The Goddess Lolth completed her Silence and entered into a struggle with other deities for the souls of the drow. The priestesses of Eilisti desperately fight against unknown enemies who are stealing the souls of their sisters. The Moon Blade could have helped them with this, but it disappeared at the Day of the Devil's Web. Cavatina Xarann, Eilistraee's warrior, goes in search of him, accompanied by... Lady Penance herself, who once bore the name Halisstra Melarn, Eilistraee's Chosen. Defeated in an unequal battle and turned by the vengeful Lolth into a terrible monster, Hallistra still dares to hope for Eilistraee’s help and liberation from the terrible shell in which the Spider Queen imprisoned her. Fate pits the former priestess against her brother, who survived the destruction of their hometown of Ched Nasad. Q'arlynd Melarn is trying to find his place in a changing world, but he is not tempted by the prospect of once again submitting to the power of drow women, even if they worship not the Spider Queen, but Eilistraee.