'That is considerable, I assure you, but your attention is all I ask. Now I will relate what has transpired,' the demon lord said, sinking to a sitting position on the long grass. The four disliked doing so, but they too sat warily when Leda followed Vuron's example, taking a position between the demon and the group of men and demi- humans. 'Now, pay full attention,' said Vuron in a contented tone. 'What I have to say is rather lengthy.
'When the contest for the Theorpart commenced, I brought Leda into being. She is not and never was a true clone of Eclavdra, for never would I replicate such a one as that drow was. If ever a mortal creature could have visited ruin upon My liege lord, that one could have. I altered Leda — as you named her, Gord — and did what I could to aid her. Being as I am, a demon, I could not place any goodness within her, not even any balance or neutrality. She now possesses some modicum of both, and that is because of you, Gord of Greyhawk.'
'Do you state blame or proffer some credit toward me, Vuron? Your words make no sense.'
'Oh, but they do! As for blame, I just might harbor that against you for many reasons, but I also balance that with much credit for what you did, Gord. The clay of the almost-clone was molded by you — even if just a little. This version of Eclavdra, this Leda, can never act as the original did. There is no longer any threat to My lord.'
'Perhaps I rue those words, demon! Why should I be interested in what benefits the denizens of the Abyss?'
'Rest assured that the influence of the departed drow would have been baneful in many ways, Gord of Greyhawk. She would have brought destruction to your world, ruin to Mine own realm, and all the others of demonkind too.'
'Yes, Gord,' Leda interjected urgently. 'It was Vuron's work which gave me the telepathic power to influence Eclavdra without her knowing it. Without such an advantage, she would have taken the Final Key but for a brief time, only to lose it to Obmi and his mistress.'
'One demon or another, what does it matter? All humanity loses either way.'
'Be not so quick to decide, Gord of Greyhawk,' Vuron said in his clear, sexless voice. 'What I tell you now centers on that very matter, on the Final Key, and certainly on the fate of all we know as the multiverse.'
'I am to decide this?' Gord uttered a mocking laugh in disbelief.
'When I intervened in Eclavdra's actions,' Vuron said without commenting on Gord's utterance, 'she had violated the compact regarding the Theorpart, and I could take it from her. Once this was done, I could use its power for but a moment to undo what the foolish drow had wrought. Despite those facts, I have no power to claim the Final Key. You, or Leda, must decide what is to be done with it.'
'You mean- '
'Yes. You could take it now and in an instant present it to the Demiurge. Basiliv might even accept it. '
Leda spoke then, her voice heavy with emotion. 'One thing is sure, Gord. I will not be the arbiter of this. I yield my right to you.'
'What she is saying, Gord of Greyhawk,' the pale demon explained, 'is that she could challenge you for the Final Key. Whichever of you survived would then possess the right to dispose of it. But Leda gives you her right. She will not fight against you, and that is evidence of the effect you have made upon her persona.'
This placed Gord in a terrible quandary. Basiliv, and Rexfelis the Catlord as well, had charged him with the very same responsibility. Long, long ago, at the time Gord had first set out on the quest for the last portion of the artifact, both of his mentors had said that the ultimate decision would be his, should he actually succeed in gaining possession of the Final Key. Now Leda, once his beloved, now a distrusted uncertainty, and Vuron, a hated foe, a demon lord of unknown power and certain evil, both placed the same decision squarely upon his head.
'I could give the thing over to Basiliv?' Gord said. Vuron nodded affirmatively. 'Mordenkainen? The Cabal? Iuz? The Brotherhood? Anyone?' To each question the alabaster demon indicated a positive answer. Finally the young thief asked, 'Myself? I could keep and wield its power for myself?'
'You could hold the Theorpart for as long as fate allowed, Gord of Greyhawk. Whether you could employ it is unknown to Me, but I think that somehow you would manage…'
'What am I to do with the cursed thing?'
'Being nothing more nor less than a demon lord,' Vuron said without force, 'I cannot say.'
Gord looked at Leda. Now she seemed again like the beautiful dark elf he had grown to love as they adventured across the Barren Plains and onto the Ashen Desert — no longer a stranger, a drow, and a priestess of demons. Her return gaze was warm. Her violet eyes were deep pools of emotion that he could only interpret as love for him. 'And you, Leda? Have you any words for me on this matter?'
'If you will truly hear them, Gord — with your heart as well as your mind.'
He gave a tiny shrug, a little gesture of hopelessness. 'I am what I am. I can hear only as I can, but I will try, Leda, to listen with all of my being.'
'Then I will speak to you, love, even though what I must say is so painful that I would rather die now than say what I believe… Good can never possess the artifact — no part of it, not even its essence. Should those who stand between Good and Evil and between Law and Chaos obtain the Theorpart, it will at least corrupt and change them to suit its nature. The possessor of such a thing must surely come to be like the one to whom it is linked — or else, the Theorpart will bring ruin.'
Gord cocked his head at that. 'Ruin? How so?'
'The power of the artifact flows through each of its parts. Each calls to the other, each seeks to place itself into the hands of those attuned to its nullity. It will be united, or it will bring destruction on any being preventing its conjoining.'
'Then either whomever I bestow the Final Key upon is doomed, or I bring doom to all the world!'
Vuron responded to that. 'Not exactly, but Leda's words and your understanding are almost perfect in this matter. The artifact must always exist, and if it remains in its separate parts, there must always be tension and conflict as the portions exert their influence. Only one force can now be used to keep them from being joined, Gord of Greyhawk, but the selection must be yours. More cannot be said.'
'Quite a lure — the temptation to employ evil to overthrow evil,' Gord murmured in observation.
Vuron said nothing to that, but Leda came close to him and placed her arm around his hunched shoulders. 'Even the greatest and wisest of the minions of Good would fall to such a lure, Gord.'
'So if any faction of Good or Evil holds two parts, the third part would be subject to the other two, and the whole artifact would conjoin… But yet is there not the force of Concordance?'
'Is there?' Leda asked softly.
'No… I am not reasoning properly,' Gord admitted. 'Those who hold to the necessity of all and seek balance are too weak to oppose the others. They would be assailed from all sides, by Good and Evil alike. The key would fall into other hands soon enough, and the inevitable would then result.'
'I think you should destroy the blasted thing, cap'n,' Barrel ventured weakly.
'Would that such an option existed,' Vuron said with such emotion that it amazed all. 'Not even the greatest of deities could safely do that. To try is to bring ruin, for the thing would then unite as all other forces became disrupted in sympathy, and He-Who-Must-Sleep-Forever would then awaken!'
'Evil alone can possess these Theorparts,' Gord said in amazement, realizing the final truth of the matter. 'Each of the keys had been resting with those of malign sort, although none knew it… at that time.'
That is correct, Gord of Greyhawk,' Vuron said, again without expression in his voice.
'But only the chaos of the Abyss seeks to keep the artifact disjoined, for the proud and independent rulers of demonkind would not willingly bow to any.'
'Again, you relate the facts as they exist,' Vuron observed unemotionally.
'Then you, Vuron, must accept the Final Key!' It was a demand, not a request or statement.
'Perhaps,' the alabaster-hued demon lord said slowly. Vuron nodded, looking squarely at Gord with his red eyes. 'Yes, perhaps. But even one who wields the might of a Theorpart cannot force that object upon another if that one is unwilling.'
'You're telling me that you — and your master too — are unwilling to possess the thing?'
'I am willing only under certain conditions, Gord of Greyhawk. As for My liege, I must serve him as best I am able…'
'But the devil-serving Brotherhood holds one, and Iuz the other! If either of them should gain this portion, then all are doomed!'
That is correct — but what difference if My acceptance spells eventual doom anyway?'
Gord stared at the pale, being in bewilderment for a moment, then asked, 'The conditions. What are
