Hello fellow readers. This is the fourth installment of the elven corruption story, a lot of things and events would make more sense if you read the previous chapters.
Content warning: This might not be a good read for everyone; there will be a lot of nasty things, including undead, worms, slime, and similar stuff.
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Elanil woke up slowly, her head spinning in disorientation. Her last coherent memory was climbing down the chasm as commander Shael ordered, and then... blank. Were they ambushed? Where are her comrades - Melara, Rylae, and Shael? As soon as her vision cleared, the girl studied her surroundings, trying to find clues to her current situation.
As it turned out, there was not much to study. She found herself in a prison cell with no mates, the only "furniture" being a slab of putrid decaying flesh in the corner. The warrior studied the thing carefully, its unholy nature quite evident. One thing that caught her attention was a protruding bone fragment closer to the foundation of the revolting bedding. It looked sharp enough to be used as a weapon.
Using her weight, the elf strained and pulled up until a sharp crack echoed in the cave. Her efforts left a yawning hole in the side of the undead thing that was leaking pus or something equally revolting, but the triumphant woman now held an improvised weapon! It was akin to a jagged bony dagger without a handle, but this was much better than nothing.
A sticky and squirmy sensation on her feet reminded Elanil about a pool of filth spreading from the wound, so she shook her leg in disgust and stepped away, closer to the prison bars. "What next? Should I wait for a jailor and then shank them? How do I hide my weapon?"
Contemplating her next actions, she looked absentmindedly at the swirls of the fluorescent mist outside her prison. A random waft opened the view just for a brief moment, but this was enough to spot a glowing magic rune on the nearby wall.
"Hmm, there is no door in my cell and the bony bars look like they are fused into stone, this prison was created by magic and I bet it can only be opened by magic. May the rune be the release mechanism? Or somehow sustaining the spell?" If she can throw her weapon and disrupt the rune, it can destroy the prison... or do nothing at all and she will no longer be armed.
The imprisoned woman looked at the revolting piece of decay in her room, noticing more protruding sharp bones. Even if she loses this dagger, there is a chance to fetch a new one.
"Here comes nothing..." She patiently waited until the mist parted again, revealing the glowing rune, and threw the dagger. Years of training paid off as the perfectly aimed weapon crashed into the rune, disrupting the arcane seal. She almost cried out loud when the barrier between her and freedom disintegrated into dust, but alerting everyone in the cave seemed like a poor idea. Silently stepping on the smooth stony floor she retrieved her weapon and then looked around.
She was in a much bigger cave, its exact dimensions hard to guess due to the damn fog. More importantly, there was another barred room, mere feet away from her own! Elanil carefully approached, hoping to find other members of their strike team. As it turned out, there was more than just an imprisoned elf there.
It did not take long to find a similar release rune near the second cell. She could vaguely discern a prone female silhouette on the floor, but between them was a barrier of an undead kind. A long, centipede-like creature was stretched right next to where prison bars used to stand. It did not react in any way to the disappearance of the bony lattice, nor did it try to attack or crawl to the sprawled captive. Clutching her weapon, Elanil nervously circled the oblong body, but the thing appeared to be dormant and completely oblivious to the events around it. In the end, the escaped elf decided to take her chances and step over it.
More details of the horrid insectoid came into view as she hesitantly approached it. The thing appeared to be around ten feet long, thick as a grown elf's thigh. Myriads of thin, articulated legs lay inactive on the ground, and Elanil had no desire to see how fast these limbs could carry this monster. His "hide" was a carpet of thick, inch-long tentacles, black slime oozing and dripping from them. As the elf approached the sprawled carcass suddenly she stepped on something warm and wriggling. Cursing under her breath, she inspected the floor, eyes wide as the squirming carpet of maggots around it was revealed.
"Ugh, the smell... This is an undead abomination if I ever saw one, no doubt. I am in luck, it appears to be hibernating." Gathering her strength, she vaulted over the foul jailor and gracefully landed on her feet, immediately rushing to the unconscious companion. She turned the prisoner over, delighted to find familiar features of Rylae, one of the new recruits. The girl was breathing and appeared to be unharmed, so the older woman tried to wake her up with a gentle shake.
The maiden's eyes flickered and opened, full of confusion to find herself in an unfamiliar place with Elanil's palm covering her mouth. "Not a sound," she quietly whispered in the long ear of her companion, nodding towards the vile spawn outside the room. Rylae shivered from disgust but managed to keep silent despite the horrid sight; it took her mere moments to gather her wits and nod to the commander.