Well, a bit of backstory:
We encountered the drow (a priestess, wizard, two elite warriors) in conference with some giants (2 hill giants, 2 ogres, and a cave bear). Now, I am the only real experience player, so I cautioned the others against it, but even after the DM emphasized this was about a 50/50 chance of success or TPK, the others out-voted me. Honestly, he gave the others about as much warning as he could and they decided to risk it anyway.
We nearly won, even after a yochlol and shadow demon joined the fight, but in the end the last character standing (the captured high elf) was forced to drop her weapon after the drow threatened to kill the downed characters.
After torture and such, we managed to break out of prison, orchestrated an uprising, and freed ourselves. However, the high elf was taken by the wizard as a sacrifice to Lolth for the death of the priestess we killed. Now, we are hunting after them to rescue her before she is sacrificed.
So, in a very real sense the DM didn't "punish" us after he warning us about the risk, but played out the drow was he felt they would be, maiming and torturing us. We accept that as part of the game and know it was our fault for trying to defeat a force so clearly equal to us in strength. Like I said, we nearly won out... but the adventure goes on.