can we talk about matt last night during That Whole Thing. the way he plays delilah is downright scary. in both the literal sense of her being an evil witch but also the way he keeps track of everything so flawlessly. it’s so so clear that he’s been having delilah bide her time, patiently waiting for the perfect moment to get her hands on that rock. maybe she was building power, maybe she needed imogen to hand it over willingly, but the way matt describes the feeling at the back of laudna’s neck in the way he knows will get laudna/marisha to act on it is amazing. the manipulation from delilah. making it seem like laudna’s own worries for her friend. increasing as she’s taking too long to ask for the rock but not pushing too hard to spook her away. in one moment, she gets herself all this power, isolates her host from the group, shatters laudna’s sense of autonomy, establishes a terrifying power over laudna, and lives to fight another day.
Oh Delilah fucking drained the power from the Gnarlrock for herself, didn’t she? She’s gonna try to take over Laudna’s body eventually, isn’t she? Oh my fucking god. My heart is racing.
Just to be clear cause people seem to be forgetting Laudna and Delilah from what we know right now isn’t a regular warlock/patron relationship. Laudna has stated one day Delilah just randomly popped into her head and she’s been there ever since. Laudna has also stated she’s trying to get rid of her and had Imogen look up ways to do that and if she’d lose her powers. People seem to think Laudna willingly went into a pact with Delilah which as far as I know isn’t whats being shown in the show. Laudna isn’t even taking levels in warlock and is canonically practicing her sorcery instead of getting any help from Delilah. I just wanted to point this out because there have been some who think Laudna willingly went into this relationship with Delilah despite the show as of now telling us the exact opposite.
One thing I loved from the most recent batch of tlovm episodes is that it confirms that the Briarwoods were not in fact goth before the necromancy and the vampirism. Delilah reanimated Sylas and then they both went “Oh shit, we’ve simply got to go get the aesthetic to match.” On their way out of town they had to stop by the tailor to get some new gothic horror chic outfits. They’re already going down the dark path, why not fully commit? You want necromancer and her vampire husband? Oh they will fucking serve necromancer and her vampire husband. They will put their whole pussies into necromancer and her vampire husband. They don’t even hide that they’re evil they fully broadcast it on purpose and love it the whole time. No hiding behind a facade, just full on long sweeping black dress and menacing tailcoat and gloves and haunted looking castle. Delilah’s favorite color used to be lavender but not any fucking more it’s black now baby. Sylas makes a point of extra good dental hygiene to make sure those fangs really pop. You might hate them, but you’ve got to admit they’ve got an impressive commitment to the lifestyle.
My sister and I were talking about Delilah’s design and why we didn’t quite fall for her the same way as Sylas.
The answer? She needs more MILF energy.
So I added eyelines and defined cheekbones to match Sylas, changed some colours to feel more cohesive and match her described auburn hair, then simplified the dress a bit. I also made her necklace red because I love those hanging gem necklaces that invoke dripping blood imagery.
Not me being absolutely haunted by the end scenes with Imogen and Laudna and fucking Delilah making one HELL of a crack between their relationship by destroying whatever the fuck has been leeching onto Imogen…MATTHEW WHAT THE FUCK IS IN YOUR BRAAAAAAAAAIN I NEED ANSWERS LOL
So I said I was going to start doing more of these breakdowns and I finally feel these costumes are at a point where I’m comfortable with sharing. Seeing peoples in progress work with costumes is one of my favorite things in the cosplay community. This is just a little insight into how I chose to approach these characters!
(Image Heavy Under the Cut)
One of the most fun things about Cosplaying from Dungeons and Dragons campaigns is there is no official art for the characters! Which means you have a lot of creativity to play with designs! You have brief descriptions from the DM or the player characters but otherwise the world is yours! Both my Girlfriend and I designed our respective costumes for these characters and making them look like they go together and match Matt’s description of them was so much fun!
Design
Matt Describes Delilah when Vox Machina first meet her as:
“A beautiful woman with dark auburn hair, pulled up into a tight braided bun. With gloves on her feminine hands, she wore a blue and black gown that had a long, billowing skirt that tapered up to be form-fitting, wrapping up her neck nearly to her jaw.”
I wanted to incorporate the Victorian style Percy is often depicted as wearing into my design to give off a “Lady of Whitestone” feel. I ended up referencing a lot of 1870′s and 1880′s women’s fashion as well as imagery of Necromancer’s in pre-existing fantasy. While I altered my design as I made it, here’s the base I came up with:
Meanwhile@phoskios worked up a design for Sylas for me to work from.
Matt describes him wearing:
“Predominantly blue and black with gold and red trim. He wore a strip of gray fur cresting over one shoulder and framing his torso.”
I know she referenced a lot of Historic Russian attire, giving her outfit a more “Wildemount” feel. Here’s what she gave me to work with:
Construction
If there’s two things I really love about creating my own costumes its pretty fabric and garment understructure! Oh yeah should probably make that three because small details!
I started off Delilah by making her Lobster Cage or Grand Bustle. (Yay understructure!) I had never made one before so I used Truly Victorian’s pattern. It was much more straight forward than anticipated and would highly recommend it!
I was so excited with how it came out I immediately started draping the blue skirt. It’s made out of a blue silk dupioni. I nixed the gradient in my design for this fabric because I adored the way it shifted colors in the light!
Then it was back to understructure. I drafted and made a spiral boned corset to support and distribute the weight of the skirts. So even though you don’t really see it in the final product it’s doing it’s job under all the layers. Keeping the skirt from bruising my hips (yes this has happened in other ball gowns i’ve made. Heavy skirts are no joke.)
I apparently didn’t take as many pictures of this process, sorry about that. Same with the shirt, which is what I tackled next. It has a false front so it lays nicely and closes in the back so that I can get in and out of it easily. and it makes this costume finally look like it’s coming together!
At this point I needed to start on Sylas. So I decided to tackle both jackets at once. I’m not as comfortable with jacket construction as I’d like to be, so instead of drafting my own patterns for them I used a base and altered them in mock up form. For Sylas I used Simplicity 5386 (The Neo Jacket) and for Delilah McCall’s 7071. Sylas looks awfully silly in pink.
At this point I traveled to Philly and had her try everything on. We went to the fashion district to get fabric for Sylas and I made alterations to the mock up. Cut everything out and started piecing it together.
I also cut out her cape and fur while I was there to make sure length was accurate. The cape is made of velvet and is fully lined. I just used a basic circle skirt for the pattern. The fur is a base of batting that is covered and hand sewn in place.
Unfortunately here is where Christmas and the MAGFest con crunch hits and I neglect to take progress pictures. Sylas’ belt for that con was an old table runner found in my house. His Jacket gets lined with the same blue fabric I used for my Delilah. Delilah’s Jacket sleeves get velvet details that are satin stiched on and both Jackets get hand sewn velvet bias tape. Sylas’ closures are painted. My poor girlfriend cuts appliques in the car on the way to the con, and I pull an almost all nighter hand sewing them to her jacket. Both wigs are styled in the hotel room.
After almost 3 months of working on them they’re not done, but wearable for MAG.
With MAGFest over we planned to put these away until Dragon*con and make Fjord and Jester for Colossal since it’s a warmer convention. We planned that but ended up deciding to re-wear these instead of making something new. Which means time to get to things I didn’t have a chance to touch before.
Delilah’s only improvement for the con was her velvet overskirt.
Sylas however got a new belt as well as some more appliques and closures. And while his jacket still isn’t quiet finished (It will be for Dragon*con, I promise) these costumes finally feel like they’ve come together for me.
The Briarwoods truly are my favorite villains from campaign one and I adore wearing these costumes. As always if you have any questions my door is always open.
My handsome Sylas and all prop work done by @phoskios
Individual photosets of these costumes can be found here.
Okay yes Delilah Briarwood is “evil” and “a murderer” and “a servant of an ancient necromantic wannabe god” BUT have you considered that she is hot and did everything for love
[ID: A digital illustration of Laudna and Delilah Briarwood from Critical Role. Laudna has an anxious expression and her head is turned towards the green spectral image of Delilah Briarwood that stands behind her. Delilah smiles, looking at Laudna. Laudna looks away from Delilah, illuminated in a green glow from behind. End description.]
Some more shots of my animatic in light of the most recent batch of TLOVM episodes plus a comparison to the show. I was pretty close on some of these!
Granted, they changed it around a bit for the series, I based myself solely on how Matt told it in the CR1 wrap up, with a little bit of creative liberty
This is my first ever animatic! I decided to explore the Briarwoods’ past as told by Matt in the CR1 campaign wrap up, all voiced by me! I’ve had this idea in my head for a while and I’m so glad it’s finally out! Especially since we might soon see the canon version, which could be completely different from this, but oh well. I started working on this before the official designs and cast list were out. Hope you enjoy it!
Next day bump!! Please check it out, I put a lot of work into it and I think you’ll enjoy!
![[Image id. Edited screenshot of Delilah Briarwood from The Legend of Vox Machina. Her hair is slightly redder, with darker makeup. She has added eye lines and defined cheekbones. She wears a black, high-collared, sleeveless dress with a red necklace like dripping blood. End id.]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/dd29a05754bfe39f91fcf5dd5e0d2fe1/07e93d977661d7d3-96/s640x960/42af1ab199eba204cf645377244d1b20f07ca515.png)
![[Image id. Original screenshot of Delilah Briarwood. Sylas' is holding her chin as she looks at him off-screen with a sinister smile. End id.]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/5a00c291630b2255c92ee2eeceb8b5bd/07e93d977661d7d3-68/s640x960/6830e068afa344cbc72f49cc6a06fdb7185be632.png)
