October 22, 2025: Shadownight the Spider

👁️ Night Vision

Shadownight’s large, glowing green eyes are perfectly adapted for darkness. Each eye contains light-sensitive cells (rod cells) that allow her to detect even the faintest flicker of movement in total blackness.

Behind her retinas lies a special reflective layer called the tapetum — the same structure found in cats and other nocturnal hunters. This layer bounces light back through her eyes, giving her twice the chance to absorb what little light is available. That’s why her eyes seem to glow when caught in dim light or moonlight — it’s the reflection from the tapetum.

In the eerie green glow of her vision, Shadownight can easily spot tiny insects crawling on the castle walls or detect motion across her web from several feet away. The world appears to her in shades of green and shadow, giving her an almost supernatural awareness of her surroundings.

💉 Venom of Shadownight

Shadownight’s venom is both potent and purposeful. When she sinks her fangs into prey, it serves two main functions: 1. Paralysis: Her venom quickly immobilizes flies or other small creatures, allowing her to feed safely without a struggle. 2. Pre-digestion: The venom also begins breaking down the internal tissues of her prey, softening them for her later external digestion.

In her Halloween lore, her venom is said to glow faintly green, mirroring the color of her eyes. When she bites, a faint shimmer spreads through her web, as if the castle itself reacts to her feeding.

Abilities

• Webs & traps: Shadownight uses silk to build intricate webs for catching prey, or create traps.
• Safety lines: Shadownight often attaches a dragline of silk as she jumps or climbs, providing a safety line to prevent falling.
• Venom: Shadownight injects venom through her fangs to paralyze or kill prey. 
• Night Vision: Shadownight has large eyes to gather more light, and uses a retroreflective layer (called a tapetum) behind her retinas to improve her ability to see in the dark, much like a cat.
• Climbing: Shadownight can walk on almost any surface.



How does Shadownight the Spider eat flies?

Shadownight eats flies by first paralyzing or killing the fly with venom, and then using external digestion to liquefy the prey before consuming it. Shadownight injects digestive enzymes into the fly to break down its soft tissues into a liquid soup, which she then sucks up with her specialized "sucking stomach". 

Sounds: Skittering clicks, raspy screeches, and whispery hisses.

Shadownight weighs about 5 inches.

Shadownight lives in a haunted castle.