One of the great things about being able to write about entertainment news is that every once in a while studios will send out unique promotional items to help get the word out about an upcoming movie, TV series, video game, and so on.

In my time writing I’ve seen a lot of different sites get sent some very cool things — things you can’t get or buy anywhere on this planet — including our own Empress Eve, who received this amazing Coraline handmade box. I’ve personally never received my own special Doom Delivery but have always badly wanted one, so you can imagine my delight when an unexpected package arrived at my front door recently!

Eagerly opening the package, I found myself looking at a strange, old-looking box accompanied by a letter. The letter was from HBO, and it explained that in preparation for their upcoming series, Game of Thrones, they had put together a unique package promising an exciting “sensory journey.”

Click over to read more about this special delivery and to see many images below!

So what exactly was this “unique package” I received? A smile came to my face as I lifted a beautiful old-looking box; handmade of solid wood and metal as if recovered from the shelves of a medieval castle. If there was absolutely NOTHING in this box I would have been as happy as can be already, but it got so much better from there.

Inside, I found many things: six vials of liquid topped with wax caps, two corked bottles, two brass funnels, some strips of paper, a map, and some scrolls. And though clueless as to what they might be, I felt like a little kid on Christmas morn. Everything about the box and its contents has wonderful detail, and as someone who’s a sucker for fantasy/period type movies, shows, and games, I will cherish this forever.

Upon reading the scrolls, it was revealed what everything in the box was. The six vials were various scents, straight from the realms of George R.R. Martin‘s series itself. Leather, Summerfruit, Pear Brandy, Parchment, Wood Beams, and Crusty Bread were all among the scents. I was instructed to take one of the paper strips and dip it into a vile, then shake with vigor before deeply inhaling the smells of A Song of Ice and Fire. All of them were wonderful, but it was easily the Crusty Bread scent that won my heart. Yankee Candle needs to make that one immediately!

Next up was some interesting instruction. I was to create the scents of two locations from Game of Thrones: Inn at the Crossroads and King’s Landing. I would do this by taking three of the scents and pouring a little into the larger marked bottles using the funnels. The Inn, for example, had me combine Pear Brandy (“A rare and heady spirit imported from the Free Cities”), Wood Beams (“Cedar and oak fill the interior of a rustic structure”), and Crusty Bread (“Welcoming notes of salty yeast lure travelers from the Kingsroad”). And now when the Inn at the Crossroads is featured on the HBO series, I shall know what it smells like, and I couldn’t be happier knowing this.

I could talk about this all day, but that’s the general idea. I also found out that this delivery ties into a website as well — The Maester’s Path — where you can go through a series of five puzzles…the first of which has to do with these very scents I’ve described to you. I’ve solved the first link in the chain and you can as well. The symbols on the various scents and the scrolls below will help you, but you’ll need to do a little more digging to solve the puzzle fully.

This is just the first of HBO’s final marketing campaign, and when I first wrote about Game of Thrones way back in 2008 before the show even had a greenlight, I would have never ever thought I would be in possession of such a beautiful and special item at this point a couple years later. I simply could not be more honored or gracious that HBO presented me with it, and I thank them a thousand times over for including me in their march to what is sure to become one of the great new shows on TV.

Game of Thrones debuts on April 17, 2011. Do not miss it.

Here are a pile of images of the box and its many contents!