["Tang's Guide to the Great Desert (Underdark Edition)"—
Unlike the halls each family used to enshrine its idols.
The Spider Temple was the oldest and most magnificent building in the vast Lightless City.
Tracing its history was almost the same as tracing the history of the Drow race.
No one had the courage to damage this temple.
Even now, after a round of Hunt to the Death in the Underdark Calendar, when even the Spider Academy had been rebuilt after the ravages of war, it still retained its independence and the weight of its history.
It stood at the dome of the Spider Academy, suspended and supported by a dense mass of spider silk, like an inverted Gothic palace.
No one knew how it had been hung there. They knew only that its pointed spires faced straight down, reaching toward the academy, which held equal significance for the Drow. The academy was also equal to the temple in scale.
The two buildings had been placed at the same height for no other reason than that both were sources of Drow power—
The temple represented divinity and gifts, the mother's mercy bestowed upon her faithful from above.
The academy represented arcane arts and techniques, the children's ascent toward their deity from below.
The cruel truth was that no matter how high they climbed within the academy, whether they became a true Master of Arms or a Grand Arcanist, they would ultimately still be looked down upon by the order's priestesses. Their futures were so lowly that even the Gray Dwarves looking up could see them clearly.]
Tang walked along a suspension bridge woven from spiderwebs. The webs linked the inverted stalactite towers hanging beneath the dome, forming the only paths between them.
Few Drow suffered from a fear of heights. This