A kitsune mage has been ushered into one of the storerooms – one that is presently empty – and left alone, save for a guard posted outside the closed door.

Francisco holds the necklace in one hand, just looking over it for the moment. Maybe there's something on it that obviously looks magical.

The necklace is made of pearls, with a few black chitin bits. The chitin pieces are actually somewhat sharp, so the necklace requires some careful handling – not enough to draw blood, at least, and the points are facing outward, such that the wearer should not face risk of garroting him or herself.

The chain itself is what is particularly interesting about the necklace, and potentially the most valuable. It's made of metal – very shiny metal, and recently polished, at that.

The necklace smells of perfume … but also of saliva. Vykarin saliva, perhaps.

Certainly Francisco has seen the odd Vykarin about the Bazaar, and even knows of one that sells various pieces of shellwork. Maybe it came from her? Him? The Kitsune shrugs to himself, as it's a little hard to tell precisely. The metalwork, however – he's not seen any necklaces made of metal since he got to this world.

The fox looks over the necklace again, before placing it down carefully on the floor. Nothing immediately cries out any magical properties to him. Taking a deep breath, he prepares himself to cast a ritual to try and find out more.

Digging into his obnoxiously bland black robe, Francisco pulls out a few pieces of chalk and a couple of brightly colored pebbles. Placing them on the floor, he carefully marks out various shapes around the necklace with the chalk.

Stepping back from his marks on the floor, the Kitsune inspects what he has created on the floor carefully. When satisfied, he starts to chant strange and hard to pronounce words towards the necklace in the center of the floor-design.

This procedure goes on for minutes. Nothing happens just yet. But there's this ominous … TAPPING noise. It comes from somewhere within the walls, or perhaps beneath the floor. It's barely audible. The door is still closed, so it evidently hasn't stirred the guard into action.

Francisco continues with his chanting, concentrating with the task at hand and the words than anything else. He's had people and things try and distract him before, and sharing the Collegia with fairly young cubs, it becomes necessary to develop concentration skills.

Minutes pass. The knocking continues, here, then stopping, then there, then stopping, then all over again. At last, however, the spell is finished. There's a slightly tingling feeling in the vulpine's ears and nose and his fingertips. He can FEEL the faintest whispers of magic coming in from the walls … but nothing strong, nothing that really should stand out of the ordinary in any area this close to the Collegia Esoterica. Mere residue, perhaps, of spells cast long ago in this tradition-steeped city.

Taking a deep breath, and momentarily pausing to check the lines and marks on the floor again, the Kitsune begins to chant over from the beginning.

More chanting, more knocking, more resisting the distraction. At last, the knocking dies away. Perhaps the ghosts have gotten bored. One, twice, thrice, and four times for good measure, and the ritual is completed – taking four times as long thanks to the peculiar weakening of magic in Rephidim compared to the surface.

Sighing a little, the five-tailed fox squats down in front of the necklace, not really worrying or caring that his tails scuff the chalk markings a little. He picks up the necklace by the silver-like chain and just looks at it. "Well," he comments to it, as if it could hear him. "What a fun little red herring you turned out to be."

Francisco looks at the necklace again. He does now notice a few things he didn't before as his senses seem – heightened – somehow. Sniffing it, he can pick out two distinct fragrances, and from the feel – it's reminiscent of some kind of saliva.

Sniffing at the necklace a little further, the Kitsune picks up something fairly known to a vulpine nose – the scent of a female fox. This one is slightly different though, as he can manage to scent a particular pheremone that's oft produced in fear.

Francisco blinks, and holds the necklace away from him a little. No magic, but certainly a puzzle.

The fox's keen senses detect another clue – a few golden hairs in the necklace.

Picking out one of the hairs, the Kitsune squints at it a little. Presumably, they belonged to the vixen he can smell on the necklace. But why would the Babelite Ambassador have a necklace with fox-hair in it?

The silent walls provide no answer to that question. The basement is silent … except for the sound of the guard snoring outside the door.

Francisco sighs. There's nothing more he feels that he can get from this room. He walks over to the door and pushes against it to open it.

The door is unlocked, and has no latch. It slides open on well-greased hinges, revealing a snoozing bat guard just outside. His eyes have a weary look, similar to Degarde's, suggesting he hasn't had much sleep lately. Or perhaps he's more fiercely nocturnal than most Eeee. Still, it's bound to be getting late…

Clearing his throat a little, the fox attempts to get the guard's attention.

The Eeee lets out an alarmed squeak, and scurries back up to his feet. "Wha? Who? Oh! Mage! Are you finished yet?"

Francisco nods, "I am yes. If you could please take me to the Ambassador now?"

"Ah, of course," says the bat as he regains his bearings. "Yes, I will do that immediately. If you'll just follow me… "

The kitsune nods, and follows the Eeee along the corridor.

The bat leads Francisco out of the basement, up the stairs to the ground level, and down the hallway. For just a moment, before the magical effects wear off completely, Francisco catches another whiff of that vixen's scent … and that same touch of distress.

However, the smell is soon overpowered by the scents of cleaning agents and the aromas coming in from the kitchen, just further down the hallway.

Shrugging, Francisco pays it no mind for the moment. He still is holding the necklace, and it could just be a draft from the corridor that blew the scent from the necklace up to his nose. He continues following the guard.

The guard leads the kitsune out through the back door. The scent is most certainly gone now, replaced by those of the orchards lining the outer walls.