Swamped

"A map?" you ask with a shrug.

"Map," he replies, sounding bored. Probably not it.

"A wizard?"

"Wizard."

"Gas?" You hope not, but if he's noticed any then you should probably do something about that.

"Gas," Mortimer says dully. You almost feel like he's disappointed in you.

Well, it's not like he's giving you a lot to go on. At this point, you may as well just toss out the first word that comes to mind.

"Applesauce? Is there apple sauce in here?"

"Apple...sauce!" Mortimer declares. Starts out with the same dejected tone, but gets more excited. So some other kind of sauce? Is he just hungry?

"Sauce, then. Is it in a container? Or did somebody spill some?"

"Sauce!" There's a bit of a hiss to it. Like he thinks you didn't quite get it.

Well, if he didn't mean sauce, then what... Oh, wait.

"A sausage?"

"Sausage!" Mortimer declares happily. He starts dancing on your hand.

"Where is it?" you ask. You put him down and he climbs behind a box, then returns carrying what definitely seems to be a sausage. Not cooked, and covered in dust, but it doesn't look to have rotted. So it can't have been there that long, for whatever that's worth.

You wonder how it got there. A rat swiped it, perhaps? There's no sign of any bite marks, but that's the easiest explanation, and it would be bad if there were an infestation. So you move the box to see if there's a hole or anything suggesting that.

You find something else entirely.