"Agamor, Lord of the Sun, hear me. Please, light our way to victory. Shine your magnificence down on us, and keep your humble servant safe."

Teysa concluded her prayer and unshipped her mace. "I'm ready. Let's move on."

They were four when they first arrived in the cave system: Rodrik, the doughty dwarf fighter and the group's leader; Mez, the arrogant elven mage; Aliara, the half-elven rogue, skilled with tricks and traps; and Teysa, the human paladin, armored in her faith and her plate. She was a tall woman, towering over even the slender Mez, and her high-crested helm added a couple inches. What little of her skin could be seen between her visor and gorget was pale, and she wore her coal-black hair cropped short to fit inside her helmet.

Rodrik took the lead, his enchanted sword lighting the way with its golden glow. The tunnels went down far deeper than their map had indicated, so it was soon discarded. Down this far, the occasional kobold or cave imp was little threat compared to the lurking horrors that splashed through lightless underground lakes and slithered past stalactites. Worse still were the ominous Drow; much discussed, but seldom seen, legend placed their city and its treasures in this subterranean warren.

Teysa could not shake her discomfort at the cramped confines. To be without Agamor's light for so long was disconcerting. She was bringing up the rear of the party and could not stop darting glances left and right-- she could swear that something was moving just on the edge of sight, fading into the stygian darkness when she turned her head. Whatever it was was making no sound the rest of the party could notice, but she imagined she could hear a faint susurrus that sounded vaguely like words. She shivered and squared her shoulders.

Up ahead, Rodrik suddenly began cursing and spitting. "Ack! Pthooi!" He shook his head. "Spiderwebs! Argh, my beard's all fouled up!" Mez laughed, but Aliara's eyes narrowed. "The drow keep spiders the size of hounds. We must be getting close." She had been captured and enslaved by the drow sometime in her youth, long before she had joined the party. She would never speak of her experiences, but clearly they had been awful.

The four continued through winding corridors, choosing branches seemingly at random. Soon the webs were thick enough that Mez had to deploy fire spells to clear the way. They lit the caverns with a warm orange glow, revealing other disturbing details. A stone idol, barely recognizable as a primitive spider. Scraps of rusted mail. Bones, scattered at first but growing more dense, and more readily identifiable as humanoid. Finally, they rounded a corner and discovered a glistening egg.

It was about the height of a gnome and pulsed slowly, like a heartbeat. It glowed with a faint purple light. For once even Mez was speechless. He reached one hand towards it, but thought better of it and pulled back. Rodrik unshipped his warhammer from across his back, sheathing his sword. "Finally, something I can smash!" Aliara's warning came a moment too late. "Rodrik, don't!" The hammerhead fell and crunched into the egg, shattering its fragile casing and pulping its soft innards. All four of them were spattered with foul-smelling goop. They had a moment of shocked silence, then all of their torches went out a once.

From there it was screaming, scuffling, and an unearthly noise like a rising wind. Teysa could hear the clash of metal and the sound of Mez's spells going off through the general hubbub. She desperately invoked a light spell as she drew her mace of office.

What she saw gave her pause. Rearing over Rodrik was a massive creature she had only ever seen in books. It appeared to be a spider, but a spider with legs as tall as a man and a thick body larger than any horse. Where the spider's head should have been projected the torso of a woman. Her skin was smooth and grey and glistened wetly in the light. She was naked, and two heavy breasts hung from her chest, swaying as she leaned away from the dwarf's swing. Her arms were muscular and her fingers fused into hooking talons. A nimbus of crackling dark energy swirled around her fists. Drider!

Teysa had little sense of scale, but the woman appeared to be over eight feet tall counting her torso and head alone. Her face was elven, but her eyes were entirely devoid of any human emotion-- they looked like black voids in her face. Her hair was long and pure white. As Teysa watched, the spider-woman opened her mouth impossibly wide, spitting a greenish substance in Rodrik's face. He howled and clutched at his eyes. She punched him square in the chest, causing the corona around her hands to spark and sizzle. The impact sounded like a cannonball hitting a steel plate; Rodrik was sent careening into the darkness.

Mez was trying to cast a spell, but the spider-woman stuck her free hand at him, palm out, and a wave of dark energy blasted him off his feet. Teysa looked around frantically for Aliara and found her sprawled on the ground against a stalagmite bleeding heavily from the temple. The paladin stepped forward, as terrified as she had been in her life but determined to do her God proud. She raised her mace and swung at the spider-woman, aiming for the joint between leg and body. Faster than she would have believed possible, the woman swung around, catching Teysa's wrist in one hand. The grip was like iron. The creature looked Teysa in the face and grinned, revealing needle-sharp teeth, then lunged for her. Teysa's last thought was "Dear God, she's going to eat me!" but the spider woman's forehead crashed into hers and she spiraled into unconsciousness.