While Lutr is taking you around the city, it occurs to you that there's another matter you could secure his authority for. As you've been imagining different configurations for your nascent museum, it's occurred to you that while the world is full of great and powerful artefacts, on their own they lack the context for any but the most educated to understand why they should be impressed. For any such centerpiece to be properly exhibited you need a collection of other items banded together by a common theme, each individually only mildly interesting but collectively forming an exhibition capable of educating and aweing even the most ignorant of audiences. So while there might be little of great interest immediately available to you in Awakening, there is a great deal of raw material that can be gathered. Though not all of it can be grabbed at once - there is a finite amount of local goodwill currently available for you to expend, so you should make your opening acquisition with some care.
[ ] [ACQUIRE] Awakening Armoury - Melee
There's a certain romance to the blade, a tendency of it to transform from a simple implement of death to a symbol of the warrior that wields it. This was true for the khopeshes of the Tomb Guards in your time, and it remains true today. Sabres and cutlasses, scimitars and tulwars, longswords and greatswords and rapiers, each represents a specific people or nation and each has its vociferous proponents and detractors. Gathering examples of these will likely take no more than a promise to mention some of the exaggerated claims to their unique qualities in the eventual displays.
[ ] [ACQUIRE] Awakening Armoury - Ranged
Gunpowder has a longer history than most give it credit for, and the Dwarves and the northerners do try to claim most of it for themselves. The truth, of course, is that your brother imported Cathayan dragon-staves at great expense in preparation for open conflict with Nagash, and all developments of gunpowder in this hemisphere - possibly even that of the Dwarves - can be traced back to this. This includes Luthor's experiments that led to the development of a form of gunpowder usable not only when wet, but also when underwater. Honour this legacy by displaying the bewildering variety of handguns and pistols that the Vampire Coast has filched over the years.
[ ] [ACQUIRE] Awakening Armoury - Artillery
The Dwarves did try their best to keep the secret of cannonry to themselves, but in reality it escaped long before they officially shared that secret with the northerners. Some blame bold Sartosan pirates stealing it from Dwarven ships, others say that the Cathayans developed it independently and traded it to Tilea, other still say it was sold by the Chaos Dwarves. Whatever the original source, in modern times cannon can be found on ships of most nations and in myriad forms, from swivel guns light enough for a sufficiently-reinforced Zombie Pirate to carry and fire, to the massive Hellcannon that an entire ship needs to be built around. A considerable cross-section of cannonry is present on the ships of the Vampire Coast, and with Luthor's authority a single example of each could be reluctantly wrested from the broadsides of his armada.
[ ] [ACQUIRE] Lizard Trinkets
Luthor Harkon's predilection for looting Lizardman artefacts is well known. The more magical pieces are locked away for the scrutiny of those portions of the Pirate King inclined towards magical research, and the pieces made of precious metals have been sold, melted down, or added to various hidden piles of accumulated treasure that are an inexplicable part of pirate culture, but that still leaves other pieces of wood, stone, bone, and cloth that might shed light on, or at least garner interest in, these mysterious beings.
[ ] [ACQUIRE] Fleet of Hulks
When a lithe pirate ship captures a fat and lumbering cargo vessel, it's often the case that the only way to get the booty home to be to take the entire captured ship home, either under escort or with a prize crew. Unsuitable for the pirate life, these ships are left floating in the sargassum fields that surround Awakening, more thoroughly anchored in place by the grasping seaweed than they would be by mere large metal hooks. On top of providing a suitably disquieting ambiance to foreign visitors, these hulks also serve as sources of spare parts and, ever since the last of Huatl's above-ground stone was mined out, of wood for expanding Awakening. None of the available ships are individually significant, but there are examples of a wide range of shipbuilding traditions from many nations of the world.
[ ] [ACQUIRE] The Dread Abyssal
In Nehekharan mythology, Usirian breeds and trains his hounds, the Dread Abyssals, to each hunt and consume one specific kind of sinner. The exact prey that Luthor Harkon had in mind when he named his flagship the Dread Abyssal is a mystery, possibly even to himself. But while his actual flagship is still very much in use and not available to be turned into a museum exhibit, the core of the original Norscan longship that he arrived in these seas with still exists at its core, despite the extremely heavy modifications it has undergone over the years. If the components of the original ship be removed and replaced one at a time, and then the removed components used to construct an entirely separate ship, that means you have two copies of the same ship and there's definitely no philosophical debate that needs to be had over the matter. This could form the centerpiece of an exhibit relating to the Vampire Coast, Norsca, or Piracy.
---
The authorities of the High Elf colony of the Citadel of Dusk would undoubtedly believe that there would be no direct passage to it from the vampire port of Awakening, but you've known enough corsairs in your time to be sure that it would be the product of laughable naivete. A lot of those who have never gone to sea think of piracy as a sort of natural predation, no different to a ship being lost in a storm or to a beast, and never think to ask what happens to the cargo once it is stolen. It should take only a few moments of thought to realize that the pirate treasure so often spoken about in tales and legends could not consist of bolts of cloth, barrels of oils, crates of hides or even casks of spices. Pirates, like most people, want to be paid in a medium that goes clink, which means that for piracy to be thriving as much as it does, there must be a fair few people with substantial amount of things that go clink that are willing to exchange it for bulky but valuable trade goods.
As such, you watch with a concealed smile as the ship you left Awakening aboard is greeted with a welcome as warm as the Asur are capable of giving to any mere mortals, and disembark as the ship's hatches swing open for the port's cranes to pull out crates and barrels that had been only mildly bloodstained when they were rolled and wheeled out of an Awakening warehouse. You are here as a representative for a mysterious Luther, apparently a common enough name among the Reikvolker northerners that it only hints, rather than outright announces, who is actually being dealt with here. There is a store, packed high with empty cages being shifted to and fro by frazzled attendants, but after introducing yourself they point you to a villa of marble and basalt overlooking the harbour.
Princess Aelsabrim Fallenstar, Ward of the island of Ithisar'naynazythai Yn Daroth and therefore the civilian half of leadership over the archipelago, is dressed in the manner of a charioteer, shortened cloak and robes tightly belted over armour, with her grief just as rigid and firmly secured. The emblem of a blue and white hawk are displayed prominently everywhere you look, but one out-of-place symbol you spot is a five-spoked wheel worn as a brooch. You've met a few High Elves in your time in the port cities of northern Araby, but never their version of nobility nor someone in a position of power. One of the things you've learned over the years is the outward appearance of humility, and you bow deep and long to her. "It is my honour to be Badi Shakim of Ka-Sabar, a wandering scholar under the patronage of the Sheikh of Bel-Aliad. May the sun see you rise in excellence on this day." You took a cue from the sunbeams that commonly frame the hawk on display everywhere - from what you gather Tiranoc is on the western side of Ulthuan, so it seems likely they'd hold the sun in significance for seeing it set in the same way that Lahmia did for seeing it rise. "Our mutual friend Luther has recommended your goodwill as the surest coin to be found in these lands, and the beasts your late husband's servants are able to procure as the finest specimens available."
Distaste flickered in her eyes as you mention Luther, which is a better sign than one might think. That distaste won't stop her from entering into business with you, but it will anchor her to it as she seeks to have made sullying herself worth it. Grief didn't flicker as you mentioned her husband, in the same way that someone already beaten unconscious doesn't flinch away from being struck. "Badi is your personal name?" You nod. "Well then, Badi, we have a ready supply of beasts from the Cape, Turtle Isle, and the Serpent Islands, and expeditions into the Isthmus can be arranged. I can have my clerk arrange a list of commonly available beasts and the prices that will be expected for them. There's a steady supply of the more common ones, but for the less I'd recommend a factor in town to be ready for when they do arrive. Long-term storage is troublesome for many of them."
You nod. "I would also be willing to pay for any remains of suitably impressive creatures, both to study and to impress the courtiers back home."
She takes a moment to respond. "Would this necessitate fresh corpses?" she asks, doing a good job of concealing the suspicion in her eyes.
You do your best to mimic the mild disgust common to amateurs dealing with moderately fresh corpses. "Fresh would be preferable to unfresh, but I believe skeletal would be less unpleasant to deal with than either, as well as easier to transport."
That doesn't completely remove the suspicion she seems to be feeling - zombies might be easier to wrangle for amateurs, but considering who she must suspect you of working for, skeletons would be just as viable. But that doesn't stop her from nodding. "Very well. I'll have word sent for you when the prices are collated."
---
The days you fritter away in Ithisar as you wait for the Princess to get back to you are pleasant enough. Most of its population are former members of the Citadel's garrison that settled here to farm or fish after their military service was concluded, but there's a minority human population and a steady stream of visiting merchants and delegates to keep things interesting. But that it takes days plural for you to hear again from the Princess is telling, as is the Elven Mage dripping with Life but shrouded in Death that tries her amateurish best not to be seen paying attention to you from across the tavern the first night you are there.
You're not entirely without concerns. You may be immune to age and hardier than most, but a pyre would bring an end to your long life, and that does tend to be the go-to solution for suspicious beings of unknown properties. But if the Princess suspects your employer, as she surely must, and now knows something of your nature, she would need to be more secure in her position than she currently is to invite open conflict with the Vampire Coast by doing unprovoked violence to its delegate. As long as you don't do anything to open hostilities, you're reasonably confident that at most she will have you barred from the island and put aboard the nearest outbound ship.
Your summons to the Governor's Villa does eventually come once more, and you make your way there with some caution, relieved to see the same handmaidens as your previous visit. Tea is laid out, which is another promising sign. The Princess has some sort of talisman somewhere on her person that is keeping the fog of Death that had been drawn to her grief at bay, which is somewhat less so, and there's a dozen mortal beings within shouting distance that weren't there for the last meeting, but they very notably are far enough away that they wouldn't be able to overhear anything spoken. The handmaiden pours and then departs, and the Princess sips delicately at it as she waits for the door to close and the footsteps to recede down the hallway beyond.
She inhales, steadies herself, and puts her tea down and looks you levelly in the eyes. "According to our maps, Bel-Aliad is a ruin. According to a sailor you spoke to who has spent a great deal of time in Araby, your accent is not from southern Araby, nor from any other place he has known. And according to one of our Mages, you are interwoven with magics so long-established she does not know whether it is still proper to call them magics. Who, and possibly what, are you?"
You put your own tea down with a steady click. "It is my preference to not tell lies," you say. "I have lived a lifetime in Ka-Sabar, and it was once my great honour to provide tutelage to a then-living claimant to Bel-Aliad. My interest in beasts and their remains is primarily academic, and to my very slight shame, secondarily for the spectacle they could represent. And if I bear unspoken hopes that there may be other mutually beneficial avenues available through working with one of your stature, then that is a sin that I fear I share with every customer you might have."
"That didn't answer my question." But despite that, she actually does seem slightly reassured.
You smile, and say...
The answer you give will dictate the beginning of your relationship with this woman, and may expand the acquisitions available through her. The relationship may be developed in other directions in the future, though propping up one facet of her life might end up making her less vulnerable to temptation in others.
[ ] [LEVER] Money
"I am one with a fistful of gold."
Give this answer to make this relationship comfortably mercantile and very easy for her to justify to herself. You will be able to acquire Lustrian beasts and basic Elven goods through Princess Aelsabrim, and it will be straightforward to gradually expand that into access to other kinds of Asur goods.
[ ] [LEVER] Prestige
"I am one who will make a spectacle of the secrets of the world."
Give this answer to tempt the Princess into seeking from you the same thing Luthor is: prestige, legitimacy, and the favour of the rabble. The Elves consider Fuming Serpent and Spitting Serpent under their control, so a museum on Fire Serpent would not be impossible to justify as being under the Citadel of Dusk's patronage. This will allow you to work the most openly with the Princess, and might gain you access to Ulthuan's academic and antiquarian circles.
[ ] [LEVER] Power
"I am one who has seen empires rise and fall."
Give this answer to make yourself an éminence grise
, a hidden advisor guiding and assisting her through the treacherous world of politics. On top of purchasing beasts, this will also open the doors of Asur politics to you, giving you an in to investigate the Citadel's secrets, potentially allowing you to acquire influence over other Elven colonies, and possibly even developing contacts on Ulthuan itself.
[ ] [LEVER] Grief
"I am one who has conquered death."
Give this answer to broach the topic of her recently-deceased husband, who perished tragically young and so far from home. You have the knowledge to build a tomb to safeguard and nurture his spirit instead of hoping for the mercies of far-away Elven Gods, and once that spirit is secure, so close and yet so far away, the temptation of a truer reunification can be dangled in front of her.
- 'Reikvolker' (people of the River Reik) and 'northerner' is how Pahtsekhen refers to the Empire. As a Nehekharan, he has significant objections to them calling themselves the Empire.
