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You know full well that you cannot keep starting and stopping things if you are going to have any hope of keeping some semblance of a schedule ... but as you really haven't started looking for whatever was making that noise, you cannot truly consider this a distraction or diversion, can you? You are about to start working the perimeter of the room, checking in between the tubs and up and down the walls for anything that you might have missed when you are struck by a bit of inspiration. You find the flagstone that you had flipped over earlier, and get it out once more, with the 'stick set down right next to it. It has occurred to you that you should double check that all of the hatched outlines on the depiction of the room correspond to the room's current layout - if they don't, then that might mean that something was moved - or even removed - recently. After about a minute or so of checking, and frequently consulting the stone, you are comfortable in the conclusion that everything in this room that warranted hatched marks is where Aldoin intended it to be ... assuming, of course, that you have correctly corresponded all of the outlines with the right articles. You had figured that they would, but at this point, you are not willing to hand wave anything. Still, looking to keep things moving, you immediately switch over to looking around at the things that wouldn't warrant hatched outlines, specifically, to see if there was anything you might have overlooked You take several circuits of the room, taking your time before you finally conclude with absolute certainty that you have found all of the points of interest in this room.
You then spend another minute or so sounding the back of the wooden cubbies with little knocks to check for a hollowed out hiding spot in the wall, or even a hidden passage. It is miserable work, as the False Silverware is no longer screening your stomach - and fruitless too. Unsurprising ... but confusing. For the life of you, you cannot figure what the cubbies are for. It had occurred to you that as there wasn't an obvious use to them, they might have more about them than what meets the eye ... but they don't. Given the tun and the tubs down here, it would make sense if they were racks for bottles of wine, but they are built all wrong for that. Well ... at the very least, you are certain that there isn't anything about them that you haven't seen. Anyway, there are a lot more interesting things in the room - specifically, the books and papers, those stoppered bottles and that sea chest right by the foot of the stairs. Nearly all of the bottles are empty - but a few of the largest still contain a translucent oily looking liquid. And happily enough, these bottles all happen to be labeled as well, with slips of paper tied up with string around their necks. The labels read <span class="mu-s">Grass Tonic</span>, alongside what you would judge to be a batch number - no indication when it was made though.
