Yes

Teysa looked at Aliara. The half-elf had an imploring expression on her face, but after a moment nodded curtly.
"Yes, Matron. We will help you." Teysa put her hands on her hips. "What can you tell us?"

The matron bowed deeply. "The warren isssss in hyour debt. Hyou will be provided armssssss and equipment for the journey." She hesitated. "Our caravansssssss travel between the warren and their city once every three spanssss-- a month, by hyour reckoning. We sssssssssend a guard and an envoy with each, to ssssssafeguard our trade and remain in contact with the drow. The guard was Jey'vek, the envoy Siri'ka. They bring usssss newsss from the world beyond. Thisssss caravan wasssss due back a span ago, but we have heard nothing. Our eyessssss in the city inform us that they entered the temple precinct, but did not return."

Teysa nodded. "What do you think happened to them?"
The matron looked down at her. Her face was as regal as ever, but Teysa thought she detected a note of melancholy in the spider-woman's voice. "The drow hate ussssssssss. They call us abominationssssss, touched by She who Spinsssss Below. We worship the same Goddessssssss, but they will not have usssss in their city, nor any of their territory. Ssssstill, they dare not attack usssss directly, for fear of their Goddess'sssssss wrath." She paused.
"Their new empressssss is young. Aggresssssssive. She likely murdered her mother to asssscend. She preachesssssss **** to our kind. It may be war. If that comes to passssss, I will ssssssend hyou and hyour children away. The warren mussssst continue."

Aliara shuddered. "I really, really don't want to go back there, Tey. I believe everything she says. The drow are monsters, but their nobles... they're another thing altogether. Scary."
Teysa grabbed her partner's hand and squeezed it gently. "It's ok, Li. Don't worry." She turned to the matron.
"What should we do? I haven't been to this city before."
"Hyou musssssst not reveal hyour... connection with ussssss. The City is a nexusssss of trade. There will be many sssssurface dwellers there... hyou can passssssss unnoticed. Hyou should seek lodging at The Stone Egg. The owner isssss... ssssympathetic to usssss. He will help hyou." She gestured to one of her guards, who obediently scuttled forward. "Ny'viss will give hyou armssss and armor. We have much of both." Her lips turned up in a needle grin. "Mosssst of our vissssssitors find they no longer need them."

Teysa nodded. "We will do what we can, Matron." She paused. "But, we demand something in return." The matron's eyes bored into her, but she said nothing. Teysa swallowed then went on. "I know you have other breeders, elsewhere in the cave?" She tried not to betray her nervousness. The thought of those poor women, and close she came to sharing their fate, still shook her. The driders well deserved their reputation for cruelty, even if they occasionally showed flashes of mercy.

The matron remained silent, her unreadable stare fixed on Teysa. Finally she nodded. "Yessssssss. And?"

Teysa hardened her resolve. "You have set us free from the breeding cave, and now it seems you trust us enough to send us out of the warren. I only ask that you extend that same courtesy to your other clutchmothers. Let them walk free, if they wish, and treat them with the same kindness you have shown us."

To Teysa's surprise, the matron gave her a predatory smile. "Hyou know, there are thosssssse in thissssss warren that would ssssssee hyou returned to that wall. They think I sssssssset a dangerousssssss precedent by letting hyou walk free." Aliara's fingers dug into Teysa's arm, and the paladin found herself trembling. It took a couple of deep breaths before she trusted herself to speak. If she chose her next words wrong, she might have doomed them both.

"And what do you think, matron?"

This time, the smile was warm and genuine. "I think... that I may hyet regret hyour freedom. But not today. I will conssssssider hyour proposssssal. If hyou return successssssful, it will go a long way to show the dissssssenters up. Perhapsssss then we can... try thingsssss hyour way."

Teysa bowed, and Aliara sketched a quick curtsy. "That is acceptable, matron. We will serve your cause." The matron nodded and waved an arm, and a guard stepped forward, beckoning them to follow. The drider led them to the armory.

To her surprise, Teysa found that her plate was intact. Many of the leather straps had been cut, but only a few pieces were unwearable. Her mace, as well, was returned to her. Aliara, for her part, scrounged mismatched pieces of boiled leather and strapped a couple of fine dirks to her belt. "Good riddance to my old crap, anyways. I was due for a new set." Each woman also grabbed a satchel off the wall. A servitor drider brought them waterskins and a strangely textured lump wrapped in paper.

{my apologies. we do not normally need food for two-legs/surface dwellers/breeders. this fungus will sustain you.}

Aliara scooped a bit of it up in her fingers and watched it drip to the floor. "Ick!" She stuck out her tongue. "Well, I guess it only has to last until we make it to the city." Finally, the servitor handed them a scroll tube.

{a map to the City.} She hesitated, then spoke quickly, fearfully. {do not trust the dark ones/dark sisters/dwellers in shadow. they think they walk in the goddess's sight, but they are lost.} With that she fled.

"Are you ready, Li?" Teysa asked, hefting her bag.
"Nope. But let's do it. No time like the present."

With that they set off.