by Gary Gygax
"All has been closed to those three now," Entropy droned slowly. "I have the answer to the rings too, Tharizdun, if you dare to face Courflamme."
As usual the entity aggravated him beyond measure. "It is not simply the blade's puissance I have to be careful to avoid, inert lump! Even though your slow mind has not detected it, I have long since kenned the hand of others in tbs affair. champion? bah? that little mortal is as nothing to me! Do you suppose that I actually hesitate in engaging in the last combat because of courflamme? never, all-encompassing turd! There are others whom I must neutralize, then I will unmake the weapon, and lastly I will flay and devour the three who think they can oppose my might."
"This is noteworthy, Mover of Malevolent Pawns. Pray enlighten so poor a thing as me."
Tharizdun thought Entropy's words conciliatory. "Very well. The worker of Time and she of Probability both conspire to best me."
"Us!"
"You? Piddling lump! Why bother? No matter — I have devised means to make those efforts worthless."
"Beware, archfiend, you have much hubris, and that is weakness."
"I? you say I am arrogant because I know and utilize my full powers? that is so typical of lessers, 'Lord' Entropy. You do as you can to squash the energies of the rings made by wealsome meddlers. I shall now bring into being the stage of the final contest."
"Beware! Caution is called for. Proctor Chronos and the vixen Tolerance are cunning and have many tricks. Long have I opposed them — I know!" Entropy's monotone was given as much force as it could muster.
"You accused me of shilly-shally, entity. Now you say I must be dilatory in order to ponder what I had to warn you of. you are useless!" Tharizdun jumped up and strode back and forth. He enjoyed this. It was a carefully designed exercise to awe the Lord of Entropy, to make the inertial being very cautious in dealing with the archfiend. An opponent in doubt was an adversary on the road to defeat and doom. "The delay has been because I was dealing with interference. In closing all avenues of energy supply to those petty heroes, I have likewise been sealing off change and time's streams as well. Even Chronos will be unable to lend his allies an extra minute, and there will be no minute chance of them avoiding the certainty of my coming."
"I am unable to determine the validity of your claim," Entropy said. "What of the champion himself?"
"You destroy the bands, entity, and I will see to the sword, courflamme. Gord is no champion — it is the weapon which is my true challenger. If the blade is unmade, then the man is no more than a mosquito to be slapped."
"Possibly. . Can you truly break the sword without having to slay its wielder, though? That is the question."
Tharizdun preened himself. "Question only in your brain, Entropy. It is certain knowledge in my superior mind. I have understood how to brubg Courflamme to nothing for a long time now. Be so good as to faithfully perform your task, leaden one, and I will carry the day."
Now it was Entropys turn to feel annoyance. It was an emotion that was nigh impossible for the entity, but somehow the archfiend made it possible for vexation to creep through the amorphousness of Entropy's being. "How will you do so much?"
"Let us resrve that for telling afterward, slow-of-wit. Get on with your work, I say! I am off to bring to oerth a taste of my coming domain. The yeth hounds will have their sport over and through the little globe. Then, at last, I will bring my power to bear. all will be just so for my little drama."
Grumbling most uncharacteristically, the Lord of Entropy slowly dissipated to move itself elsewhere. Even the entity needed preparations in order to bring the powerful bands made by the Lords of Light to naught.
As it faded. Entropy heard the baying of the yeth hounds. The archfiend had already summoned his pack.
Chapter 24
"Is there anywhere left to hide?"
"That is a dispiriting thing to say, Gellor. You are becoming a detriment to this — "
"Leda! Please don't quarrel with our friend. You are allowing the archfiend his way when you do that," Gord said gently. "His question was deserved. It was also practical." The three had been chivvied and chased across the whole of the world. From the distant south, through the Moving islands, up and across Gonduria's vast continent, and thence across the Agitoric Ocean to western Oerik's shore. No fastness or barren or mountain chain had served to conceal them from the hounding of Tharizdun and his yeth.
"It is just a sport to him now," Leda said, picking up the thoughts from Gord. "Perhaps the bard is right as you say. Why don't we stay and face the archfiend?"
"That answer is simply stated, dear one," he replied to the elven girl. "We have been unable to bring our force into readiness. There are insufficient energies in the rings, Courflamme, us as well. To stand and fight so depleted is to invite disaster."
"Is there any hope of gaming the power you say we require?" Geijor was not mincing words now.
The question set him to thinking carefully. It had seemed that Chronos and Lady Tolerance had desated them there in demonium and afterward as the three had tried to find a refuge and restore their strength on plane after plane. They had failed, Gord admitted to himself, and had brought disaster to those who sought to aid them too. How many friends and stout folk had met their deaths because of them? Could he actually hope to achieve a state that would put them on a par with Tharizdun?
"I greatly overmatched the newly risen monster," God allowed, looking at his friends and shaking his head. 'If I had been less cautlous then, or had Entropy not interfered, the matter would have been ended there in the castle prison."
"That is apparent," Gellor said cynically. "The power you seek?"
The match was more even there in the Abyss. Entropy was locked against Ojukalazogadit, so it was Tharizdun and I. The force of the three bands tipped the scales in my favor. The archfiend was a thrust away from oblivion!"
The deranged demonking brought that hope to grief; now he is gone and we three face oblivion," Leda commented with ruefulness heavy in her voice.
Gord stood up. There is one place which might prove itself — a location capable of delaying the archfiend and providing us with the strength necessary to give us a fighting chance."
"You mean the city, I presume."
"Not exactly, Gellor. Greyhawk is the last center of resistance, true. The point of magical power is just outside it, of course."
"The ruined castle of the Mad Archmage?"
"None other. Once I delved into places there which tapped spheres beyond even the reach of Tharizdun — as he now is, I mean. Ultimate Balance impinges there, and the Lord Yang and Lady Yin manifest themselves there," Gord said with some enthusiasm. "The energy and negation I need for Courflamme could be gained there!"
Leda was ready. "Let's depart immediately. The sun is already sailing toward its nighttime sea, and with darkness will come the tumultuous hunt!"
"Would I could face those damned hounds without their filthy huntsman," the troubador growled, humiliated at having to run as a hare before Tharizdun and his netherdogs.
"I will lead," Gord said. "This offers at best a chance. Fully prepared, we will have only a slight hope. Parity was lost with a vengeance, and that opportunity will never again present itself."
Gellor arose to stand beside his two friends. "We three alone survive to fight. The remainder of the Lords of Balance are no more. If you can manage even a whisper of chance against the storm of the archfiend's assault, what matter? It is the only remaining avenue left to follow."
"It is one I have known of for a long time," Gord admitted. "I hesitated to use it because of what will come from our act."
Leda looked at her love, then at Gellor. "The destruction of Greyhawk the death of all who dwell therein and are gathered there. Is not in question whether or not you lead us there, Gord."
"Aye, that's so," Gellor nodded vigorously. "City and life therein are doomed, foredoomed since your rising as champion. Its central position has been evident always, though it is in retrospect
we realize that fact now. Let's press on quickly."
Thus agreed, the three rode astride ordinary mounts across the woodlands and fields toward the greatest urban center on the Flanaess. The whole of Oerth was wracked by war, killing, famine, and disease. Here and there some pocket of near-normal life held out, surrounded by a sea of turmoil and slaughter. From one such shelter to another they rode, and in the course of the journey and avoiding the skyborne hunt that sought for their souls each night, their strength and power were drained further and further. Insane servants of Tharizdun ran rampant through the land, so terrible and perverse that brigands appeared as men of Weal in comparison. Wandering survivors, refugees, despoilers, crazed cannibals, and worse were frequently encountered. Whether ignored or scattered by the three, there was so little that they could do to help that the experience eroded their determination, sapped their will to continue. Somehow they managed, and near year's end Gord. Leda. and Gellor came to the low northern ridges that allowed them their first look at the last city of Oerth.
"It seems almost unperturbed." Gord murmured, seeing the river barges, and carts coming and going.
"Those riders yonder," Leda said, pointing away to the east, "and perhaps the dust cloud to the south too. betoken a state of tense waiting, I think"
"The comment was only a passing thought. I realize that even though the strongest of the Flanaess are gathered within those grim walls to forestall the fall of Greyhawk, no collection of men and more-than-humans too can fend off the archfiend for long."
Gellor scowled. "Our proximity will bring the matter to a head. Would it were otherwise!"
"Do we stop in Greyhawk first?" Leda asked him.
"No," Gord said. "That would be of no usefulness at all. The ruins of the sprawling fortress built by the Archimage are nearer to us than the city anyway. Let's make for them immediately."
In a short time the three located a faint trace that led them to the old castle. Although they passed through an unfamiliar gate, Gord's memory was good. The way to the depths of the citadel's subterranean mazes was indelibly etched in his mind. Before descending, they paused, ate a little, and rested. When the sun in the leaden sky was near its zenith, the young champion led the two into the ruins and downward into the central heart of the underground beneath.
At the bottom of a well-like shaft, Gord paused a moment. "I wonder what ever befell that self-seeking mage who first brought me here…."
Leda had heard the tale of Gord and Chert having to face the dangers that the greedy spell-binder had exposed them to. "Some just fate, no doubt. Thank him for his actions, though, Gord. You plan to use the knowledge he inadvertently lent you to foil the Ultimate Evil."
"Yes, so I do, dear little conscience. Between you and Gellor I get no peace."
The bard managed to clip short the words that rose in his throat. "If we don't. ."
"Don't what?" his friend asked.
"Don't stop reminiscing like old folk and get to business.' Gellor substltuted, "we'll attract an unwarned audience for our further descent!" He had thought that peace would never come — obliteration at best an eternity of suffering in a half-aware state under Tharizdun's tender mercies at worst. Thoughts such as those were better unvoiced, and the troubador wondered why he had allowed a hint of such despondent considerations to be uttered.
"With our rings the process is almost no challenge. Come on, let's descend to the realms that exist beneath the actuality of Greyhawk Castle."
"I have sealed the fate of the rings," Entropy droned, the uniformity somehow conferring a tone of smugness.
"Have you now? I am much impressed," Tharizdun said with equal smugness. "However did you accomplish such a wonder?"
"That is simple," the entity purred. "I lured the three into the welter of dimensions and planes which impinge upon the substance of Oerth beneath the construction of the Archimage."
"Oh, my! How did you manage that feat? It must have required exceptional genius."
"I spread much of myself to encompass those mortals, and as a noose tightens, I drew the weight of desolation inward. They went before it as sheep."
Tharizdun could barely contain himself. "Couldn't I have been op some small assistance to you in that effort, Lord of Entropy?"
The darkness seemed to shrug. "The thought never occurred to me."
There was delight in the heart of the archfiend. The entity could be manipulated, hoodwinked, and even played as one would a lute! "So the champion and two would-be heroes are gone to ground, so to speak."
"That is well put. They delve below the ruined fortress even now. They will be exactly where I desire when your full power waxes strongest too, I might add."
"Master inertia, your alliance is most beneficial. Soon now your reward will oome to its fullness. I will take pleasure in having one such as you there in my dominance of all!"
Tharizdun wiped his hand across his beautifully evil features, keeping his face a mask, mind an unreadable blank shielded by his best dweomers. "As you have alerted me, I believe I should rouse the yeth and ready another hunt. the pack will enjoy the chase through the depths in which those three foolishly stray, will they not?"
Entropy was uninterested. "What those hounds like or dislike is unknown to me. Do I have your assurance that if I risk the negation of the bands, you will bring the champion to his final battle?"
"The yeth hounds are for just such a purpose, and I too am prepared to fight the three again."
"Courflamme?"
The archfiend waved his hand airily. "Have you forgotten what I said in that regard? No matter. Your sly trap has also benefited me. The blade is most vulnerable at a certain place there beneath Greyhawk." There was far more, but Tharizdun didn't speak of it. He had done most of the work that Entropy claimed, of course. With carefully orchestrated moves, the three had been forced to the place they now were. By wild yeth harrying them, lands torn by strife, spheres devastated, avenues barred. champion and heroes had been put into the exact place Tharizdun wanted them to be.
Did the ultimate expression of Evil recognize that his destruction and slaughter led along a path that ended in the inevitability of extinction? Extinction of not a race or species, but the annihilation of all life followed by the cessation of activity in all aspects of the multiverse? Tharizdun did ponder that very consideration. He wrote off the whole question as ridiculous. In a cosmos of infinite probabilities, infinite realitles, what mattered a few billion deaths? Even the snuffing out of a galaxy or two? Entropy sought vainly to rule in a limitless arena where life, energy, or simply motion would always spawn itself. Hubris always reasons thus, for if a course is determined regardless of what will eventuate because of its pursuit, there are always internal means of rationalizing whatever then occurs or seems probable under known conditions. It can't happen here, to me. .
Entropy too had reason to indulge in introspective questions. Did the archfiend labor under self-delusion? Or was Tharizdun's seeming hubris no false and bloated confidence in his own ability? What if that being could somehow sustain a wholeness of evil activity and repression that blanketed every aspect of the multiverse but failed to bring nullity? That was as unacceptable a thought to the entity as was sharing to the archfiend. If Tharizdun demonstrated a confidence. it was because of his own limitations, his failure to comprehend the certain destiny of the cosmic all when a set of conditions came into being. The stage was set, just as the archfiend had desired, but Tharizdun was but an actor. Entropy wrote, managed, and directed the actuality.
"We meet again in the depths beneath the castle then, Tharizdun."
"But of course, entity of inertia, but of course. Shall we say in one hour, by local reckoning?" Tharizdun heard no reply, for Entropy had already dissipated its essences. With a dark smile and wicked laugh, the archfiend transported himself elsewhere too. It was time for the last wild hunt.
Nothing was as it had been, should have been still. The places where the existence of other spheres impinged on that
of the world of mankind were diminished. The elemental presences were but small manifestations of power. Nature was miniaturized. The mighty Yang and Yin were pygmy-sized and powerless things who fled instantly upon seeing the three. A test of energies garnered scarcely a trickle of the bright force of creation, the same with respect to the dark energy of destruction.
"The elements provided virtually nothing," Gord said unbelievingly, "and now Balance proves to be likewise inadequate. Some great change has been wrought here."
"Do our enemies see so far into the future that they can do thus?" Gellor was speaking more to himself than to his comrades, grim wonder on his visage.
Leda comprehended the actuality. "It is the hedging off which has done this, bard. When we were barred from plane and probability line, this nexus of such spheres was abridged. I am sure of it, for how else could the diminished states of the places have come about? Gord certainly has not misremembered."
"That's true enough. I have no memory lapse. There is still one place left which I recall. The hillman caused me some grief there. . " Gord paused and blinked away a rising tear as he thought of Chert. "Gone now, vanished with the rest. No sense in such maudlin meandering. We have a problem to overcome!"
The three went onward until coming to an extensive cavern wherein lay a small lake of glittering water. The surface of the pond was undulating, as if monstrous saurians were cavorting beneath it, and the water had a sickly disturbing sheen. "Eeerg! What is this?" Gellor asked with loathing written on his face as he viewed the place.
"It is disgusting," Leda agreed, looking at Gord for enlightenment, for he had not mentioned such a revolting locale to them in his recounting of his sojourn in the places beneath Greyhawk Castle.
