Aside from Buddy and the mules there wasn’t anything amiss outside. The rain had stopped by a mist was rolling in, causing Buddy to be on very high alert. He mentions not having a good darkvision, so he must focus intently if anything planned to use this mist to approach the house. 

As for the trap door you would be able to go down there easily, though there wasn’t much of note. There seemed to be some sort of butchered animal carcass hung down here along with other temperature sensitive food stuffs. Seemed that this trapdoor led to a cellar. But there was one thing of note down here. Sitting on a table nearby was a mask. It looked like you’re typical plague doctor beak mask. It was clean, if damaged, very well worn.