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Considering that your eyes are still adjusting, the very first thing that you notice about the basement is that it is unusually deep - especially for a house relatively close to the harbor. You would assume that flooding would be a risk, though you can see no signs of water currently. Inexplicably enough though, there seems to be ... grass, growing in between the flagstones of the floor. You stare at it unblinking, perched stock-still on top of the tun, assuming that once your eyes adjust, you will see it for what it truly is ... but as your eyes adjust it becomes clearer and clearer that you are just looking at grass that is somehow growing in a basement. It is tallest where the bulk of the light from the casement window falls, but it is everywhere between the stones of the floor, even in spots in the corners that would always be in shadow. You look up at the ceiling, figuring that there must be some large lamp, that when lit would provide the light that this grass needed to grow - but above, there is nothing but planks. And even if there was a lamp, why would it be lit long enough for grass to grow? More to the point, <span class="mu-i">why would grass be allowed to grow</span>?
Hoping to make sense of it, you look around at the rest of the room with your acclimated eyes. The basement is a series of small rooms, with thick stone walls to support the house and archways to allow passage between them.This particular room has two others off of it. One of those is also partially lit by a casement window, but from your current vantage point on top of the tun, you simply cannot see into it. You are in position to see into the other one, but it is too dark make anything out. Looking around this room, there are many other barrels in this room, though they are smaller than the tun. Beyond that, there is a large set of cubbies and a desk against the wall with shelves above it ... with a few books and bottles on top of the desk, and wooden boxes and empty stoppered bottles on the shelves. There is a sea chest, a ladder, and stairs ... which is odd, now that you think about it, considering that you are at the front of the house. You also notice that there is no evidence of a light source beyond the window. No sconces, no lamps, nothing.
Which brings you back right to where you started, with a very unpleasant question. Is this grass ... Mysterious? Or at the very least, has it been grown by or for some Mysterious design?
You know full well that before the Piece That Fell made the first Life-Loom out of a pair of oxen for the First Few to proselytize with, Witches made do with Cultivars that were Propagated or Nursed, or Mutants ... you aren't sure what the words is for Mutants that weren't made through the intervention of a Life-Loom. Bred? Or -
You snap yourself out of it. This isn't the time to see how much of your lessons you can remember, you fraying idiot! There could be a hostile Witch upstairs for all you know. What in the Heights is wrong with you?
