I'm close to 8 hours in at this point. My game map looks like this:
Is it normal to spend this much time exploring? I was up in the mid-right area for an hour exploring and trying to do a quest, but I couldn't find a way through to some of the black areas and I was getting frustrated, so I went back down, found a tunnel I'd missed before, and found that all I had to do to get to a bell was give up two artifacts (toaster and earmuffs) and 6 coins. Can I just say, playing this game with headphones is a fantastic experience. I've been recommending this game to everyone I talk to mainly because of that. I also tell them it's a fantastic game to spend hours in.