock and a member of Bells Hells. is played by Marisha Ray.

Appearance
When she first appears, Laudna is fairly young, pale, and gaunt. Her big eyes have dilated pupils, and her lips are dark. Marisha further describes Laudna's features as "almost doll-like." She has long, thin, dark hair with a shock of white through her bangs, pulled up in a half-up bun with a rock chisel (depicted as a rock pick in official art). She wears tattered clothes, including a dark red blouse and a black skirt. She wears pointy gold cuffs on her ears to hide their edges, which were once shorn to points like an elf's. Her belt holds various tools, a dead rat with a raven skull named Pâté de Rolo, and other odds and ends. When Laudna uses her Form of Dread, her extremities elongate and a black veil comes across her face, hiding a stream of black tears pouring from her eyes.

Her eyes glow green at times, notably when she uses Eyes of the Runekeeper or Cling to Life.

Personality
In stark contrast to her ghoulish appearance, Laudna is rather bubbly, personable, and easy-going. Laudna 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. She also shows insecurity when she feels as if she is lacking in purpose and thus tends to want to be helpful in any way.

When asked by Orym how she is the "happiest person" in Bells Hells, she comments 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".

Background
Laudna grew up on a farm on the outskirts of Whitestone in Tal'Dorei, and always had innate magical capabilities. Even as a young girl, she was thought of as the freak of the town. 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. 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. She left the city and never returned, and believes she is a cross between dead and alive. Although the Briarwoods are dead, Laudna began to hear the voice of Delilah Briarwood in her head around a year after Delilah died. Laudna hears Delilah "every now and then."

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.

Imogen Temult

 * &rarr; Main article: Relationship between Imogen and Laudna

Imogen is Laudna's closest ally, whom Laudna met while she was in Imogen's town a couple of years ago. They "hit it off really well" and decided to start traveling together. They share a goal: to try to enter one of the conservatories located in the Spires so Imogen can do research. They have been staying together in Jrusar with their landlady, Zhudanna.

Laudna will often wake when Imogen has a nightmare and sometimes observes Imogen without waking her up as it happens. After Imogen awakens, she comforts her and talks about what Imogen saw in the dream.

Delilah Briarwood
Laudna occasionally hears the voice of her patron, Delilah, in her head. Delilah appears to be her warlock patron, although it is unclear when after Laudna and Delilah's respective deaths the pact was made.

While Laudna was inspecting the shard that Imogen got from the Shade Mother's den, Delilah used her power to shatter the shard and transfer the magical essence into Laudna, which made Imogen upset at seeing the broken shard.

Fearne Calloway
She and Fearne clicked almost immediately. Fearne loved everything about her and was even fascinated when she saw Laudna perform her 'Form of Dread' for the first time. Laudna, Fearne, and Imogen all have bonded over being spellcasters, and call one another 'Witchy/Witch Bitches'.

Orym
Orym is one of the few members of Bells Hells that knows Laudna's cause of death. Laudna seems to trust Orym enough to tell him. Orym in return shows his empathy towards her in his repeated apologies about her death. Additionally Orym, due to his relationship with Keyleth, knew about the Whitestone atrocities.

Ashton Greymoore
Unlike many people she's encountered, including other party members, who seem off-put by Laudna's creepiness, Ashton seems to love her aesthetic.

Notable items

 * Bloodwell Vial +1
 * Immovable rod
 * Pâté de Rolo, a puppet made by Laudna
 * Thieves' tools
 * Sashimi, a faceless marionette with two sunken eyes given to her by Imogen and Ashton
 * Disguise kit

Hollow One abilities

 * Ageless
 * Cling to Life
 * Revenance
 * Unsettling Presence

Feats

 * Spell Sniper

Sorcerer abilities

 * Spellcasting (Charisma-based spellcasting)
 * Sorcerous Origin (Shadow Magic)
 * Eyes of the Dark: Darkvision 120 ft.
 * Strength of the Grave
 * Font of Magic
 * Sorcery Points: 4
 * Flexible Casting
 * Metamagic
 * Quickened Spell
 * Twinned Spell

Warlock abilities

 * Otherworldly Patron (The Undead)
 * Form of Dread
 * Pact Magic (Charisma-based spellcasting)
 * Eldritch Invocations (2)
 * Agonizing Blast
 * Eyes of the Rune Keeper

Cantrips

 * Mending
 * Message
 * Ray of Frost

1st-level

 * False Life
 * Shield
 * Silent Image
 * Silvery Barbs
 * Feather Fall

2nd-level

 * Darkness

Cantrips

 * Eldritch Blast

1st-level

 * Bane
 * Hellish Rebuke
 * Hex

Unknown class spells
Some spells Laudna knows are available to her through both of her classes and are listed here until their source is confirmed.

Cantrips

 * Chill Touch
 * Prestidigitation
 * Thaumaturgy

Behind the scenes
Laudna's creation indirectly stems from a nightmare Marisha had where she encountered the jaw-less flower girl (which Laudna later conjured with Silent Image in ). This made her want to play a creepy character for Campaign Three, and she initially wanted to play a little girl who had died and been resurrected, but ultimately believed it could get weird and decided to play an adult instead. Marisha knew from the outset that her character would have died during the Briarwoods' insurrection of Whitestone and been resurrected, and through discussion with Matt, the idea that she was the effigy of Vex'ahlia hung from the Sun Tree came to be. From there, she decided to multiclass as a sorcerer/warlock, and would thus need a patron, for which she suggested Delilah Briarwood.

Appearances and mentions

 * Campaign Three, every episode

Quotations
Imogen: Laudna, you’re scary-scary. Dorian: When you're using their body parts, I think so. Laudna: Wow. Don't tell Pâté. Laudna: (in Pâté's voice) "Well, you see, Laudna here was quite alone for quite some time, and she kind of needed somebody to keep her company or else she would go insane. Especially because it was just me and that voice in her head." (in her own voice) He's so silly. Ashton: It's a very broad word, isn't it? Laudna: I'm not entirely sure. I think so. [...] I think I'm some cross in between life and death. Not totally alive, but not totally dead. I definitely died! I died, and then I woke up. I woke up, and I was surrounded by a lot of other corpses, and all of Whitestone was in a complete panic, run amok, just death and disease and nightmare everywhere, and I didn't know what happened so I ran. I haven't really aged. Fresh Cut Grass: How long ago was that? Laudna: Thirty years. Laudna: Hm? I would hope a great deal of many things. Orym: Well, there's the obvious, but you're the happiest person in this bunch. Laudna: Of course! The worst thing that's ever happened to me has already happened.
 * Laudna: I'm fun-scary!
 * Laudna: Is it rude to ask about dead people?
 * Orym: So why are you puppeteering a dead rat?
 * Laudna: You know, I don't think I've ever been in love either. I mean, that's not true. I deeply love Imogen.
 * Fresh Cut Grass: Are you dead? What the fuck is up with that?
 * Laudna: (giving the "book jacket version" of her life to Chetney) I was alive, but then I was dead, and now I'm alive again. I'm originally from Whitestone and this is Pâté, my pet rat. (as Pâté) "Hello, Chetney!"
 * Laudna: Nightmares are just fun dreams. They're inspiration, right? I've pulled many of my tactics from nightmares that I've had. They keep you on your toes.
 * Orym: You know what's interesting about you?

Trivia

 * Laudna's name likely derives from laudanum, an opium tincture historically widely used as pain medication or to induce sleep. Its use is often featured in especially 19th century Gothic and horror literature.
 * The animation on her stat card features black smoke and black ooze dripping from the top of the frame.
 * When using the Message spell, Laudna's voice is accompanied by eerie whispers and otherworldly sound effects created by the rest of the cast. This began as a joke when Laudna tried to spook Orym with a Message and has become a running gag. Prior to this event, her Messages had no echoes.
 * Laudna is the second player character to hail from Whitestone, following Percival de Rolo.
 * During the masquerade ball in Jrusar, Laudna used the alias "Lorelei de Rolo", combining the name of the werewolf family in with the last name of the rulers of Whitestone, her former home. Her stuffed rat Pâté de Rolo also bears the de Rolo name.
 * The word "lorelei" was also mentioned by Laudna as an abusive name hurled at her by mobs when she was driven out of various towns. In this context, it refers to a siren or mermaid who lures men to their doom, particularly one associated with stories surrounding the Lorelei rock in the River Rhine.
 * Until Chetney Pock O'Pea's introduction in, Laudna was the only member of Bells Hells to have darkvision.