The Demeter was a very unlucky ship. Decades before it would become famous as the transport of a more famous vampire, it was found adrift in the Black Sea, it’s crew ripped asunder by some inhumanly strong being. Records recovered in the port of Varna showed that the ship onboarded several crates of antique furniture and a giant portrait of a noblewoman, supposedly that of Justina Szilágyi de Horogszeg, second wife of Vlad al III-lea Țepeș, aka Vlad the Impaler, son of Vlad II Dracul. The collection was destined for Montenegro, a vibrant coastal town on the Adriatic. Traveling with the collection was a young woman of questionable nobility, and some wealth, who was presented as the custodian of the shipment. Her fate is ultimately unknown, as she was not found among the bodies of the crew on the smoldering vessel. The ship was subsequently towed back to Varna for refit, but soon found itself bridled with an unwanted nickname, Justina’s Larder, for in the run-down waterfront shops and taverns, a rumor persisted that the missing traveler bore an uncanny resemblance to the 400 year-old portrait of the long dead queen.

Note: this is NOT AI. It took hours and hours to get everything right.