Quoted By:
To your surprise, the first door that you try opens up to a room that is completely empty, save for the motes of dust flitting through the air - which you can see clearly, as this room has its own window. You back out of the room and step out into the hallway again. You consider leaving the door open, so you can quickly keep track of which rooms you have been in or not, but after allowing yourself a moment to mull it over, you decide against it. It shouldn't be that difficult to keep track of the rooms - and even if you do get turned upside-down, well, then you will just open the door or doors again and check. It will only take a second; and announcing your presence by keeping the house in disarray ... it is true that you are comfortable enough that no one is in the house beside you for you to walk around the place freely. But what if someone comes through the front door and heads straight up to the second floor, to find all these previously shut up doors swinging wide? And what if - no, damn it all, you are not wrong about being alone. You are alone. It is you, the Constructs in the chimneys, whatever in the Heights of Hell was in that random dug-up chest, and the fraying grass. That is it. If you catch yourself bellyaching one more time about 'what if' you are liable to do something drastic! You have to stop yourself from slamming the door shut, but you see to it that it is properly closed before you move along.
Frustrated with yourself and the general lack of progress here, you practically throw yourself at the second door. And to your surprise, you find another empty room lit by the fading light filtering through a window. As you close the door, you mull this over. Perhaps Aldoin didn't have this house built for him as you had assumed. Perhaps he bought it, had it outfitted to fit his particular needs - and ultimately found that he had more house on his hands than he could possibly use. That makes enough sense ... but it doesn't account for the generally aberrant layout of the house, or at least, what looks that way in your eyes. This room and the one that you were just in would have made perfect smaller bedrooms, for his grand-children or even guests -if they had a fireplace. Without one, a nights rest in one of these rooms during Sleep Season would be so could you might as well just sleep outside. There is absolutely no way that an architect could have just overlooked something like that, so they must have had some other intended use ... but whatever it is, it is beyond you.
However! The intent behind each room of this house is the absolute least of your concerns. In fact, you should be taking heart right now. An empty room is a room that you don't have to spend anymore precious time on! That's right! Alright, okay - forward! Onward!
