Snippet #2357252

The door tilted inward with a drawn out creak, and the house exhaled lukewarm air. The interior was not quite toasty, but it was certainly warmer than standing around in the snow. At the end of the hall lay a fireplace -- and a fresh fire. Paper and kindling were still visible on the grate; tiny flames had just begun to dance among them. Plenty of kindling and several logs sat in a basket nearby. A rich burgundy rug was thrown over the wooden floor, and a few stuffed chairs were arranged around the fireplace.

The walls of the entrance hall were lined with candle sconces, all burning away. Portraits hung between them -- stern gentlemen and cold-eyed ladies in fashion centuries old. Potted plants green with life sat in vases on ornate end tables. Small statues accompanied them, all classical busts, pale and flowing with organic detail. Five doors were immediately visible: two on the left wall, two on the far wall, and one on the right wall. Their layout was symmetrical -- the doors on the far wall were spaced equally on either side of the fireplace, and the closest doors on the left and right mirrored one another. Only the further door on the left was lonely; the space on the right side where there might have been a door was instead home to another painting.

On either side of the room, placed as symmetrically as the doors, a staircase led to a second level. Looking up, one could see the railing which encircled it. This upper section functioned as a hallway; from it sprang seven more doors.