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Q. How do I open the locked cabinet in the High Tower (Captain Hart's quarters)?
A. If you examine the cabinet:
> x cabinet
The cabinet is a squarish compartment made of plate rutilum. (Fancy. Or perhaps practical;
rutilum is supposed to have spiritual qualities.)
The cabinet is closed. The alchemical symbol for attraction shines on its surface.
Well now... it looks like we need to find a way to neutralise that alchemical symbol.
Hopefully, you remembered to look through the resonant oculus while in the Storage Nook:
> look through oculus
You peer through the oculus. Everything acquires a colorful, hazy fringe.
The oculus reveals a magenta spark floating in the air.
> x spark
You focus on the magenta spark through the oculus. A new memory comes into focus. The text
being read describes an alchemical tool. "DISPERSAL BRUSH: Conjured alchemical symbols
generally fade after use. However, it is sometimes necessary to erase such a symbol directly.
Touching the item with a dispersal brush accomplishes this. To create such a tool, place a feather
quill within a bound in a neutral environment. Begin with a simple sealing; sprinkle alcohol
spirits upon the quill; conclude with a word of culmination."
You consider these memories.
In case you didn't find the word of culmination, it's on a folded sheet in the Chymic Lab. And the
feather quill required by the ritual is the white feather you find in the Opticks Annex. Making the
dispersal brush is a trivial matter compared to some of the other stuff you've been doing recently, but
just in case: Click here to show/hide ritual steps
> put feather in bound ('quill' is also recognised)
> recite simple sealing
> sprinkle alcohol on quill
> recite word of culmination
> take dispersal brush
Now you can: Click here to show/hide what's inside the cabinet in the High Tower
> go to high tower
> touch cabinet with dispersal brush
> open cabinet
> take ornate sheet
This receipt is not Navy printing. It's hand-written; not neatly, perhaps in haste. And it reads like
a bad joke.
"THE GREAT MARRIAGE..." (and there you stop for a moment, because half the alchemical
rituals of antiquitity are bombastically called "the great marriage" and it means nothing more
than "I mixed things" - but that's what it says) "...must be performed at the Heart of the House,
in an Orderly Environment." (...scribbled with an arrow: "?NAVE!") "...Employ the Marcher's
Invocation to seal an empty Bound. Add a Signifier of the Marcher's Location to the Gestalt; waft
a Resinous Note. Now add the Four Elements to the Bound, and invoke the Dragon."
Great Marriage? Classical Greek elements thrown into an arc like beans in soup? This isn't
modern alchemical science; it's a fairy tale. It doesn't even say what it does.
No, wait, there's something scrawled on the back: "THE HOMUNCULUS." Sure, that clears
everything up.
You memorize the instructions, including the Marcher's Sealing.
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