Caspian, Captain of the Perilous Waves!
Caspian wandered about the hidden cavern he found himself in, searching for anything of value. He ended up with the Essence of sixty or so fish of varying size, giving him a couple hundred Essence. Caspian was extremely curious about the ship in the center of this place, but remaining on the cautious side, he decided to check his surroundings first. In the farthest corner from the wall he had smashed through, Caspian found what looked to be an ancient cloth bag. He grabbed it and was about to continue onward when he spotted something else, a large stone covering a hole in the floor.
Caspian went to the stone, which was nothing special, other than the fact that it was a different color from the other rocks in the cavern. The other stones in the area were a bland grey or black, but this one was a bright green, resembling jade. Caspian thought that it may be valuable, but seeing that it was pretty large, and he would have no way to carry it around with him, he decided to just move it out of the way for now. After setting the stone aside, Caspian peered into the whole where he found a mass grave.
It was hard to count them all, but Caspian saw at least thirty skeleton corpses, all stacked upon each other like a messed up game of Jenga. Scattered among the deceased, were many objects like clothing and small weapons. However, one object stood out, it was a small, rectangular, silver and green box with a chain on it. The green on the box resembled the jade stone that Caspian had found outside. Opening the box, Caspian found an ancient looking brass nautical spyglass. The sides of the spyglass were covered in dozens of symbols that were most likely of ancient cultures. Caspian noticed that the symbols were all engraved onto the spyglass in the same jade stone. Noticing that it had been kept in remarkable condition Caspian could only admire the craftsmanship. He could not explain why he felt the need to keep this parcel, but Caspian felt that it may come in handy one day. He put his new spyglass into the bag he had picked up and was going to head to the ship when a sudden voice broke the silence.
[Would You Like To Deposit Your Items Into Your Inventory?]
'Inventory like in a video game'? Caspian wondered what this could mean for him in the future, if he had an infinite space to put the materials he collected, he would not need pack bags when moving.
"Yes, System, open Inventory." Caspian demanded.
[Inventory Slots Available- 15/15, Your Inventory Will Expand as you Level Up.]
Admittedly, Caspian could not hide his disappointment, but as expected of the system, it had the potential to become a space that could hide an arsenal. Placing the spyglass into his inventory, he noticed that the spyglass had a description next to it.
[Valkyrie Captain's Spyglass- A powerful artifact, coveted by many and, ultimately lost to the confines of time, now only spoken about in legends. Not much is known about the origin of the spyglass, but it seems to be infused with Fairy magic. This item, when held to the eye of the user, will point them to the most valuable hidden treasures in a 5 mile radius. Good luck, if this item's existence resurfaces, you will most definitely need it.]
"What a powerful item, and it was just sitting here the whole time?" Caspian wondered aloud as he made his way away from the pile of bodies. Noticing the jade stone on his way back into the cavern, Caspian deposited it into his inventory as well.
[Enchanted Emerald Bark- Small shaving from the Fairy realm's most fiercely guarded treasure, The Heavenly Emerald Tree. Just a tiny portion of this material is imbued with enough magical energy to power the cities of the world for a few lifetimes. Having one of this size, while only a fragment, is still quite dangerous, tread carefully.]
"First a high tier magical artifact, and then a highly valuable magical artifact in the same place? Why did someone leave this stuff here? Did they not know about the value of these items?" Caspian mused to himself, nodding his head at his fortune.
Back at the ship, Caspian observed the outside as it reminded him of the pirate ships depicted in his Earthly history books. The ship had a regal look to it, although the brass was rusted and the wood was brittle and ghastly, it still oozed royalty. Caspian swam up onto the main deck, looking for anything resembling a trap. The ship was massive on its own, reminding Caspian of modern fishing boats in its design. If ships back then were this advanced, he could only imagine what the fleets of this world looked like today.
Finding his way to the captain's quarters, Caspian opened the door to find one skeleton with a giant golden lance shoved into the its ribcage. Hanging off the neck of the corpse was a black leather pouch, Caspian, overwhelmed with curiosity, swiped the pouch and emptied its contents into his hands. Included in the pouch, was a note, a brass key, and a silver locket. Caspian opened the locket first, inside was a picture of a beautiful young woman who looked to be in her early twenties. Engraved into the other side of the locket was the words 'I will find my way back to you my dear Evylene'. Whoever this captain was, he was happily in young love before he ended up hidden here, never getting to see his love again.
Caspian turned his attention to the note left behind, he opened it up and was surprised again by the lack of age showing on it.
"Hello traveler,
I must surmise that by the time you read this, I will have met my end. While I do not fear my end, what I do fear is that my love, Evylene Blumme, will never know of my fate. If your intentions be pure, I must selfishly ask that you help this old romantic out in death, please return this locket to my Evylene. For your efforts, I have included a key that will unlock the lower deck, inside you will find all of my treasure, collected over decades of seafaring excursions. This will become your inheritance, of course, I suppose you could take the treasure and disregard my wish but nonetheless the treasure is there. As for my crew, I felt it best to give them as close to a proper burial as possible. The bodies lie in the southwest corner of this cavern. You will come to find that this ship has special qualities, and if you treat her right, she will do the same. Now I bestow onto you the title of Captain. You are now the sole Captain of the Aurora's Crown. Good luck traveler, and thank you.
-Nathaniel Blumme.
Caspian couldn't help but feel sorry for the man, he had witnessed the death of his crew, only to die in this cavern alone and love sick.
As Caspian was lost in his thoughts, the system suddenly interjected.
[Will You Accept Title: Captain of the Aurora's Crown?]