The Lady Penitent The Lady Penitent trilogy is a Forgotten Realms series by Lisa Smedman that takes place after the events of War of the Spider Queen . Several fairly large realm - changing events take place during this series , ranging from the use of Elven High Magic on the drow race to the death of several deities . It ranges from the year 1372 DR to 1379 DR . Summary . Most of the deities of the Dark Seldarine , the drow pantheon of gods , always competed and battled for influence over the dark elves . The pantheon consisted of Lolth , the Spider Queen , the goddess of chaos ; Eilistraee , the Dark Maiden , the goddess of song and goodness ; Vhaeraun , the Masked Lord , the god of thievery ; Selvetarm , the Spider that Waits , a demigod and the patron of bloodlust and battle prowess ; Kiaransalee , the Lady of the Dead , the goddess of the undead ; and Ghaunadaur , the Elder Eye , the god of abominations . After the end of the Silence of Lolth in 1373 DR , the drow deities continued to fight for supremacy over the dark elves or , in the case of Eilistraee , to free them from Lolth ’ s renewed control . Eilistraee and Lolth finally elected to play a divine game of sava , with the stakes being the very fate of the drow and loss meaning death for one of the goddesses . Lolth sent Halisstra Melarn , a drow priestess who had been transformed into the Lady Penitent , a tortured demonic creature obligated to eternally serve the Spider Queen , to Faerûn to hunt down and kill priests of Vhaeraun . Lolth also enlisted the services of one of her long - time minions , Wendonai , a balor who had been used by the goddess to corrupt the Illythiri dark elves into following her many millennia earlier . Lolth had Wendonai possess the Crescent Blade , a magical sword created by Eilistraee , and provide the weapon with the magical strength that it had lost after Halisstra had broken the blade in the Spider Queen ’ s divine realm , the Demonweb Pits , during the Silence of Lolth . In 1375 DR , Vhaeraun plotted against Eilistraee and worked to devise a method to slay her . As a result , his worshipers planned to cast an elven High Magic spell that would allow Vhaeraun to enter Eilistraee ’ s divine realm and assassinate her . Since the followers of the Masked Lord lacked the reciprocal trust to cast that complex type of magic , they worked to kill various priestesses of Eilistraee , who were taught to care for each other , and magically trap their souls in order to use them for the ritual . Eventually , the priestesses of the Promenade of the Dark Maiden , a temple of Eilistraee , learned about Vhaeraun ’ s plot . The drow high priestess Qilué Veladorn , the leader of the Promenade and a Chosen of Eilistraee and Mystra , the goddess of magic , started working to disrupt Vhaeraun ’ s plan , alongside the drow wizard Q ' arlynd Melarn , who had recently become a follower of the Dark Maiden . Q ' arlynd ’ s task was to take the place of one of the servants of Vhaeraun and try to disrupt their magical ritual . Meanwhile , Cavatina Xarann , a drow priestess of Eilistraee and a Darksong Knight , was sent to investigate the appearance of Halisstra in Velarswood and to retrieve the Crescent Blade . Selvetarm , who served Lolth , had his followers attack the Promenade , but Qilué and the temple ’ s other defenders defeated the assailants . Cavatina located Halisstra and was taken to the Demonweb Pits , where she recovered the Crescent Blade . Cavatina then battled Selvetarm and used the Crescent Blade to slay the demigod with the assistance of Halisstra . Around the same time , Q ' arlynd failed to accomplish his mission and Vhaeraun managed to enter Eilistraee ’ s realm , where he attempted to assassinate her . However , Eilistraee had been warned about Vhaeraun ’ s plot and was prepared to confront the rival deity . Although the details of the fight were not known , Vhaeraun failed and was killed by Eilistraee . The Masked Lord ’ s death caused chaos and despair to immediately spread among his followers . Eilistraee absorbed Vhaeraun ’ s portfolio , became known as the Masked Lady , and had the dead god ’ s worshippers join with her followers , albeit uneasily . When Cavatina returned to the Promenade from the Demonweb Pits , Qilué took possession of the Crescent Blade and the essence of Wendonai in the sword began to corrupt the high priestess . In 1377 DR , Kiaransalee had her followers augment the Faerzress , the magical radiation of the Underdark that was tied to the drow , in order to render the dark elves incapable of divination and conjuration , as well as keep them bound to the underground realm . By that time , Q ' arlynd had made his way to the drow city of Sshamth , where he had joined one of its colleges of mages . After Eilistraee ’ s followers at the Promenade and the wizards of Sshamth learned about Kiaransalee ’ s plot , Qilué ordered Cavatina to lead Eilistraee ’ s forces in an assault on the Acropolis of Thanatos , the main temple of Kiaransalee . Meanwhile , Lolth gave Halisstra to Wendonai , who sent the Lady Penitent to Faerûn to search for Cavatina and bring her to him . Halisstra managed to capture Cavatina and brought her to Wendonai in the Abyss . Halisstra was discarded by Wendonai once she delivered Cavatina to him , and looking for a way to kill herself and escape from Lolth , she entered the Negative Material Plane , but it was not enough to kill her . Cavatina was tortured by Wendonai and told about her tainted lineage , but she resisted the balor and destroyed his physical form . However , Wendonai was not truly dead , since his soul still possessed the Crescent Blade . Q ' arlynd discovered that since his ancestors were Miyeritari elves , they were not tainted by Wendonai , and he therefore could use a selu ' kiira , a magical elven gemstone that contained a vast amount of knowledge , that he recovered . When he accessed the selu ' kiira , Q ' arlynd learned about the origins of the Faerzress " " and its true purpose . Cavatina returned to the Prime Material Plane and reached the Acropolis of Thanatos , where Eilistraee ’ s forces had engaged Kiaransalee ’ s priestesses and undead servants . Cavatina joined the battle , but she was soon mortally wounded by one of Kiaransalee ’ s followers . Cavatina was healed by the drow priest Kâras , a leader of the former clerics of Vhaeraun who now served Eilistraee . After Kâras informed Cavatina that the minions of Kiaransalee had slaughtered all of Eilistraee ’ s other followers , the two disguised themselves in order to approach a voidstone , a solidified piece of the Negative Material Plane that Kiaransalee ’ s priestesses were using to augment the Faerzress , and launch a final attack . At that time , Q ' arlynd used the knowledge stored in the selu ' kiira to perform an elven High Magic ritual that wiped Kiaransalee ’ s name from the minds of all mortals and gods , causing her to fade from existence . With the assistance of reinforcements from the Promenade , Cavatina and Kâras killed Kiaransalee ’ s servants and then destroyed the voidstone . In 1379 DR , Cavatina discovered that Wendonai ’ s soul had possessed the Crescent Blade and that the balor had gradually corrupted Qilué . Cavatina wanted to organize an exorcism for Qilué , but before she was able to , the high priestess secretly imprisoned her in the Promenade . Qilué planned to take Wendonai into her body and destroy him with silver fire , powerful magical flame that could only be used by a Chosen of Mystra . With the final death of Wendonai , Qilué hoped to free all drow of the demon ’ s taint . Qilué magically traveled to the only place where such a task could be accomplished : the royal court of ancient Ilythiir , where Wendonai had been summoned for the first time . Qilué ' s friend Laeral Silverhand , a Chosen of Mystra , agreed to help the drow priestess enact her plan . At that time , cultists of Ghaunadaur and a host of oozes attacked the Promenade after being lured by the demon - influenced Qilué . Ghaunadaur ’ s forces sought to destroy the magical prison that prevented the avatar of their patron deity from entering Toril . Qilué had been the one who had imprisoned Ghaunadaur ’ s avatar many years earlier , and the followers of Eilistere guarded the prison . Although Qilué had placed a magical glyph that caused insanity on the prison , Ghaunadaur ’ s minions engaged and decimated a large portion of the population of the Promenade . Most of Eilistraee ’ s priestesses , followers , and lay worshipers who lived in the Promenade or were visiting the temple were killed . During the battle , Cavatina escaped from imprisonment and participated in the fighting , but she was magically rendered insane , turned ethereal , and transported to the underground city of Skullport . After the Promenade fell to Ghaunadaur ’ s forces , the avatar of the god managed to escape from his prison , but he was soon tricked into attaching itself to Naxil , a drow priest of the Masked Lady who sacrificed himself for the goddess by going through a magical portal that led to a plane of endless mazes . Although Naxil was killed in the process , he trapped Ghaunadaur ’ s avatar in the mazes . Fearing that Qilué would lose her life in the ritual to destroy Wendonai , Laeral magically stopped time for the drow priestess and went to seek help . While Laeral was gone , Halisstra found the immobile Qilué , carried her to a nearby ancient temple , and took possession of the Crescent Blade . Laeral tracked down the incapacitated Cavatina in Skullport , and once she had the drow warrior healed , she magically transported her to Qilué ’ s location while she searched for more followers of Eilistere to help save the goddess ’ s Chosen . Cavatina confronted Halisstra , and Eilistraee then inhabited the body of Qilué in order to purge her of Wendonai ’ s corruption and to try to free the Lady Penitent from Lolth ’ s influence . However , Halisstra killed Cavatina , and Wendonai deceived her into believing that Eilistraee and Qilué were actually Lolth . Halisstra used the Crescent Blade to slay Qilué , and consequently Eilistere . Laeral and Leliana Vrinn , a drow priestess of Eilistere , soon arrived at the temple , and the latter killed Halisstra in retribution for slaying her patron goddess . Meanwhile , Q ' arlynd and a group of wizards of Sshamth conducted a High Magic ritual that transformed those drow not tainted by Wendonai ’ s blood and the followers of Eilistraee into their original dark elven form . As a result , Corellon Larethian , the leader of the elven pantheon of gods , permitted the souls of Eilistraee ’ s faithful and the newly transformed dark elves to enter Arvandor , the divine realm of the elven deities .