Chapter Summaries

Catherine learned that Tang had saved Wind Sand Islet but disappeared after the battle, while his companions confirmed he was alive and searched for a way to locate him. Halahar found Tang’s location: the Great Desert.

• Catherine heard from the newspaper that Tang had helped defeat the devils’ plot, but his fate was unknown after the victory.
• Dawn’s companions discussed Tang’s disappearance, and Hubble Hall suspected the Tide of Chaos had teleported him.
• Shivana decided to find Tang, and Hubble Hall contacted Halahar about the Locator Ring.
• Halahar located Tang and revealed that he had been teleported to the Great Desert.

Shivana agreed to stay in the Twilight Forest until Halahar arrived, while Dawn insisted on joining her to find Tang. Tang woke in the Great Desert with Shalti, Yiwu, and Night Wind, and chose to head west toward his homeland and the secrets of the Stone of Oblivion and the Journal.

• Shivana agreed to stay and spread the faith until Halahar arrived, and Dawn said she would accompany Shivana when she left; everyone stopped Anbi from going.
• Tang woke in the Great Desert beside Shalti and Yiwu, and Shalti admitted she had risked her life to save him because she was curious about his happiness in the face of death.
• Tang hugged Shalti, helping her understand that comfort could ease her fear of losing the people she cared about.
• Tang and Shalti dug Night Wind out of the sand, and Night Wind said he had tried to repay Tang for helping his sister.
• Shalti identified their location as the Great Desert, and Tang used his knowledge of the continent and his [Guide] Feat to choose west toward the Tyron Empire.
• Tang told Night Wind he wanted to return to his homeland and investigate the Stone of Oblivion and the Journal.

After seven days crossing the Great Desert with almost no food or water, Tang shared nectar with Shalti while Night Wind complained about being left out. His Journal granted new abilities and Asmodeus’s infernal gift, leaving Tang immune to fire but marked so devils could recognize him and seek to bring him before the Lord of the Nine Hells.

• Tang carried hungry Yiwu and gave Shalti nectar from the Daisy Ring, while Night Wind insisted that his ability to endure hunger did not mean he was not thirsty.
• As the group continued west through the desert, Tang finished his Journal entries and learned that his renown had reached “Fame far and wide.”
• The Journal awarded Tang Universal Speech, Charm Monster, and Succubus’s Kiss for his actions at the Great Wall and in rescuing the succubus.
• Tang received Scimitar Master, Freedom of Movement, and the Tyrant’s Infernal Gift for rejecting the devils’ offer at Wind Sand Islet.
• Tang discovered that the gift stopped his natural aging and made him immune to fire, but Asmodeus’s Gaze let any devil recognize him through disguises and illusions.

Tang Qi gained the Commanding Aura and Miracle Die, then discovered the die could trigger unpredictable magical effects. As the group faced underground predators in the Great Desert, a Blue-Footed Dragon Serpent emerged and attacked Yiwu with lightning.

• Tang Qi received the Commanding Aura and Miracle Die, and the die’s roll of 1 caused his Magic Trick flame to flare wildly.
• Tang Qi, Shalti, and Night Wind heard rumbling beneath their camp and escaped as Hook Horrors burst through the sand.
• Night Wind identified the Hook Horrors, while Shalti warned their unusual appearance might signal a larger predator.
• A Blue-Footed Dragon Serpent swallowed Leomon's Hut and declared it would eat Tang Qi’s group, especially Yiwu as a descendant of Giant Dragons.
• The Blue-Footed Dragon Serpent charged a lightning breath and fired it at Yiwu, prompting Tang Qi to shout for everyone to move.

Tang Qi used Charm Monster to persuade a Blue-Footed Dragon Serpent to spare Yiwu and head east in search of Giant Dragons. After discovering signs that the Hook Horrors had been killed by a poisoned scimitar, Tang Qi and his companions realized Drow hunters had surrounded them.

• Tang Qi stopped Shalti and Night Wind from attacking the Blue-Footed Dragon Serpent and used Charm Monster to calm it.
• The serpent demanded Yiwu, but Tang Qi redirected it toward the Giant Dragons to the east by claiming they were better prey.
• The Blue-Footed Dragon Serpent believed Tang Qi and left, allowing the group to claim the charred Hook Horrors as food.
• Tang Qi and Night Wind argued about Night Wind's past attempt to kill him and his loyalty to Leon.
• Shalti found cracks in a Hook Horror's shell, and Night Wind recognized poisoned scimitar marks that identified the creatures as Drow prey.
• Tang Qi spotted dark figures appearing atop the dunes and warned that they had arrived too late to escape.

Tang, Night Wind, Shalti, and Yiwu were captured by a Drow patrol while fleeing Hook Horrors. As Tang won the captain’s favor and questioned him about the fall of the Kling Family, the captain began explaining how it happened.

• A Drow patrol surrounded Tang’s group, and Tang pretended he and Shalti were prisoners captured by Night Wind.
• The patrol shackled all four travelers and confiscated their weapons after the captain revealed that the Kling Family had fallen decades earlier.
• Tang used [Commanding Aura] and [Art of Making Friends] to persuade the captain to discuss Drow society and the overthrow of the Matron Mothers.
• The captain said the Kling Family’s downfall began with a Hunt to the Death ordered by the Mother Goddess.

Tang, Night Wind, and Shalti were captured by a Drow expedition and learned why the Kling Family had fallen from power. As the party brought them into the Underdark as slaves, Tang stayed calm and planned to escape once he found better supplies.

• The Drow captain explained that the Kling Family had concealed Lolth’s hunt-to-the-death edict, then lost its divine power and became prey for other families.
• Night Wind claimed he was Simon Kling, but the captain dismissed his story, and Tang tried to distance himself from Night Wind.
• The captain said the priestess would decide the captives’ fate, then ordered Mero to give Tang, Night Wind, and Shalti Triple-Deckers after Tang said they had gone hungry for seven days.
• After three days of travel, the Drow party reached a rift leading into the Underdark, where Shalti recognized saline-alkali land like the area near a ruin.
• Tang decided against attacking the Drow because their supplies were too limited to help him survive the desert, and he entered the rift calmly while hoping for supplies in Drow territory.

Tang and the other captives were taken into the Underdark by Drow, where he learned about its terrain, food, and mind-affecting Earth Vein Radiation. At the Drow outpost, Captain Vincent reported their arrival to Priestess Sharan, while Tang assessed the guards and heard a familiar voice address him.

• The Drow captain shoved Tang into the Rift, where a giant spiderweb caught him and the others before they landed safely below.
• The Drow led the captives through the mushroom-lit tunnels, and Vincent whipped Night Wind after he questioned the captain.
• Tang recorded what he observed about the vast Underdark, its Earth Vein Radiation, and the mushrooms people used for food.
• The party reached a Drow outpost, where a guard warned Vincent that Priestess Sharan was angry about the food shortage and suggested eating captives.
• Vincent announced that he had brought a slave, a collectible, and an offering for the Kling Family, then went to report to Priestess Sharan.
• As Mero led Tang and the others toward the cells, Tang counted the guards in the outpost’s hanging towers and heard a familiar voice mock him.

Tang and his companions were imprisoned at a Drow outpost, where they reunited with Nightingale and met several other captives. Tang rejected a simple escape and planned to negotiate with the outpost’s priestess to obtain supplies and recover their weapons.

• Mero locked Tang, Shalti, and Night Wind in the slave pen but left the gate unlocked as a trap, which the captives recognized.
• Nightingale explained how she escaped Great Wall Prison, traveled underground, and was captured after invoking the Kling family name.
• Tang freed himself with Anbi’s Freedom of Movement ring and explained that the group needed supplies and their weapons from the Drow barracks.
• A Gray Dwarf, a Goblin, and a Svirfneblin offered to help the group escape or find shelter.
• Tang warned that the outpost’s guards, spiders, and watchers made escape dangerous, then said he planned to work with the priestess instead.

Vincent and Mero fought over the fate of Tang and the other captives while Sarah decided to take the Kling sacrifices for herself. Tang used [Command] and the [Prismatic Robe] to seize Sarah, who asked whether his offer still stood.

• Sarah praised Vincent for capturing two Kling and asked whether he would punish Mero, but then revealed she wanted the Kling sacrifices for herself.
• Vincent realized he had not searched Tang and his companions thoroughly and rushed to the Slave Pens, where Mero was about to whip Night Wind.
• Sarah ordered Vincent to bring the Kling sacrifices to the square, but when he hesitated, she turned to Mero, who eagerly chose her side.
• Tang used [Command] to keep Sarah from blinking, then used the [Prismatic Robe] to stun the Drow and put a scimitar to her neck.
• Sarah tried to escape her shackles with [Freedom of Movement], but Tang stopped her with [Counterspell], and she asked whether his offer still stood.

Tang used his enchantments and commands to take control of the Drow outpost, then charmed the released Drider and directed its violence against the Drow. Sarah watched in disbelief as Tang’s magic helped the Drider kill her people.

• Tang forced the Drow to surrender their weapons and made Vincent approach with [Command], revealing that Tang’s charm had influenced Vincent for days.
• Mero released a Drider from its cage, and Tang used [Charm Monster] to keep it from attacking him.
• Sarah ordered the Drider to kill Tang, but it turned on the Drow instead.
• Tang commanded the Drow to stand still as the Drider cut them down, leaving Sarah shocked by Tang’s control and apparent supply of Spell Slots.

Tang and his allies overwhelmed Sarah’s Drow force, but Sarah rallied her fighters and sent Vincent to attack Tang. Vincent revealed a scimitar technique that created three mirror images, yet Tang blocked the strike, leaving Vincent stunned.

• Sarah tried to summon a swarm of locusts, but Tang countered her spell and exposed his strength as a high-circle spellcaster.
• Nightingale slipped out of the slave enclosure, while the other three slaves were caught and forced back by the Marsh Bearfolk guard.
• Sarah ordered Mero to attack Tang, but Night Wind intercepted him and fought him with throwing knives and a stolen dagger.
• Sarah coordinated the Drow’s counterattack as Tang’s prismatic light stunned them, while Shalti fired magic arrows at Sarah and Vincent deflected them.
• Sarah whipped Vincent and ordered him to kill the slaves, so he charged Tang with his [Mirror Image Blade] technique.
• Tang blocked Vincent’s real scimitar despite its three overlapping images, leaving Vincent horrified.

Tang and Vincent fought while Priestess Sarah used a locust swarm to try to kill Tang, but Vincent survived and turned against her after Tang’s song stirred his desire for equality. Sarah and Mero died, and as the surviving Drow fled the cavern, Nightingale ambushed them with the oil she had prepared.

• Tang used [True Sight] to see through Vincent’s [Mirror Image Blade], then fought him with his saber and spells.
• Sarah trapped Tang and Vincent in a [Plague Swarm], treating Vincent as a disposable pawn, but Tang’s [Healing Word] and song helped Vincent survive and escape the swarm.
• Tang used [Command] to freeze Sarah, and Vincent killed her with his scimitar before collapsing from his wounds.
• Mero tried to surrender, but Night Wind killed him, and the surviving Drow fled toward the cavern entrance.
• Nightingale ignited oil she had spread at the entrance, ambushing the fleeing Drow.

Tang’s group learned that the Kling Family might not yet have been sacrificed, prompting him to plan an expedition to Lightless City. Nightingale was the best guide for entering the Drow stronghold, so Tang restrained her and demanded that she come along.

• Tang explained that he had exploited divisions among the Drow but had not known their family conflict in advance.
• Nightingale revealed that Christian had betrayed the hidden Kling Family, whose survivors were captured and held for sacrifice in Lightless City.
• Nightingale told Tang that the Kling Matron Mother had hidden the family in Giant Dragon Ruins and may have discovered a connection between the Great Desert and a Giant Dragon.
• Night Wind explained that sacrifices required a specific date and ritual, leading Tang to suspect the Kling Family had not yet been sacrificed.
• Tang ordered Shalti to capture Nightingale, then told her she could either come to Lightless City willingly or be forced to go.

Tang persuaded Nightingale to help him reach Lightless City by warning her that the Phlogiston Sea would engulf the world in two years and that the dragon might offer a way to escape. As the group prepared to travel deeper underground, Tang freed three former slaves and pointed them toward Dragon Gold City, while his diary granted him new abilities and a reactionary demeanor.

• Nightingale suggested disguising Shalti as a drow with Beauty Powder, but Tang said he still needed Nightingale's help to enter the sacrifice.
• Tang warned Nightingale that the Phlogiston Sea would engulf the world in two years and argued that helping him and the sleeping dragon might give her a chance to escape.
• Nightingale agreed to cooperate, and Tang untied her as she began loading food and baggage onto the four-legged lizard.
• Tang freed the goblin, gray dwarf, and underground gnome from their shackles and advised them to take their families northeast to Dragon Gold City.
• Tang's diary enhanced his Disguise Spell and granted him the Reactionary demeanor and the Mirror Image Blade ability.

Tang and Shalti traveled through the Underdark, where they encountered dangerous creatures and received kindness from a Myconid community near Spider City. As Shalti spoke of her longing to return to the stars and her fear of losing those she loved, Tang comforted her with the Myconids’ glowing Thought Meld, which made the dark forest look like a starry sky.

• Tang described the Carrion Crawlers and Hook Horrors they encountered during their journey through the Underdark.
• Tang and Shalti reached a Myconid forest near the route to Spider City, where the Myconid King offered them shelter and warned them of the perilous cliffs ahead.
• The Myconid King said his people had sensed a distant threat, and Tang urged them to flee north even though it would only delay the danger.
• Shalti told Tang she wanted to return to the stars because only her people could stay with her for a long time, and Tang reassured her that their shared memories would endure.
• Tang showed Shalti the Myconids’ glowing Thought Meld, whose lights filled the forest like a starry sky, and brushed away a tear from her eye.

Tang and his companions prepared disguises for their approach to Lightless City, while Tang tested a new spell and helped Shalti apply Beauty Powder. The chapter ended with Nightingale teasing Tang after finding him cooling off in the underground lake.

• Night Wind and Nightingale discussed posing as Shalti’s captives, and Tang used an enhanced Disguise Spell to take on the appearance of a male Drow.
• Tang tested his newly acquired Mirror Image Blade and wondered whether the journal’s rewards came from a future version of himself.
• Shalti asked Tang to apply Beauty Powder to her back, and he helped her while trying to respect her trust in him.
• Tang fled to the underground lake to cool down after helping Shalti, but Nightingale appeared across the water and teased him about bathing there.

Tang and Nightingale traded teasing remarks about strength, mercy, and the Drow before Nightingale challenged him in the pool, and Tang overcame her. The group then navigated dangerous Underdark creatures and reached the outskirts of Lightless City, where Night Wind faced his return home.

• Tang and Nightingale discussed human nobles, Drow customs, and whether strength or cunning determined who survived.
• Nightingale vanished beneath the pool, caught Tang with a water snake disguise, and challenged him to prove he was strong.
• Tang dragged Nightingale underwater and defeated her, while Shalti watched from among the fungi and asked if he was all right.
• Tang recorded how the group avoided swarms of Fire Beetles and Giant Spiders by letting the predators fight each other, at the cost of a Charm Monster spell.
• Tang and Night Wind emerged from the cavern and spotted Lightless City ahead, and Night Wind urged the group to keep moving.

Tang and his companions reached the outskirts of Lightless City, where Nightingale explained how the Drow’s goddess kept their population stable through betrayal and slaughter. As they entered the ruins in disguise, Shalti spotted someone hiding nearby, and a frightened Beastfolk emerged and begged them not to kill him.

• Night Wind spotted Intellect Devourers blocking the cliff path, but Tang and the others passed them without being attacked.
• The group reached Lightless City and saw the ruined outskirts and the intact Kling Family plantation, which Nightingale said might now belong to the Spider Silk Family.
• Nightingale explained that the goddess’s decree preserved Drow dominance by keeping their population stable, while civil strife would leave their oppressed subjects free to rebel.
• Tang disguised himself as a Drow, and he and Shalti rode a Four-legged Lizard together as they entered the ruins.
• Shalti detected someone hiding among the ruins, and Tang drew his saber as a Beastfolk emerged and begged them not to attack.

Tang’s group entered Lightless City during the Drow Birthday festival, bringing two alleged Kling traitors to the Spider Silk Matron Mother as a way to gain shelter. The Matron Mother asked Christian to identify the captives, but Tang recognized a sutured mark on Christian’s forehead and realized an Intellect Devourer had infiltrated the city.

• Tang let seven escaped slaves flee after spotting a concealed sutured slit on their Goblin leader and suspecting Mind Flayer involvement.
• Tang explained that the Mind Flayers’ presence near Lightless City was linked to the Intellect Devourers, but decided not to interfere with them.
• Tang’s party reached Lightless City’s gate during the Birthday festivities and used Shalti’s Drow disguise to approach the guards without raising an alarm.
• Tang presented two bound captives as Kling traitors to the Spider Silk Matron Mother and claimed his name was Drizzt Do'Urden.
• The Matron Mother asked Christian whether he recognized the captives, and Tang noticed the sutured mark on Christian’s forehead.