She demands to see the matron

Teysa's exploration of her environment didn't take long. The cave was small and contained no furnishings aside from the glow-jars. There were a couple of pads of webbing, areas where it was spun thicker; Teysa supposed those might be sleeping nooks. One corner held a pool of water that fed from a tiny waterfall pouring out of a crack in the wall. The water was startlingly clear and Teysa cupped her hands to drink from the falls. It was crisp and refreshing. Looking around she could see there were dozens of spiderlings crawling or climbing through the webs. Most of them shied away from her, but a few ran over inquisitively. Teysa didn't feel particularly maternal towards any of these; she gently shooed them away with one hand.

Aliara groaned as she came around. She folded her legs beneath her, wincing as she sat up. "Tey? Tey, are you there?"

Teysa crawled over. "Yes, Li. I'm here. I'm here." She wrapped her arm around the other woman's shoulders. "How are you feeling?"

Teysa grimaced. "Well, I'm really, really sore." A half-smile crept across her face. "I feel a little more sympathetic for mothers, though. I used to think they had picked the soft option."

In spite of everything, Teysa found herself smiling. Li really was irrepressible. "Li, a drider came in while you were out. Not the big one, a smaller one. She... I don't know what she did, some kind of magic, but it let her communicate with me. This is some kind of nursery, I guess. They want us to raise the... uh, the children."

"Raise them?" Aliara gaped. "How the... how are we supposed to raise a bunch of spiders?"

Teysa shrugged, before realizing the uselessness of the gesture. "How do you raise a human... er, humanoid child? I don't know, I wasn't planning on that either. I don't think they're going to kill us, though. She seemed to think it was an honor. I think we have some leverage."

Aliara considered this. "Leverage? Well, maybe they can fix my eyes. Can't hurt to ask, right?" She stared blindly at the wall. "I hear water. Is there water?" Teysa took her by the hand and led her across the room. "There's a little pool here. The water's good." She held out Aliara's hand under the water, and the half-elf drank eagerly. "It is good! I feel like I need a bath, too. How long were we hanging from that wall?"

Both women gingerly eased their way into the pool. It was large enough for two and, while cool, the water was not unpleasantly cold. Teysa winced as the water reached her sex, but as she relaxed and soaked she felt tension ebbing out of her muscles. The water clouded as Teysa and Aliara scrubbed each other's backs. "Ahhhhhh," sighed the half-elf, "speaking of things I didn't think I'd get to do again. This feels nice." She held her hair under the waterfall and rinsed it as best she could.

The webbing proved absorbent enough to dry them both off nicely. Afterwards, they sat together, brainstorming. Aliara was trying to plan an escape, but Teysa was more cautious.

"Li, think about it. Even if we got out of here, where do we go? No offense, but you won't be leading us to the surface in your condition. And I certainly can't do it! That tracking stuff was always your job! We'd need weapons, armor... I think ours is probably somewhere in this cave warren, but where? Let's walk before we run."

Aliara slammed a fist into the webbing. "No! We have to get out of here. Teysa, you have to get out of here." She paused. "Even if you have to leave me. I'll just slow you down anyways."
The paladin was horrified. "No! I can't! Li, we're both getting out of here. Both of us. I promise."

Aliara shrugged. It was a surprisingly meaningful gesture, coming from one whose unfocused eyes seemed to stare permanently at a space five feet to Teysa's right. "Don't be a martyr. That's selfishness talking."
Teysa considered her words. She didn't have too long to think. The drider returned soon. Seeing both women active she proffered her dripping teats, but Teysa held back. She spoke quickly.
"Hey! Do you understand me?"
The drider frowned quizzically. Teysa mimed speaking, pointed at the drider, then pointed at her own ears. Finally understanding the drider wove her incantation. As the magic faded Teysa didn't give her a chance to speak.

"Honored, huh? Is this how you treat your 'honored' clutchmothers? I demand to see your leader at once!"

The drider looked nonplussed. {i will inquire. do you hunger?}

"No, don't inquire. Do it! I bore children for you! You're asking me to raise them! The least you could do is let me talk to someone with authority!"
The drider seemed cowed by this angry display. {i will return.} She scuttled off. Aliara pouted.
"Tey, I was hungry! Couldn't you have waited!"
Teysa rolled her eyes. "I don't think I'd be speaking from a position of authority with her breast milk dripping off my face." The half elf nodded. "I suppose not."

They didn't have long to wait. The smaller drider returned quickly, along with another new one. Unlike the other two driders they had seen, this one was not bare-breasted; she wore armor, elaborately decorated with a pattern of webs. The smaller drider pointed at Teysa and hissed something. Without warning, the larger one lunged at her. Teysa was riveted to the spot in surprise. The drider grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her down. Swinging her spinnerets forward she began to cocoon Teysa as before. The paladin struggled until the other drider laid a taloned hand on her cheek. {this one will take you to the matron. she will grant you audience.} She turned to the armored drider. {do not treat her so. she is clutchmother. surface-dweller or not, this one is honored/valued/worthy}.

The armored drider considered this. She finished wrapping Teysa's legs, but gently, and then scooped her up in her arms. Aliara called after her as the drider scuttled off. "Good luck, Tey! Agamor be with you!"

The drider carried her through a dizzying series of tunnels and caverns. This one moved faster than Teysa could follow. The walls whipped by in a blur. Finally, they entered 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 original drider, the one that had captured them, sat atop it. Teysa struggled to tell them apart aside from by size, but there was no mistaking this one. In addition to her gargantuan form, the white hair piled atop her head in an elaborate crest marked her for the same being that had impregnated Teysa and helped her bear her children. The drider opened her mouth and addressed her, not with the sibilant hissing tongue of the others, but in Common.

"Hyou have asked to be brought before me. In recognition of hyour ssservice to the warren, I grant you audiensssse." She sat back and regarded Teysa haughtily.

"Yes, I asked to see you. 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 soldier. "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.

{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.