"It would be nice if you told us beforehand so there could be multiple pairs of eyes on whatever you did, but I don't think anybody is going to say no to science. If something runs out of mana and we're all low, we can always put off more experiments on that one thing for a day or two."

"That makes sense."

"In the meantime, I want to take this with us. I'm going to go sneak up on it." He gently levers the tile out of the divot it's sitting in without touching the top enough to set it off, then puts it back down outside the basin. "Say, would you like to step on it again? I want to make sure it doesn't need the rest of the fountain to work. We can always drop something on it if you'd rather not."

"I'm game." Hop.

Boing!

"Good, good. This is a bit heavy to haul around for the rest of the day; would you mind bringing it back to the ship? Alternately we can just leave it here and grab it on the way back tonight."

"I can do that." She hauls it.

When she gets back the others have determined that there's nothing else magic in the park and are making their way toward the palatial ruin Cayra partially explored before meeting them. 

She can tell them what she found last time!

They appreciate the warning about the human-sized toad! They start debating whether, if it proves to still be there, they should try to kill it or chase it out of the room or just wait for it to go away and then explore when it leaves. 

She doesn't have a strong opinion on this subject but pipes up with more details about the toad frequently to feel like she's participating in the conversation.

Toad details are appreciated to the extent that they're relevant. Eventually they decide that they'll only fight the toad if it's territorial enough to attack first. 

When they get to the ruined palace, the first place they stop is the courtyard full of plants. Chaenath has been taking samples of all the plants they find on the way, and after doing the same here she concludes that this used to be the kitchen garden.

"Is any of it still food?"

"Oh yes, we still eat plenty of the same kinds of plants now as they did back then. For instance, I could make a pretty tasty stew out of the roots of that one, seasoned with this, this, and a bit of that." She points at the various plants as she speaks.

"I meant I'd have expected the weeds to take over if they didn't have anyone looking after them, not for the food plants to still be there."

"Ah, yes. A lot of these are weeds, but some food plants are remarkably hardy. Also the native wildlife are less likely to eat the food plants; that probably helps."

"They are? Why?"

"I don't know. It's been noticed in Pinehedge, though; animals that were first brought over from this continent are more interested in plants brought over likewise than in the native ones. I suppose it might not go the other direction; I haven't seen enough animals eating here to be sure."

"Huh. Okay then."

Onward into the building! They find some stairs that go down to a relatively intact basement level. There's a pair of massive fireplaces along one wall, one with the rusty remains of a spit in it, a couple knives, and ceramic jars ranging from plain to pretty and from intact to shattered.

Buttons, knobs, dials...?

The spit doesn't have a crank handle. It does have a place on one of the supports that's marked off with a groove in the metal, like a button that can be touched but not actually pressed in. Nothing happens when she touches it, though.

She points it out anyway.

Tem puts a hand on it. "It'll take a charge, at least! Good spotting!" He stands around with his hand on the spit for several minutes, letting it suck mana out of him.

"Does that feel like anything?"

"Yeah. I can feel the mana flowing from me into the artifact, and I could make it stop flowing without taking my hand away if I wanted."