Mythology of Tumbleseed

There are a lot of things said in the dialogue of Tumbleseed that do not make sense, unless they are somehow connected to a longer history, or larger universe.

For instance, one fellow at one of the base camps talks about he used to be up on the peak, mentions how hot it is down here, but he likes it and will never go back; then he asks "Have you seen my floaties?" Well, can I actually find them somewhere, or it this just supposed to tie in with his explanation of how hot it is?

Then, occasionally, you will come upon a dwelling right in the middle of the Adventure, that has nobody inside to talk to, and no power-ups.

What is this all about? Are there supposed to be clues here?

UPDATE: Just fell down a random hole in the Jungle and met this witch-woman, who has a very skeptical outlook on the VineGuard, and received the WARPWEED. This is really neat (at this time, warpweed does not even appear on this wiki list), but what connection does this have with the rest of the "story"?

According to this otherwise very unhelpful wiki, the "Abandoned Witch Hut" has a small chance of spawning in the Forest. It seems I have stumbled onto this, as well as the "Witch Hole" in the Jungle. Would still be interested in learning what "The Stone Maw" and "The Vent" are all about, as well as any other secret locations.

There is a secret ending. Here are the basic steps (source):

Forest: kill totem at the very end wall and get the brewberry

Jungle: fill cauldron with 7 crystals and get secret aura, find witch in smoking hole and get warpweed

Desert: use warpweed to teleport into the skull mouth, grab red hot rock and escape the lava chasm

Snow: use red hot rock to melt 5 frozen dudes

Boss: the 5 frozen guys will be on the pedastals before the boss. Take note of the colours and the order they're in, left to right. Beat the boss by pressing the buttons in the same colour/order as the frozen guys. Jump into the volcano

Volcano: Descend to the bottom. To beat the final boss, press and hold each of the 3 buttons at the bottom

This answers all my questions about what "The Stone Maw" and "The Vent" are all about, as well. Really not sure why none of this turned up the first time I began poking around for answers.

Also, I see that a non-Abandoned Witch Hut was featured at the conclusion of the Nintendo Switch launch trailer: