"It's hard to be sure, sometimes, exactly what's real. Perhaps you only imagined that little ritual. Perhaps you'd have arrived on time in any case. Perhaps all those secrets were only fog. But here you are."[2]
The Carnival's stalls require tickets for admittance,[12] which are purchased with moon-pearls for the price beyond price. Admit one.[13]
The Big Top
"A riot of colour! A sea of sound! A place where polite society's rules relax and a costermonger may rub shoulders with a bishop."[14]
The Big Top is the grandest tent at the Carnival. It is completely empty. Performing onstage will draw jeers and mockery from no one.[15]
The Sideshows
"The ragged little tents around the edges of the carnival. Throw quoits! Bet on the shell game! Get a tattoo! Have your pocket picked five times in an hour!"[16]
The Sideshows are the less grandiose tents found near the Carnival's outskirts. They feature the Big Rat[17] and the Eater-of-Chains.[18] Neither has much to say.
There is also a fungus-tower here. Further inquiries are welcomed. (Ouch.)[19]
Refreshments
"The pavilion is less civilised than it sounds. Some of its wares are surprisingly tasty, if you're brave enough to try them."[20]
The Refreshment Pavilion offers many interesting foods and drinks. Visitors may consume raw meat, fungi, nearby poles, their own memories and limbs...[21]
Carnival Games
"The air thrums with the furtive energy of money changing hands. Games of skill. Games of chance. The occasional thrown lizard snatching a bat from the air. What could be better?"[22]
The Games Tent hosts many games of both skill and chance. But only one seems to be played here right now. The Red-Handed Queen is in a chess match with the Beleaguered King: a rather long match, mind you.[23]
Above the Neath
"You realise that the sign has changed; and that the wheel now ascends into the roof of the cavern, far above the false-stars. It would return you to the Surface, where the sunlight would shrivel you like a slug."[24]
Beneath the Neath is a partially submerged Ferris wheel that takes passengers into a cavern below the Carnival. Most passengers return.[25]
But the sign has changed. Now the ride takes passengers far above, where [REDACTED BY THE MINISTRY OF PUBLIC DECENCY].[26]
The House of Mirrors
"The House of Mirrors squats like an ape in a quiet corner of the carnival. Strange mirrors are labelled in a neat, scholarly hand. It is not a popular attraction."[27]
The House of Mirrors is an unpopular attraction in an ignored part of the Carnival. It contains many labeled mirrors with unique, often dangerous, properties.[28]
But it is completely dark there now. No mirror can be distinguished from another.[29]
↑Have a chat in the shadow of the wheel, Fallen London"Catch Mrs Plenty when she nips around the side of the wheel for a smoke. [...] 'Gerrofoutofit, you. I've got a bleedin' carnival to run. Go on, sling yer hook.'"
↑One more loss, Fallen London"[...] I never [...] formally resigned from bein' a Lady of the Well. So I get to play crossroads, 'ere."
↑"What do you care?", Fallen London"You can take the gel out of the Mutton, but you can't take the Mutton out of the gel. Not all the way. So what about you? Why're you chasin' yer doom so 'ard?"
↑A conjunction of crypticisms, Fallen London"You know enough about the hidden workings of the world to press your thumb into its weak spots. If you time your departure from your lodgings exactly between this tick and that tock -- if you wear your hat at the proper angle -- if you have not touched raw meat between now and the new moon the moon-pearls predict--"
↑Go., Fallen London"Are you in time? Or was this whole thing some twisted joke?" (Wake up.)
↑PERFORM, Fallen London"You range the tent from side to side, leaping like an ape, ripping banners, heaping up furniture. Jeers rise from the empty seats. Your efforts impress no one. That is the fate of all who dance here."
↑Speak with the Big Rat, Fallen London"It shakes its borrowed face sadly, and your eyes roll in their sockets. "I'm a complicated creature, certainly. But you might have made the effort." You do not part as friends."
↑Speak with the Eater-of-Chains, Fallen London"So many chains, still," it growls. Its voices is the rasp of file on iron. "I will gulp them like sausage-links. You may watch me if you wish."
↑Speak with a fungus-tower, Fallen London"You pat its flank affectionately, and it exudes enough digestive fluid to raise stinging welts up your whole arm. Perhaps later, when it's learnt some manners."
↑Gorge yourself, Fallen London"The more you eat, the more you need. Your belly gnaws at you as you gnaw at raw meat, fungus, tent-poles, fresh cats, childhood memories, your own limbs. Perhaps you should continue."
↑ABOVE THE NEATH, Fallen London"You realise that the sign has changed; and that the wheel now ascends into the roof of the cavern, far above the false-stars. It would return you to the Surface, where the sunlight would shrivel you like a slug."
↑The House of Mirrors (SMEN), Fallen London"The House of Mirrors squats like an ape in a quiet corner of the carnival. Strange mirrors are labelled in a neat, scholarly hand. It is not a popular attraction."
↑Find the one mirror you need, Fallen London"[...] in the sunlight that leaks from your eyes. In one mirror, [...] In another, [...] This one is all maw: [...] But this reflection here [...]"
