Chapter Summaries

Tang and Shalti secured the Kling residence as their reward, but the Spider Silk Matron Mother remained suspicious of them and ordered them watched. As they settled into Lightless City, Tang tried to pass as a Drow by intimidating a shopkeeper into giving them clothes.

• The Spider Silk Matron Mother granted Tang and Shalti the empty Kling residence and said she would expect them to work after the Birthday sacrifice.
• The Matron Mother ordered a spy to watch Tang and Shalti because they seemed unlike Drow and might be outsiders.
• Tang told Shalti that Intellect Devourers had spread through Lightless City and planned to check on the imprisoned Kling siblings later.
• Tang and Shalti discussed blending in with Drow customs, and Shalti reluctantly agreed to dress less conservatively.
• Tang used his Commanding Aura to frighten a clothing-shop owner into letting them take clothes, while the spy recorded that they bullied the weak and feared the strong.

Nightingale and Night Wind met their imprisoned mother, Matron Mother Ye Ying, who refused rescue and revealed that her life had ended when the deity returned its gaze to the land. Meanwhile, Tang and Shalti tried to distract a spy outside their room so they could reach the siblings, and Tang’s spell sent the spy falling.

• Nightingale and Night Wind found hundreds of wounded Drow imprisoned in Spider Silk’s dungeon, including their mother, Matron Mother Ye Ying.
• Nightingale asked Ye Ying about the Giant Dragon Ruins, but Ye Ying demanded a reason to share what she knew and said she did not want to live.
• Ye Ying explained that she considered her life over since the deity had turned its gaze back upon the land, leaving Nightingale and Night Wind to wait for Tang to negotiate.
• Tang and Shalti staged a scene in their room to fool the spy watching them, but agreed they still could not reach the dungeon unnoticed.
• Tang opened the window and cast [Silver Tongue], causing the spy to miss the roof’s eaves and fall backward.

Tang manipulated a Drow spy into entering the Kling residence and questioning him about Lightless City, then spun a story about his family’s return and an Equality Movement. He left the spy listening as he began to recruit him into a male-led resistance.

• Tang exposed the half-Drow spy, used [Art of Making Friends] to lower his guard, and persuaded him to come inside.
• The spy explained how a war over a divine edict had wrecked Spider City and how the Spider Silk Family later rebuilt Lightless City.
• Tang claimed he and his elder sister, Matron Mother Shalti, had returned from the collapsing [Do'Urden] family with help from two members of Kling.
• Tang hinted at an Equality Movement in his family and drew the spy into discussing whether Drow society was fair.
• Tang described the oppression of men and declared the resistance’s first cry: “Make men great again!”

Tang exposed a spy sent by the Matron Mother of Spider Silk and used a recording of his blasphemous words to pressure him into keeping quiet. After persuading the spy that he and Shalti opposed Lolth and wanted to change Drow society, Tang let him go, though he admitted he had no immediate plan to fulfill his grand claims.

• Tang drew out the spy’s resentment of Drow society, and the spy denounced the oppression of half-Drow and other low-status people.
• Tang revealed that a Magic Mouth had recorded the spy’s words, then Shalti bound him with a Capturing Strike.
• Tang treated the spy’s wound and claimed that his group worshipped Eilistraee rather than Lolth and wanted to change the Drow’s fate.
• Tang used the recording as leverage and told the spy to conceal their encounter from the Matron Mother of Spider Silk.
• Tang had Shalti release the spy, who left Kling’s mansion insisting that Tang could not succeed.
• After the spy departed, Tang admitted that he had used his claims about changing Drow society to make his words more convincing.

The Spider Silk Matron Mother kept Christian under surveillance while an Intellect Devourer reported to the Elder Brain that it wanted a female host to infiltrate Drow society and seize Ye Ying Kling before her sacrifice. Meanwhile, Tang and Shalti infiltrated the prison and made their way toward the Kling Matron Mother’s cell, where they encountered an unexpected problem.

• The Spider Silk Matron Mother used [Detect Thoughts] to confirm the spy’s report that the Do'Urdens had spent hours in their bedroom, then ordered continued surveillance until the sacrifice.
• The Intellect Devourer escaped Christian’s body and told a Mind Flayer it needed a woman’s body to help capture Ye Ying Kling and find the [Golden Beacon] before the sacrifice in twenty-six days.
• Tang and Shalti killed a Giant Spider after it detected them in the prison, and Tang disguised himself as a guard to avoid discovery.
• Tang repeatedly disguised himself as guards and bluffed his way through the prison while Shalti concealed the spider’s corpse and eventually threw it into an abyss.
• Tang and Shalti reached the cell holding the Kling Matron Mother, but she asked, “What do you mean, you don't want to live anymore?”

Tang learned that Mind Flayers had used an Intellect Devourer to take over Christian and target Night Shadow Kling because of an ancient relic called the Beacon, which she had thrown into Dark Lake. Night Shadow agreed to lead Tang to the Ruins if he rescued her entire family, and the chapter ended with Tang and Shalti sensing someone hiding in the Kling estate.

• Tang learned from Night Shadow Kling and her family that Christian had returned from a Purple Worm encounter possessed by an Intellect Devourer and later led the Spider Silk Family to capture them.
• Night Shadow revealed that she had thrown the Beacon into Dark Lake and agreed to guide Tang to the Ruins if he rescued her entire family from Lightless City.
• Tang refused to promise an immediate rescue and discussed with Shalti whether to abduct Night Shadow or seek other allies before the sacrifice.
• Tang and Shalti returned to the Kling estate, where Shalti sensed someone hiding nearby and prepared her bow.

Tang and Shalti fought Chris, an Intellect Devourer who had taken Christian’s place and wanted Shalti’s brain for the Mind Flayers. After Chris revealed his Echo Warrior abilities, Tang recognized how his phantom enabled his impossible speed and charged again with Mirror Image Blade.

• Chris attacked Shalti with his emerald scimitars, but Tang used Guardian Sword Dance to block his rapid strikes.
• Chris escaped Tang’s final attack with Echo, only for Shalti to wound his shoulder with an arrow.
• When Tang confronted him about the Mind Flayers, Chris admitted he wanted Shalti’s brain and resumed fighting.
• Tang avoided Chris’s Echo-assisted attacks with Misty Step and identified how the phantom let him strike beyond his body’s limits.
• Tang charged Chris again and began Mirror Image Blade.

Tang defeated Chris, but a Mind Flayer stunned him and seized him before Shalti could intervene. The Mind Flayer exploited Shalti’s fear of losing Tang to force a prisoner exchange, and the chapter ended with him seeing through her attempt to trade places with Tang.

• Tang and his echo used Whirling Sword Dance to overwhelm Chris’s defenses, and Shalti captured the escaping Intellect Devourer.
• Tang threatened Chris for information, but a Mind Flayer attacked him with Mind Blast and dragged him toward the doorway.
• Shalti threatened Chris to make the Mind Flayer stop, and he recognized that she feared Tang’s death.
• The Mind Flayer proposed exchanging Tang for Chris and manipulated Shalti as she struggled to choose between them.
• Shalti tried to cut Chris’s brain and draw the Mind Flayer’s attention away from Tang, but the Mind Flayer saw through her ploy and tightened his hold on Tang.

Tang and Shalti escaped the Mind Flayer’s control and forced him to reveal that he wanted Ye Ying Kling’s Golden Beacon to open the Golden Country. Tang rejected the Mind Flayer’s offer to join his empire but proposed cooperating to reach the ruins, leaving their uneasy negotiation unresolved.

• Tang used the Ring of Free Action to slip free, blocked the Mind Flayer’s Mind Blast with Mind Barrier, and joined Shalti in confronting him.
• Tang threatened Chris until the Mind Flayer revealed that Ye Ying Kling had the Golden Beacon, a key to the Golden Country’s gates.
• The Mind Flayer explained that he hoped to plunder the Golden Country’s ruins and rebuild the Mind Flayer Empire, blaming Eve A for destroying his people and taking their fleet.
• Tang mocked the Mind Flayer’s weakened state and refused to join him, so the Mind Flayer prepared to flee and abandon Chris.
• Tang offered to cooperate in reaching the Golden Country’s ruins, and the Mind Flayer demanded to know why he could not read Tang’s thoughts.
• Tang showed the Mind Shield Ring and said a certain lady had given it to him, frustrating the Mind Flayer.

Tang negotiated with the Mind Flayer to cooperate in recovering the [Golden Beacon] by organizing a jailbreak at the Silk-Coiling Path. He exposed a spy who shared the men’s resentment of the Lightless City’s matriarchal order and asked the Mind Flayer to spread that discontent until it became collective resistance.

• Tang proposed working with the Mind Flayer to retrieve the [Golden Beacon] from Ye Ying Kling, but questioned whether the Mind Flayer would share the information gained from her brain.
• Tang suggested breaking the Kling prisoners out of the Silk-Coiling Path, and the Mind Flayer warned that the prison and surrounding forces made a jailbreak nearly impossible.
• Tang argued that men in the Lightless City could be rallied against a system that denied them power, especially after the Kling Family’s forged divine edicts had been exposed.
• Tang used [True Sight] to expose a hidden spy, who admitted his anger at the system before insisting he supported the Matron Mother.
• The Mind Flayer agreed to consider Tang’s plan, and Tang asked him to devour men’s brains and spread their suppressed doubts to build collective resistance.

Tang and the Mind Flayer planned to incite influential men in Lightless City into a revolt, using Tang’s disguise as Vincent to reach them. After Shalti embraced Tang, the chapter ended with the Spider Silk Matron Mother believing a crack in the Goddess’s statue meant her deity had returned.

• Tang told the Mind Flayer to target resentful men rather than slaves, and the spy identified the exiled Vincent Spider Silk as a potential leader.
• Tang revealed he could assume Vincent’s identity and learned that the Hero Tavern was a place to meet the city’s influential men.
• After the Mind Flayer and the spy left, Tang thanked Shalti for saving him and asked what the Mind Flayer had said during their telepathic exchange.
• Shalti embraced Tang when he offered her a hug, then hurried away, leaving Tang to suspect her floral scent reflected her emotions.
• The Spider Silk Matron Mother prayed beneath the Goddess’s statue until a fresh crack appeared, which she took as a sign that the Goddess had returned.

Tang, disguised as Vincent, sought out Sir Raffi at the Hero Tavern and revealed that he had killed Priestess Sarah after she tried to sacrifice him. Raffi learned Sarah had lacked divine power, leaving him startled and caught between sympathy for Vincent and fear of the consequences.

• Sir Raffi tried to stop a tavern brawl, but a cloaked man swiftly knocked out the two fighters with a scimitar.
• Tang revealed himself to Raffi as Vincent and explained that he had returned from the outpost, where Sarah had released slaves and two Kling had escaped.
• Tang told Raffi that he had killed Sarah, prompting Raffi to consider reporting him before the tavern owner, controlled by an Intellect Devourer, interrupted.
• Tang showed Raffi his scarred face and described how Sarah had used him as bait while attempting to kill him and the escaping slaves.
• Tang told Raffi that Sarah had no divine power, and Raffi reacted with shock.

Tang used Sir Raffi’s doubts about Lolth’s abandonment and the declining power of the Matron Mothers to test whether Drow men might join a movement for dignity. He began recruiting through a men-only half-price promotion at the Hero Tavern, while planning the next stage of his campaign.

• Tang argued that the gods had abandoned the Drow and that the Spider Silk Family used the Hunt to the Death to preserve its rule, prompting Sir Raffi to confront doubts he had long suppressed.
• Tang urged Sir Raffi to question Lolth and join a movement against discrimination, but Raffi left without reporting him to the Spider Silk Matron Mother.
• Tang told the tavernkeeper, an Intellect Devourer, to attract men with half-price drinks during the Birthday festivities, and the announcement drew cheers and skepticism from the Drow patrons.
• Tang wrote that the promotion had fired the first shot of resistance and explained that gathering a crowd was the first step toward spreading his message.
• Tang checked that he had 69,437 followers, noted that Shivana had won captured Beastfolk over to him, and saw more male Drow heading for the tavern as he prepared his next step.

Ten days after Vincent’s prediction, Sir Raffi returned to the Hero Tavern and found its owner and patrons embracing ideas about male Drow challenging their society. Tang Xin arrived with Shalti and publicly ordered her around, leaving Raffi and the tavern’s patrons stunned.

• Sir Raffi entered the crowded Hero Tavern and heard male Drow discuss murders, abusive noble families, and male Drow being hunted.
• The tavern owner gave Raffi a free drink and defended his belief that men should keep their earnings, prompting Raffi to accuse him of being brainwashed.
• The tavern owner declared that he and the tavern’s male customers would awaken and work toward a new future for male Drow.
• Tang Xin arrived with Shalti, ordered her to buy beer, and shocked the patrons when she obeyed him.
• Tang Xin made Shalti apologize to two male Drow and clean their table, while Sir Raffi and the others stared in disbelief.

Tang used his public display of Shalti serving him to stir male Drow’s ambitions and recruited Rafi to help expose the truth behind the Kling Sacrifice. Rafi agreed to see the truth, and Tang tasked him with gathering oppressed nobles for their coming action.

• Tang had Shalti wipe wine from his mouth while the tavern’s male Drow watched him act as her master.
• Tang invited Rafi to sit with him and argued that Rafi secretly wanted power and freedom from the matriarchal order.
• Tang told Rafi that Lolth had abandoned the Drow and that the sacrifices were political theater, then promised to reveal the truth on the day of the Kling Sacrifice.
• Rafi said he did not believe in Eilistraee but wanted to witness the truth about the sacrifice.
• Tang said they would enter the temple openly and asked Rafi to gather capable nobles who were oppressed by the system.

Tang and Rafi continued preparing a movement of male Drow to storm the Temple on Sacrifice Day, though Tang worried that their rebellion was progressing suspiciously smoothly. Their plan was thrown into crisis when the Matron Mothers moved the sacrifice forward to that night’s Silent Hour.

• Rafi’s account described how Drizzt persuaded Masters of Arms, including Christian, to consider joining the rebellion, while one Red Spider Master was secretly replaced by a Mind Flayer after trying to betray the others.
• Tang told Rafi that nearly five thousand men had gathered without attracting the Matron Mothers’ attention, and admitted he did not know who was ensuring the rebellion went unnoticed.
• Tang insisted that they continue with the plan because he needed the [Golden Beacon] to restore Yiwu’s energy, and Rafi agreed to meet him outside the Temple on the day of sacrifice.
• As Tang and Shalti left the tavern, a spy warned them that the Matron Mothers had departed the Temple early and were heading toward the Kling estate.
• The spy revealed that the ritual preparations had gone smoothly and the sacrifice had been moved forward to that night’s Silent Hour.

Tang learned that the Spider Silk Matron Mother had advanced the Kling sacrifice by eight days, forcing him to change his plan to free the captives. She invited Tang and Shalti to attend the ceremony that night, and Shalti quietly clarified that she had cherished him.

• A spy warned Tang that the Spider Silk Matron Mother had moved the sacrifice forward and was taking a shortcut to the Kling estate.
• Tang and Shalti pretended to be engaged in their usual bedroom routine until Christian arrived to escort Tang to the Spider Silk Matron Mother.
• The Spider Silk Matron Mother praised Tang's conduct, invited him and Shalti to join her family, and said they could attend that night's sacrifice.
• Tang learned that every family's Matron Mother, priestesses, and favored Consort Fathers had to attend the ceremony at the Spider Temple, so he decided to contact the Mind Flayer and revise his plan.
• Shalti caught Tang by the sleeve and told him, "It wasn't that I didn't cherish you."

Tang and Shalti joined the Spider Temple’s Sacrifice Day ceremony, where Kling’s captives awaited execution and Night Shadow spoke with Nightingale about their family and her lost hopes. The ritual began with the Spider Silk Matron Mother stabbing the Spider Academy’s top graduate, leaving Tang’s rescue plan unresolved.

• Tang crossed the web bridges with Shalti and entered the Spider Temple, where Night Wind, Nightingale, Night Shadow, and the other Kling captives awaited sacrifice.
• Night Shadow challenged Nightingale’s faith in Tang and spoke about protecting Kling, losing her faith in Lolth, and regretting her estrangement from her children.
• Nightingale and Night Shadow discussed Night Wind’s life on the surface and the choices that had led to Kling’s downfall.
• Tang and Shalti stood at the back as the Spider Silk Matron Mother entered with a naked Drow girl, identified as the Spider Academy’s top graduate.
• The Spider Silk Matron Mother pierced the graduate’s chest with a serrated dagger as the sacrifice began.

Tang resisted the Spider Silk Matron Mother’s seductive ritual and used a gamble and a burst of fire to ignite the webs holding Kling’s members, giving them a chance at freedom. The temple erupted in flames as the captives recognized that their rescue had begun.

• Shalti watched the Drow perform ritual blessings on a wounded girl, while Tang saw magic keeping her alive until the Silent Hour.
• The Spider Silk Matron Mother denounced Kling as traitors, then filled the temple with blood mist that drove the Drow into a frenzy.
• The Matron tried to take Tang away from Shalti, but Tang persuaded her to lead them behind a pillar while Chris contacted the Elder Brain.
• Tang pretended to roll a die, then hurled the Matron’s lamp toward the ceiling and struck it with his flaming Lute.
• The lamp exploded, spreading fire through the temple and setting alight the webs holding Kling’s members, who realized they could be freed.

Tang’s magical fire disrupted the spider temple’s ritual, but the Spider Silk Matron Mother used Phase Spiders and her remaining divine power to recapture the advantage. As she strangled Night Shadow and promised she would soon see Lolth, a tremendous crash sounded behind her.

• The Spider Silk Matron Mother struck Tang with Critical Wounds after his Counterspell failed, leaving him wracked with pain.
• Phase Spiders attacked the escaping Klings, but Night Shadow controlled the magical flames and drove the spiders away as the Klings rescued one another.
• The Spider Silk Matron Mother ended the red mist’s enchantment and ordered the Drow to extinguish the fire and recapture the captives.
• Some Drow fled, while the remaining priests cast Create Water and filled the temple with steam.
• The Spider Silk Matron Mother fought Night Shadow, protected herself from the flames, and trapped Night Shadow with a spectral whip around her throat.
• A tremendous crash sounded behind the Spider Silk Matron Mother, and she turned to ask what had happened.