dragon_moon (dragon_moon) wrote in rainey_day, @ 2008-06-18 09:22:00 |
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Current mood: | content |
Current music: | tegan & sara~city girl |
Entry tags: | bezoar, faeu boulanger, hand of glory, licwiglunga, pickled imp, shrunken heads, sir hugh ockram's winding sheet, tabula smaragdina, the blasphemare reliquary, the contract of theophilus of adana, the grand inquisitor's heretic's fork, the maltese cross of sanctus germanus, the two-headed goat |
Carnaval Diabolique - Interlude update
The Carny Talker sidles up to you, and puts his thickly-muscled arm across your shoulder. He smiles his crooked smile and says, "You've seen some of our Astonishing Anatomical Wonders - now, come witness an extraordinary, exotic exhibition of hellish and heavenly contraptions and creatures gathered from around the globe! Astounding artifacts abound! A Museum of Miracles and Monstrosities such as the world has never seen, so stupendous that it defies even your most feverish and fanciful imaginings! This, in itself, is a Microcosmos of the Marvels of the Multiverse, an Awe-Inspiring Account of Natural and Unnatural History! Confront the Theatre of your within our Cabinet of Curiosities!"
Guiding you gently down the Midway, he leads you to a large building made of bleached grey-white wood. In ornate gold leaf the word 'WUNDERKAMMER' has been painted high on the building's facade. The Carny Talker smacks the crooked door with his cane and it swings open with a deep groan.
"Go right in, my friend. Edification awaits!"
The chambers are filled, floor to ceiling, and the clutter of the grimy ephemera is claustrophobic and overwhelming. Leering grotesques perch in the rafters among the dust-crusted remains of a griffin caught in midflight, dully glowing witchballs, and mummified demons. In the shadowy cubby on one wall, devilish automata stutter and jerk as they perform miniature scenes of murder and mayhem. Long-extinct beasts and creatures of myth are posed in gruesome scenes of anthropomorphic taxidermy, and alcoves are packed with malformed skulls, tusks, myriad jars of unguents and powders, a stuffed flesh-eating toad, and a chemist's receipt for arsenic made to one Madeline Smith. A leaded glass and yew wood bookcase houses the Pnakotic Manuscripts, Opera Omnia, Grimoire of Honorius, Treasure of the Old Man of the Pyramids, Le Dragon Rouge, and the Threefold Coercion of Hell. The script for the King in Yellow and a hymnal of Dhol Chants are propped atop the case next to a black stone etched with strange hieroglyphics. A herbarium of poisonous plants fills one vast shelf, flanked by the The Pschent of Nephrem-Ka and a glistening, obscene statue that has been tagged The Golden Idol of the Writhing Tongue. Squirming root-like creatures shriek and moan inside an iron cage, banging their wooden limbs against the bars. The Barbed Whip of the Erinyes hangs upon the wall next to an oval-framed, startlingly lifelike portrait of a beautiful young girl and a mold-crusted straightjacket. A pile of opium sickles, jars of graveyard and crossroads dirt, a jug of Amontillado sherry, and a scattered heap of cards labeled 'Carte da Trionfi' sit on a tea table in one corner. A huge window of colorful stained glass in a pattern of concentric circles and rays leans against one wall, bearing the tag, 'The Rose Window of Billington House'.
Dizzied by the disorder, your eyes drop to the floor. A leatherbound sketchbook lies there, discarded. Embossed on the cover in gold leaf letter is the name B. Hallward. Flipping through it, you see that it is an artist's study of many of the Wunderkammer's curiosities, marked with a few roughly-scrawled margin notes.
The Wunderkammer:
BEZOAR
Much smoother in texture than I had thought it would be. How does one employ it?
Copaiba balsam, Tolu balsam, hay absolute, cardamom, and hiba wood.
THE BLASPHEMARE RELIQUARY
But, which saint's remains does this vessel hold
Ethiopian myrrh, Damascus rose, boswellia, galbanum, and copal.
FAEU BOULANGER
I thought this was an effect of bioluminescence, but it seems there is no source. Could it truly be a soul trapped within this glass dome? Impossible.
Mushroom gases, swamp mist, green mint, and bog violet.
THE CONTRACT OF THEOPHILUS OF ADANA
I dare not open this scroll. Temptation is the plague of men's spirits.
Parchment, Siamese benzoin, infernal incense, red musk, brimstone, and daemonorops.
THE GRAND INQUISITOR'S HERETIC'S FORK
'Abuiro' has been burned into the leather straps. My, they took such care in crafting these horrible instruments.
Coppery dried blood, metal, vetiver, and bonfire smoke.
HAND OF GLORY
The fingertips themselves are aflame, yet the desiccated skin is not being consumed.
Beeswax, dry leather, black pepper, saltpeter, nutmeg, Mysore sandalwood, and oak bark.
LICWIGLUNGA
What language is this? I have never seen graphemes such as this before.
Hemp paper, frankincense, dried pomegranate juice, lavender, gum mastic, verbena, fennel, star anise, and Dittany of Crete.
THE MALTESE CROSS OF SANCTUS GERMANUS
Could this contain the secret of eternal life?
Golden amber, blood orange, ambergris, lilac, frankincense, and agarwood.
PICKLED IMP
By God, what floats in this ghastly jar?
Cinnamon, clove, vanilla, and pine sap.
SHRUNKEN HEADS
Appalling that they seem to watch me as I sketch, even through eyes sewn shut.
Leather tanned with the pulp of Amazon ferns and rainforest herbs.
SIR HUGH OCKRAM'S WINDING SHEET
No single thing holds secrets so well as one's shroud.
Rotting linen, white sandalwood, hyssop, and dust.
TABULA SMARAGDINA
True, without error, certain and most true.
Rosicrucian incense.
THE TWO-HEADED GOAT
How gruesome and absurd!
Dark musk, pimento berry, oakmoss, birch wood, and petitgrain.
The final illustration is followed by one last note:
Can I possibly complete my research before they come to extract payment?
Hurriedly, you drop the book to the ground, and make haste towards the door.