A large cavern

Teysa came to in an enormous chamber. This one had a ceiling so high that it disappeared into the gloom. The soldier-drider (as Teysa was beginning to think of her) laid her down in the middle of a cleared section and slit the bindings with one hooked claw. Teysa got to her knees and looked around. She was in the circle of a ring of light cast by glow-jars, each atop a narrow pillar. The ring seemed to be empty aside from her and her escort, though straining into the darkness she thought she saw shapes moving just beyond her field of vision. The room was dominated by a central pillar about ten feet high and twenty wide. A spiraling ramp climbed the sides, and at the top there was an oddly-shaped, low bench. The drider perched atop it. Seeing Teysa was awake, the drider opened her mouth and addressed her, not with the sibilant hissing the paladin had grown used to, but in Common.

"I am the matron of thisssss place. Hyou have done well, clutchmother. Hyou have borne my children. Hyou do the warren great honor. In recognition of hyour ssservice, I grant you audiensssse." She sat back and regarded Teysa haughtily.

Teysa stood up, wincing at the pain. Her pussy still felt battered and swollen. "I ask, is this how you treat those you 'honor'? My friend is injured, blinded. Must she raise your children without even seeing them? I have been ferried from one cave to another like a sack of grain, left hanging on the wall like a slab of meat. This is not honorable treatment. Are you trying to make us a part of your society down here? Why not ask?"

The soldier hissed and reared up, but the matron stayed her with a gesture. She appeared to be thinking. Her blank eyes stared down at Teysa, dissecting her with a gaze.

"I ssssssee. Ssssso hyou wish to join our warren? Hyou will be tessssted. If it is the will of She Who Spinssss Below, you will be elevated. If not, you will bear our brood in ssssilence."

A knot formed in Teysa's throat. She nodded. What choice did she have? "I will take your tests, Matron. What would you have me do?"

The drider matron gestured at the darkness. Another drider scurried into the circle of light. This one was smaller, but wore baroque armor of unfamiliar design, decorated with patterns of webs. She regarded Teysa impassively from behind the visor of a full-face helmet. The larger drider spoke again. "Follow Zir'ekk. She will arm you. Venture into the caves of the warren and demonstrate hyour prowess. Bring us back worthy prey and hyou will be rewarded. Do not attempt to flee... there are worsssssse thingsss than we in the darkness." She smiled, revealing a mouthful of sharklike teeth.

The soldier, Zir'ekk, gestured for Teysa to follow. Evidently the audience was over. At least she wasn't carried this time; she followed the spider-woman through a short passageway and emerged into a cave. This one was unmistakably an armory. Racks of spears, glaives and less familiar weapons covered the walls. A few sets of armor of unfamiliar design hung on wood mannequins in a row. Teysa noticed that none of the mannequins had anything below the torso.

Zir'ekk handed her a spear off the rack and a bundle of spider silk. Shaking it out Teysa saw that it was a net. "No armor?" she asked sarcastically. The drider scowled. She spoke, and her words resonated oddly in Teysa's mind-- they were overlaid, it seemed by meanings that shifted and coalesced into recognizable concepts.

{foolish surface dweller. only the ignorant hunt with armor down here. the sound gives away your position. and even the least of the lurkers/fiends/foes in darkness here would swallow you whole, armor or no.} She gestured toward one of the tunnels leading away from where they had come. {this will take you to the proving grounds. hunt well, surface dweller.}

Teysa gulped. Well, that was what she got for smarting off. She rolled up her net again. Spear in one hand, net in the other, she set off into the darkness.