Yoshimo disliked golems. They were mechanical and unfeeling, yet they posessed such enormous power, they made him feel nervous. It was like associating with a huge, invincible ogre who might attack at any moment and could not be reasoned with. The clay golem took him firmly by his upper arm, cutting off the circulation, and led him onwards. He had been resting and planning his next job in the Copper Coronet, when a single clay golem had entered, walked slowly and mechanically up to him, and stared at him with its blank eyes. The bar had fallen silent, all eyes were on the towering juggernaut.

"Yoshimo Farazaki?" The golem's false mouth butchered the delicate syllables of his name. Yoshimo had winced, and nodded nervously.

"My master wishes to speak with you. You know some information he wants."

"Can't your master come to meet me face to face?"

The golem simply stared straight ahead. "The master must not be disobeyed. Come with me."

"You won't even tell me where I'm going?" Yoshimo asked.

The golem took hold of his arm, and repeated, "The master must not be disobeyed. Come with me."

Hendak, the owner of the tavern, had gotten out of his seat, making as though to help his patron, but Yoshimo waved him down. He didn't want a law-abiding, wealthy Athkatlan to get into this business, especially since it might jeapordize Yoshimo's own illegal activities. He had gotten himself out of tougher scrapes.

"Thank you, but no. I will handle this situation myself," he managed to get out as he was half-dragged from the bar room.

The cold night air had assaulted his bare arms and neck, for he had not had time to take his cloak before the creature had taken him. The golem dragged him through Athkatla, from the slums all the way to the Docks district, down the pitch black streets to a hidden corner nestled between two buildings. The golem had released him by the corner, and he raised his eyebrows, wondering if he was meant to enter it. Before he had time to, however, a low voice spoke from out of the darkness. Yoshimo understood. Whoever it was must have wanted to keep his own identity secret.

"I must apologise, Mr. Farazaki, for my abrupt summoning. I am a man of... complications. My schedule is difficult to grasp." The voice was calm and smooth, with a rich bass sound. He sounded well bred, probably wealthy, Yoshimo noted. It always paid to remember these things about one's business associates.

"Yes, well it was not too much trouble. You wish to conduct business, yes?" Yoshimo got right to the point.

The voice laughed. It was a low, rumbling laugh that echoed so gently it was almost inaudible. "I suppose you could say that. You travelled with a certain woman I am interested in, one Discord of Candlekeep by name." It was not a question.

"Discord..." Yosmimo thought for a moment before recalling the face of a barbarian warrior woman he had spent some time with in the past. They had parted company after only a few brief weeks of travelling. "Yes, I remember her. What of it?"

"I need to know her weaknesses." The voice was hard. "What did you learn of her when you travelled together?"

"Weaknesses?" Yoshimo thought for a moment. He had never been close with the half-elf, but he remembered her as being a warm, comical woman with a booming, slightly obnoxious laugh and a tendency to lose her temper. She had always placed a great deal of trust in her travelling companions, and depended on them perhaps a little too much in battle and planning. He planned his answer very carefully, feeling a twinge of guilt that passed quickly.

"If you will pardon my bluntness, sir, I must ask what the payment for such knowledge will be? I am a business man with a professional reputation to uphold, and even information has its price. I believe I can help you."

The voice laughed dryly again. "Very well. How does, oh, three hundred gold sound? Sufficient?"

Yoshimo nodded. "That is most kind sir, yes. Discord, as I remember her, is a very trusting person concerning those she travels with. She depends on them completely in battle and when planning her next move strategically. If you can separate her from her friends, she might be easier to... deal with."

"Her friends..." the voice sounded excited and slightly fanatical. "Why, of course! That is perfect! Thank you, Mr. Farazaki."

"I am pleased to oblige. If I may, sir, I would like to recieve my payment quickly so I may return to the Copper Coronet before my belongings are picked through by thieves. Meaning no disrespect, sir."

"Your payment..." The voice laughed again. This time, the sound was cold and cruel, taunting Yoshimo in its arrogance. "Your payment shall be to meet your bretheren. You shall burn in the abyss with all the other traitors, Yoshimo Farazaki!"

The golem took hold of both his shoulders with a crushing strength. Yoshimo struggled, trying to slip deviously away from the puppet's grip, when his business associate stepped out of the shadows. He froze, staring at the spectacle before him, before struggling again. The figure took another step forward, and Yoshimo screamed like a caged wild animal. The scream was silenced by a quiet whoosh, a sound like dry sand being poured from a pail. He let utter a few hopeless gurgling noises before falling lifelessly to the ground.

"Bring him like the others," the man muttered to his golem slave, and walked down the darkened alley of the Docks, his heels echoing against the cobblestones as he made his way out of the city.

Discord's head was pounding when she opened her eyes. The light within her tent was gray and dull, but the illuminated hide of the tent roof revealed that it was quite bright outside, possibly midday. She glanced around, puzzled, and saw that Anomen was not in her tent with her, nor had he slept beside her from the look of the bedding. Her stomach churned violently and her head throbbed painfuly whenever she tried to sit up, so she lay still in the half light and listened. She could hear her friends talking outside in slow, tired voices.

"Did you get any sleep at all, Anomen" Aerie was saying.

"A little. Discord was shivering in her sleep, and her skin was cold as ice one moment and then it was burning up a second later. I was too worried to sleep, although despite my best efforts I did fall asleep for an hour or so at about five o'clock. When I awoke, she seemed a little better."

Better? Better than what?" Discord wondered to herself, her memory still fuzzy.

"What is wrong with Discord?" Minsc's voice was worried.

"Someone... we think someone tried to poison her, Minsc," Aerie explained to her protector, who nodded sagely. This he understood. This was evil, foully trying to leave its vile spot on the otherwise nicely cleaned window of justice. Boo concurred. Minsc's world was an easy, uncomplicated one, and poison he understood, even if Discord's strange actions had baffled him the night before. Boo assured him that it had been the poison which had made her scream and stomp about so, and so she could not be blamed. Minsc was content with that explaination.

"It was an overdose of black lotus alright, and I'm sure it was planted in her smokeleaf..." Anomen was saying to Aerie in hushed tones.

Discord sat up abruptly at these words. Her memories of the previous night were scattered and distorted, but she managed to make some sense of it. With a shock she remembered the words she had spoken, her delirious cry to her father. She forced herself out of bed and almost fell back down again in a rush of diziness. She forced herself onward, bursting out of her tent and into the warm noontime air.

"Who did it? What filthy whoreson put black lotus in my leaf" She towered above her companions, even as the lingering effects of the drug made her feel weak and sick.

"Discord... you should be in bed" Aerie said, startled.

"Hold your tongue, unless you mean to tell me who is guilty." She rounded on her elven friend, who timidly stared at her feet under the brunt of Discord's wrath.

"Well" She shouted, and her friends flinched.

"We don't know, 'Cord." Imoen said falteringly. "We've been trying to figure out who..."

"How could he have done it, whoever he was" Discord asked, sitting down beside Haer'Dalis, who glared at her resentfully. He had tried to be forgiving, as Discord had not been herself at the time of her assault upon him, but he was failing and becoming more and more angry as he listened to her talk.

"What do you mean" Anomen asked.

"I had some smokeleaf the night before yesterday, so it couldn't have been present then. All day when we were travelling, the pouch was in my backpack, and it couldn't have been planted then. That leaves the night before we travelled. At all times one of us was standing watch, so it was either one of you, or one of you was lax in your watch duties and allowed an enemy into camp." she glared accusingly at her friends, all of whom were taken aback by this brash accusation.

"My lady, why would any of us wish to poison you" Anomen asked, tiny sparks of anger beginning to kindle in his voice.

"I'm not sure. I suppose everyone has his price" she snapped cruelly. She was far to angry to measure and gauge her words. She could think only of revenge.

"You are a harsh woman, Discord" Imoen said softly. "We would not betray you."

"Perhaps so, but the lotus got into my smokeleaf somehow, sister. Did any of you fall asleep during watch? Were you stunned? Was any spell cast upon you? Speak"

Her companions looked uncertainly from one to the other. Anomen, staring guiltily at his fists, spoke up.

"I... think I may know when it happened, My Lady."

Discord's expression changed as she looked upon her lover. "You..."

"I was keeping first watch that night, and I... lost an hour or so... I don't know what might have happened. I simply realized that much more time had passed then I had thought, so I awoke Imoen and went to bed. I must have been... unaware for almost an hour."

"Unaware" Her voice was hard. "What an interesting word. You were asleep, were you not"

"I... suppose so." he said quietly.

"Perfect! So whoever has done it must be miles away by now"

"I think so." Anomen's guilt-ridden voice was almost inaudible.

"Illamater's curse" she swore and stared into the charred fire pit, looking agitated.

"You can place blame an bully us, Raven, but it won't take back last night's events... what you did, what you said..." Haer'Dalis said coldy, fully aware that he was striking a new and exposed nerve.

Discord looked up with a start, the memory seared into her head. She had told them all about Bhaal, how it felt that he was ever present. She had handed them that personal detail, and her face heated in shame and embarrassment.

"Hold your tongue, bard," her voice was low and dangerous.

"So you are closer to Bhaal than you told us, Discord," the teifling continued, feeling vindictive and justified in light of Discord's unfair wrath. The light of revenge was in his eye.

"I told you, planar swine, to keep your tongue still lest I cut it off." She sneered and stood up, looking down on the bard. He responded in kind, rising to his feet and raising his voice.

"Such threats, my Raven! Is that you speaking or the dead god of murder who lurks behind your words?" he spat.

"Knock it off," Imoen yelled. "This is doing no one any good."

Discord didn't even hear her. She grabbed the teifling by the front of his tunic and pulled him close, snarling like an animal, her hot breath falling on his face. "And what if it is my father, rogue? Speak! What if my father is here behind my eyes, willing me to end your foul existence? What then?" Blood was pounding in her ears, and she felt the old familiar tug of the slayer. She pushed it back, but her anger only grew and control was becoming difficult.

"Discord no!" Someone was yelling. Out of nowhere, a heavy blunt staff hit her solidly between her shoulder blades. This blow injured her little, but she was already dizzy from the after effects of the drug. She jerked forward, releasing Haer'Dalis, swayed on her feet, and felt the world begin to ebb away as she began to give in to unconsciosness. A pair of strong arms caught her and held her, and she struggled to keep awake, her stomach turning and the world swaying dizzily around her.

"Aerie?" Haer'Dalis breathed, hardly believing his eyes. Aerie, placid, timid Aerie, had took up her staff and struck her leader and friend with hardly a second thought. She now stared, horrified, at Discord's shuddering form.

"I...I'm sorry, I thought... I thought she was going to..."

"Aerie, you must not fight with Discord," MInsc said in a worried tone. It was he who had caught his friend and saved her from tumbling to the ground. If Aerie and Discord were enemies, he would have to choose between honor and duty - his duty to his witch or his loyalty to Discord. He worriedly looked down at the white-haired half-elf, who seemed groggy and sick, but not badly injured. "Discord is your friend, Aerie."

"I know, Minsc... I panicked, and I'm sorry." Aerie dropped the staff and buried her face in her hands.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Avariel? Discord could barely stand already, do you think she was a threat to Haer'Dalis?" Imoen snarled angrily.Aerie looked close to tears. Haer'Dalis put his arm around her, and she buried her face in his chest, her face burning with shame and guilt. Anomen leaped up and relieved Minsc of his burden, part leading, part carrying his love back into the tent. Imoen hovered anxiously around the edges, biting her lip as she watched her friends.

As Anomen lay Discord down in her worn travel bedding, her eyes flickered open. "Anomen." Her voice was soft and gentle as a breeze whispering through grass.

"Shh, my dear, you are not well yet. We will stay here one more night, and the Lotus should be out of your system by then."

Discord felt suddenly tired, and she nodded weakly. "Oh, Gods, I am such a fool." she moaned.

"No my love, you are merely unwell." Anomen tried to be soothing as he soaked a rag in cool water and smoothed it across her forehead. She looked up at him.

"I'm well enough to see my mistakes. They all must think I am being posessed or something." she said, and didn't allow Anomen to reply before continuing. "Last night I raved on and on about how I felt Bhaal's presence; I spoke as though my father prompted my words, and I frightened them. And just as they are beginning to shake off these suspicions I barge out of my tent, brashly insulting and blaming you all for what is not your fault, and I attack Haer'Dalis. They must think I'm losing my grip."

"No one thinks any less of you, my darling."

"Is that so? Then why did Aerie hit me with her staff? She has never been impulsive before, and never violent. I scared her, that's why. She was worried I was becoming like my father."

"People don't think much in a panic," Anomen said softly.

"Maybe," Discord sighed, sounding unconvinced.

"Get some rest, my lady. I must join the others." He kissed her brow before retreating and joining the others.

"Is... is she okay?" Aerie asked, her liquid blue eyes contorted with worry.

Anomen looked at her coldly. "You didn't hurt her much, but she is still weak and affected by the drug. She is resting now," he sneered, this time in Haer'Dalis' direction. "At least the bard is all right, safe from a sick and delirious woman."

If he was expecting a sharp retort, he was disapointed; Haer'Dalis merely turned away and Aerie sank guiltily down onto the ground.

Imoen was standing by the remnants of the previous night's fire. To fend off the damp, they had hung up some of their wettest clothing, dressing in their drier apparel. Their wet clothes had been hung on a sort of rack which Imoen had inventively fasioned from some branches and vines. Now the garments were more or less dry, and Imoen was taking them down and handing them to each companion. She paused as she took down Anomen's once-blue tunic. The shoulders and upper front of the shirt had some sort of white film on them. She furrowed her brows and picked at the residue with her fingernail. "Anomen? What is this?"

Anomen raised an eyebrow and took the cloth from her, turning the garment over. The residue made the fabric stiff, and it fell off the shirt as a powder when it was scraped. Anomen cocked his head. "I don't know what that could be," he murmured, rubbing the substance between his fingers. He held it up to the light and studied it before holding it to his face and smelling it experimentally.

His eyes drooped immediately, and he barely caught himself from collapsing, holding onto consciousness with some effort. "Whatever it is, it is potent!" he exclaimed. "This is some kind of magic or drug."

Haer'Dalis looked curiously at the bundle in Anomen's hands, and examined it as well. "I've seen something like the before. A powder that knocks out anyone who breathes it in. This is almost like it... but I dont think it tends to leave residues like this."

"Unless... unless its subjected to water. It was raining yesterday, could the powder have melted into the cloth and hardened again once it dried?" Imoen speculated.

"I don't know. I suppsed its possible. However it got here, this is suspicious," Haer'Dalis murmured.

"I'll say. This could explain a lot," Anomen said hopefully. If this was the powder Haer'Dalis described, he was absolved of the guilt of being responsible for the lapse in security which had led to Discord's illness. "I'll collect some of it."

They sat in silence a few moments, awkwardly nervous after the recent stresses their party had suffered. Anomen scraped the dry residue from his tunic, storing it in a small leather pouch and placing it in his pack.

"I looks like we'll be hanging around here for another day." Anomen said. "We should hunt and forage around for some supplies."

The others nodded and went about their business. Imoen went into the tent to visit Discord, Aerie and Minsc went off to gather food, and Haer'Dalis and Anomen collected firewood and water. They all avoided each other's eyes, awkward and unsure of what to think.