(Edited to add the answer to the talisman question, which I missed somehow on the first post.)

Anazu does not hold Mel-Kartha. Hint: the infamous piece of gear that Anazu holds has Anazu's name in its name.

>My hell knowledge is... limited. And by limited I mean that
>reading Dante didn't tell me how to get down.*

As a vague general rule:

1) If Dante's narrator interacts with someone to transition circles, probably, you will too.

2) Whatever other people that Dante talks about in a circle did to "get there", probably, in one way shape or form, so will you.

But, that being said, figuring out how to do that can be hard in some places and may require that you've been through the circle you're on very extensively.

>I did some "obvservations" on Mel-Kartha and I'm confident I
>know (some of) what it does, and how that would be rather
>useful in taking down tough mobs... though obviously hacking
>apart the gear you're trying to get is a significant drawback.
> I'm not sure why you'd use it as a main wield instead of
>Abomination... but..?

Unholy Blessing. For various reasons, it's smart (or I considered it smart at the time) to UB Mel-Kartha. Once you've done that, you're sort of stuck.

>I'm assuming the seven charges thing has been fixed? Or is
>that item simply been nixed?

Item's still in the game, although it has an extra limitation or two that were added while I had it. I can't remember if I ever got the charges thing; it'll certainly be fixed at some point if I didn't.

>There really is less substance to this post than I thought it
>was going to have when I started, but whatever.

>* I swear to god there is some sort of "exploring thought
>process" that is completely beyond me. -- Like, dude had a
>balloon, balloons are round, if I go around the other way I'll
>come up behind him, if I come up behind him he'll be suprised,
>if I suprise him there will be a chance to scare him away, if
>I scare him away he's drop his cookie which I want. -- Mine
>goes: Dude has a balloon and a cookie. I want both. Kill
>him. Oh #### he's tough. Run Away. Well now I'm screwed.

I don't think there's anything that bad out there. :P

But, that said, I think most puzzle/questish exploring figuring-out requires that you have a good command of the area to begin with. It doesn't do you any good to know that you have to set the dude's pants on fire if you don't know that there's a bottle of kerosine in his henchman's closet and matches in the kitchen.