Starless Night recap

After Wulfgar's apparent death, Drizzt decides that remaining in Mithral Hall only draws drow danger toward his friends. He leaves alone for Menzoberranzan to discover and disrupt the city's plans, but Catti-brie follows with Guenhwyvar. Drizzt passes through Blingdenstone and reconnects with Belwar before entering a city dominated by Matron Baenre, whose rivals and mercenaries all pursue their own interests. Artemis Entreri is there as an unwilling guest of the drow, still obsessed with Drizzt, while Jarlaxle treats every faction as a possible bargain. Drizzt is captured for sacrifice, but Catti-brie and Guenhwyvar help break House Baenre's control. Dantrag Baenre is killed during the escape, and Entreri also wins his way out. Drizzt and Catti-brie return to the surface together, more honest about their attachment but still grieving Wulfgar. They have not prevented the coming war: Matron Baenre remains in power and Menzoberranzan is committed to a large invasion of Mithral Hall.

Previously: Drizzt Do'Urden fled Menzoberranzan and eventually found a family in Bruenor Battlehammer, Catti-brie, Wulfgar and Regis. Together they defended Icewind Dale, found and reclaimed Mithral Hall and repeatedly defeated the assassin Artemis Entreri. The peace of the restored hall was broken when Drizzt's sister Vierna led a drow force, supported by Jarlaxle's mercenaries and Entreri, to capture Drizzt for sacrifice. During the fighting, Wulfgar saved Drizzt and Catti-brie from a yochlol and a collapsing chamber. The companions recovered his warhammer Aegis-fang but could not find him and believe him dead. Vierna died and the raid failed, but Menzoberranzan's interest in Drizzt and Mithral Hall did not end with her. Bruenor still rules the hall, Catti-brie is mourning the man she expected to marry, and Drizzt believes his past caused Wulfgar's loss.

Mithral Hall is secure for the moment, but its victory has left the companions divided by grief. Drizzt treats Wulfgar's apparent death as proof that anyone close to him will keep paying for the enemies he made in Menzoberranzan. Convinced that another drow attack is coming, he decides to return to the Underdark alone, learn what is being planned and remove himself as the reason for striking the hall. He leaves without allowing his friends a real choice in the matter. Catti-brie recognizes both his destination and the guilt driving him. Still mourning Wulfgar herself, she refuses to accept that protecting Drizzt is a betrayal of the dead or that his solitary decision must stand. She prepares to follow, with Guenhwyvar as her strongest link to him.

Drizzt descends through routes he knew during his exile, using stealth and old knowledge to approach Menzoberranzan. His passage brings him back into contact with Blingdenstone and Belwar Dissengulp, a friend who remembers the help Drizzt once gave the deep gnomes. Belwar confirms that movement among the drow is dangerous and that the city remains focused on its renegade son. Catti-brie follows into the Underdark despite the unfamiliar terrain, relying on Guenhwyvar's senses and on her own judgment rather than trying to imitate Drizzt. Inside Menzoberranzan, Matron Baenre is consolidating support for war on Mithral Hall. House Oblodra resists her dominance, Jarlaxle trades in information, and Artemis Entreri remains in the city under drow control, looking for both an exit and another chance at Drizzt.

Drizzt enters the drow city knowing that discovery could make him the center of the very campaign he hopes to prevent. The rival houses and independent interests make Menzoberranzan less unified than it appears: K'yorl Odran challenges Baenre's supremacy, Jarlaxle assists without surrendering his options, and Entreri cooperates only as far as it may restore his freedom. Catti-brie reaches the city behind Drizzt and searches for him with Guenhwyvar, learning to use the factions' suspicion of one another as cover. Drizzt's presence is eventually exposed, and House Baenre gains the prisoner Matron Baenre wanted. His capture gives the priestesses a prospective sacrifice and a symbol around which to unite the planned attack, leaving Catti-brie to attempt a rescue in the most heavily defended house in the city.

House Baenre prepares to use Drizzt in a religious ceremony while Catti-brie and Guenhwyvar close in through a city already strained by competing schemes. Entreri's hatred of captivity and Jarlaxle's preference for a balance he can exploit prevent Baenre from controlling every participant. The attempted rescue and the ceremony's disruption release Drizzt into a confused struggle inside and around the compound. Dantrag Baenre, the house weapon master, seeks a direct contest with the renowned renegade. Drizzt defeats and kills him, depriving the house of one of its finest fighters. Catti-brie and Drizzt reunite, and the immediate objective becomes escape from Menzoberranzan before the city's factions stop fighting one another long enough to seal the exits.

Drizzt, Catti-brie and Guenhwyvar fight their way out of Menzoberranzan while Jarlaxle and Entreri use the upheaval to protect their own futures. Entreri escapes the drow who had kept him in the Underdark, and his rivalry with Drizzt remains unsettled rather than ending in the city. Drizzt and Catti-brie reach the surface together. Her success makes clear that his attempt to keep her safe by leaving was neither fair nor effective, and both begin to acknowledge that grief for Wulfgar and affection for each other can exist at the same time. The expedition has confirmed the larger danger but has not removed it. Matron Baenre remains alive and in command, the Spider Queen's sanction for war holds, and Menzoberranzan is preparing to invade Mithral Hall. Drizzt and Catti-brie turn home to warn Bruenor before the drow army can arrive.

Drizzt is freed from House Baenre before the planned sacrifice can be completed, and the rescue turns into a running fight through Menzoberranzan. Dantrag Baenre dies in combat with Drizzt, while Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri follow their own interests rather than allowing the priestesses complete control of the escape. Catti-brie, Drizzt and Guenhwyvar reach the routes out of the city; Entreri also gets away from the drow who had kept him in the Underdark, leaving his rivalry with Drizzt unresolved. Drizzt and Catti-brie return to the surface together, each having rejected his attempt to protect her by disappearing alone. Their shared grief for Wulfgar remains, but it no longer requires them to deny the bond growing between them. Strategically, the mission does not stop the danger Drizzt feared: Matron Baenre survives the disruption and retains the Spider Queen's support for war. The companions now know that Menzoberranzan is preparing a major assault on Mithral Hall, and Drizzt's journey home becomes a race to warn Bruenor and organize a defense.