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That is a thought, certainly ... but even if Aldoin was a He-Witch, what difference would that make at this point? No, you need focus on answering questions, not finding more of them. And to that end ... before anything else happens, before you just get bogged or worn down, you need to get to the other chimney to check the other ashbox. So you hasten your pace and lengthen your stride - as much as you can, feeling as terrible as you do - and you pass into the next room. It is also nearly empty, with a long-legged lamp in the corner, though there are a few smaller implements nearby - an empty wooden pail, a sickle and a set of shears, both in handsomely made leather sheathes, and some ... hand-held-contraption built around what looks to be a copper tank. You cannot make heads of tails of it - but you barely afforded it more than a glance. The important thing is that it doesn't look to be a threat ... and for that matter, it if was behind - on the floor, no less - than odds are very good that it is not valuable or important either. You will take a better look when you come back through here. Beyond that, there isn't anything else in the room - no pulled aside flagstones, no hole, no chests with surprisingly lively prize or prizes inside.
Aye, you are going to press on. Dutifully ignoring all your aches and pains and trembles and even the fact that somewhere along the line that in your teeth have started to chatter, you press into the room that should have the other footer for the other chimney. Immediately, you can see the bricks, right in the same spot that they were in the other room. However, you can also see that there is a lot more in here than that. While the other room had tools and shelves or ... well, you aren't even entirely sure, your attention was elsewhere ... this room is filled with stocks and stuffs. There is food everywhere - preserves in racks, like in the room that you tripped over your own feet in, with a few braids of garlic hanging from the ceiling instead of a 'forest' of sausage. There are bottles, casks and amphora of wine, packed in alongside sacks of different grains. There is a goodly deal of fresh produce as well, and dried fruits. Further into the room, a side of beef and a side of pork hang from hooks, attended by flies and other winged pestilents. In the far corner of the room, there is a stair leading upwards - no doubt into the kitchen of the house. All this food ... if you didn't know better, you'd think that you had come upon another public house. But you shouldn't be too surprised. There was a lot of family at the funeral, and most if not all of them will be staying here.
As hungry as you may be however, you have a lot more important things to be doing than taking inventory of Aldoin's food stores. You make your way to the chimney footer, and find that the door to the ashbox is already open. You get in close, bringing your 'stick to bear - and see a similarly large mountain of greasy, sooty ash.
