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[shadow_and_flame]

All is still in the mountains. And then the horizon erupts in flames, the deep pink and purple flaming into impossible red, as the ground shakes with the deep, deep, deep call of a drum.

A demon from an ancient world stirs.

A creature of shadow and flame, the Balrog sets the ground alight as it crawls fluidly, digging claws like steel into the earth. Fire wafts from its nostrils and eyes; fire crackles across its massive body. The odors of blood and charred flesh flood the air around it.

The Balrog surveys the bar, still a ways off. Wings stretch as it raises itself to its full height, an inferno standing firmly in place. Swinging a hand out, the Balrog conjures a fiery sword. A multi-pronged whip made of molten lava cracks in its other hand.

Its roar of challenge is deafening.

(OOC: Obvious warnings for violence in most threads, not so obvious warnings for eye squick in the Yrael thread.)

Comments

[cottoncandypink]

Wilford is just minding his own business, walking his dog out in the snow when he hears the roar. The dog hears it too, and runs away with his head down and his tail between his legs as fast as he can.

Wilford... Wilford just sighs. What in the fuck is this bullshit now?

[shadow_and_flame]

The Balrog stalks towards the bar, flames licking its clawed feet, and staying behind in its footprints. It brandishes its weapons, and the whip's thongs whine and hiss as the Balrog brings the whip up over its head, only to slam it back down to the ground with a resounding crack.

[sunbaked_baker]

Young Rae had been humming to herself, watering some overwintering sprouts on one of the greenhouse shelves. Some vegetables take much longer to grow than just a spring into a summer, and she doesn't want to be caught planting too late again.

The sound, when it comes, reverberates and shakes the entire greenhouse frame, startling Rae and leaving her standing stock-still, wide-eyed, her heart hammering in her chest, not knowing what could've caused such a calamitous noise. The roar seems to last forever, and the echoes even longer.

When she can bring herself to peer around the door of the greenhouse, she can't see at first what could've caused that roar... but strange light from the far horizon makes her venture slightly farther to see around the edge of the greenhouse. None of the mountains of Milliways are volcanoes, are they? Surely not.

When she does see it - even her love of stories about Others doesn't tell her what she's looking at - she doesn't hesitate, but bolts for the bar as fast as she can run, and she doesn't look back.

[shadow_and_flame]

The Balrog's earth-shattering roar chases her. The whip's thongs whine and crack as the Balrog raises the whip above its head and slams it back down on the ground again.

The demon continues its inexorable stalking towards the bar.

[wayward_sun]

Lucifer ambles outside and looks at the big, fiery, pissy thing.

Not a demon. He knows demons.

He takes a sip of his Tom & Jerry.

[shadow_and_flame]

At the moment, the Balrog is engaged in destroying Wilford. Its whip whirls and cracks, sending molten flames spinning off of it through the air.

[starrydome]

Elrond is by the lake when the sky is suddenly lit with the red of blood.
He stares at the horizon, hearing the roar.

Hearing the crack of a whip.

Balrog.

He starts running, empty-handed, his leather boots hitting the ground, dusting up snow.

Maybe he can intercept it before it reaches the Bar?

[errant_valkyrior]

From behind him, a woman in a piecemeal sort of leather armor lands from an impressive leap and starts running with him. Looking over and seeing he's unarmed, she calls out, "You want a sword?" She has three after all.

[mogget_cat]

Well that's a noise that doesn't intend any good.

The little cat-shaped thing, nearly hidden among the snow at the edge of the forest, is already pretty pissed at the roar that scared all the demon rabbits away; he had so been looking forward to a good chase. Actually seeing the thing at the horizon that had made the noise doesn't do anything good for his mood, either.

The not'cat's yowls of replying challenge reverberate and echo oddly among the mountain slopes.

[shadow_and_flame]

The Balrog turns towards the sound, cocking its head to the side. Flames waft from its nostrils as it begins stalking towards its new prey, and as its clawed feet sink into the snow, fire burns and crackles around them, setting the snow alight.

It lets loose another eardrum-shattering roar, and the ground trembles.

[errant_valkyrior]

Scrapper had been enjoying a lovely day in the cold crisp afternoon and this thing had to go and ruin it. Of course, it could be a patron and X did say violence is discouraged.

And now it's attacking some guy.

OK, that's enough for her. She's running for the forge she'd spotted and hoping there are weapons there. She has her daggers, which will do in a pinch, but something with a little more length wouldn't be amiss...assuming it doesn't just burn up.

Soon enough she's back outside, a sword on her back and two in her hands as she runs. She's not about to lose the best drinking hole she's been to in centuries.

[cottoncandypink]

That guy the monster was attacking? He's somewhere under the tree it threw at him.

He dead.

[vyvyan]

Vyvyan comes out from his man cave in the mountains and surveys the thing.

Well, shit.

He disappears into the man cave long enough to reset, which puts him at maximum strength, before approaching the thing from behind.

"You don't want to hurt anyone in there." he says. "You'll get yourself turned into a tree or your head cut off or something."

[shadow_and_flame]

The Balrog turns towards the tinny sound, flames wafting from its nostrils. It lets loose another eardrum-shattering roar, and the ground trembles. The demon swings its sword towards the man, molten lava dripping off of it.

[cute_bruiser]

Molly's in battle gear when she walks into the bar today, but hasn't even had chance to clip on her Security badge when the Balrog's roar sends her skin cold. Please, oh please tell her that that isn't the big guy again...

When she bolts for the outer door it's almost, briefly, a relief to see that it's actually a giant screaming fire demon.

Unfortunately, though... it's a giant screaming fire demon.

Challenge accepted, noisy dude!

Oh, well. She always complains about Milliways' winters... At least she won't be cold.

[shadow_and_flame]

The Balrog continues stalking towards the bar, inexorable. Flames consume the snow around its clawed feet, and steam hisses around its massive body. It lets loose another eardrum-shattering roar of challenge when it spots the woman, and the ground trembles.

The whip's thongs whirl and hiss as the Balrog sends it cracking towards Molly, aiming for her shoulders and chest.

[arkadia]

... Cool.

It's like a Heartless! But on fire! And large! Eden is very excited.

He settles his hands behind his head, ambling his way closer to the big, shadow-y, flame-y thing, giving it his brightest grin.

"Dude! Hi. Hi." Beat. "How are you?"

[shadow_and_flame]

The Balrog cocks its head to the side at this new tiny person, assessing the threat. Flames waft from its nostrils as its glowing eyes examine the man-shaped being. It lets loose an eardrum-shattering roar, and the ground trembles. It raises its sword above its head, and then slams it towards Eden, aiming to cut him in half.

[touched_by_fire]

Danny's meditation is interrupted by the bellow and when he turns to see the cause, he can't help the thrill of excitement*. An actual demon!

He springs into action, running towards the danger, and for once the Fist comes almost as soon as he tries to call the chi.


*Yes, Danny has weird ideas.

[shadow_and_flame]

The Balrog continues its inexorable stride towards the bar. The man appears unarmed, and is thus of little consequence. Still, the Balrog raises its molten sword, and swings the weapon towards the tiny person.

[iprotectyou]

What a day to not be wearing his armor. Is this what Elrond foresaw?

Baze's hands alight on his repeater cannon, but he knows shooting it would be a futile effort. Even if he pumped all thirty-five thousand bolts into the creature. He knows he wouldn't have time to before the demon sliced into him with its sword or lit him on fire with the whip. Baze knows he would just come back if he died, maybe, but he doesn't want to put Chirrut through that again.

So, he stands on the porch and watches with quiet horror as the rest of the patrons engage the Balrog.

[justmark]

At one point, Baze is joined by someone just as gobsmacked at the sight before them.

"Well, now what do you call that?" Mark asks.

He has a machete. A machete is not going to do a darn thing against something that big, so he's just going to stay back here and let the professionals take care of it.

[buh_bye]

Militimed to a lot later.

After several people have fought and have been injured by the creature out back, Death walks out calmly to meet the thing. This is his favorite vacation spot, and there were some humans that he actually likes.

What most will see is a very skinny older man in a black suit standing in the light of the Balrog glaring at it. However, those that can see it, his true form is towering over the creature holding his scythe.

"You need to leave," he says quietly.

[shadow_and_flame]

The Balrog cocks its flaming, horned head to the side, assessing this new threat. It has double vision; it sees both a harmless, old man, and a fully-realized angel of Death. The demon only has the barest sense of Death's power, but that's enough to make it want to turn tail and flee.

It dissipates its weapons, nods once, and turns away, heading back into the mountains from whence it came.

[shakemyhand]

Guide was walking outside through the snow when the great creature arrives. It fills not only the physical landscape but his mind with terror. At least he had some weapons with him today. He's not one to run when he can stand his ground, if a man were to do so he would be considered a coward.

He growls at the creature.

[shadow_and_flame]

The demon's skin burns with unholy fire; flames flicker from its eyes and nostrils as it assesses the threat. The Balrog answers that growl by sending its whip crackling across the space between them, aimed at Guide's legs in an attempt to entangle his legs.

[childofrebellion]

Cassian had just stepped outside to think about maybe finding a new way to approach these new rumors of a Jedi. Asking the wrong questions will only create problems for people clearly working for the best.

As soon as he gets on the porch, he stares at the creature and fighters. Why would anyone fight that without air support and tanks? His hands tremble as he grips his blaster and datapad, that thing is death walking.

[runningred]

"Cassian!" Jay's voice is amplified by his armoured red helmet, hard edged and controlled. "Get it together. I need eyes." He points down to the scout hut, "We need to make sure none of the kids are there. You go around the back, I'll go in the front. Any kids you find, you get them back to the bar and to Bonnie. Can you do that?"

[bprd_agent_red]

Well now, isn't this something?

Descending the porch steps after hearing all the commotion from inside, Red looks up. And up, and maybe up just a bit more, at the towering beast.

"Huh."

He rolls his head on his shoulders, cracking his neck, draws the Samaritan, then strides forward towards the monster.

[shadow_and_flame]

The Balrog continues stalking towards the bar, flames crackling across its massive body, which resembles lava glowing under a dark crust. Snow hisses around it, being consumed by the heat emanating in waves off its clawed feet and powerful legs. Its weapons drip molten lava onto the earth.

[gondolin_noble]

This seems familiar.

Vaguely familiar.

He knows that call, could almost shout something back in the same language, the words half-formed and rusty from disuse. He knows that stench, of things foul and burning. He knows that tension, squaring up against a creature too powerful to face, but too close to ignore.

Perhaps Glorfindel can be forgiven if he snarls back in a language variant that was lost to fire and waves as he strides through the crunching snow.

[shadow_and_flame]

The Balrog continues stalking towards the bar, inexorable, flames licking their way up its body and staying behind in its footprints to melt the snow. Then the elf-creature speaks, and the demon growls a guttural reply deep in its massive, flaming chest.

It brandishes its molten whip, which drips lava onto the flash-melted snow. The weapon's many thongs scream and crack, rushing towards Glorfindel.

[exiled_heir_of_the_eighth]

It takes Sahaal nearly half an hour to get his warplate on. Thirty minutes of hearing the chaos outside and being unable to contribute. It's almost painful.

Finally, he runs outside, his armour on and his jump pack strapped on. With a rasp of metal on ceramite, the Night Lord unsheathes his claws.

He looks up at the massive creature, and smiles behind his helm's respirator unit. "Come on, you bastard. Let's do this."

[shadow_and_flame]

The Balrog has already killed Wilford and Vyvyan in this time, as well as chasing away Guide. It's fully prepared to kill again. It cocks its head to the side, assessing this new threat, and lets loose an earth-shattering roar. Its whip's thongs whine and hiss as it sends the weapon hurtling towards its next target.

[runningred]

Jay armours up and heads for the scout hut. Other people can fight this thing. He needs to know Selina all the kids are safe. Bonnie's got a smart idea taking them through the door but they've got to reach her first.

[run_barry]

So this is all kinds of scary nuts. The commotion was hard to miss, and once Barry had seen what was going on he made a quick trip home and returned to the bar in costume only to find himself looking over the chaos and asking, "Now what?"

Fighting a Balrog is kind of a side-step and long leap from taking on evil metahumans.

When he spots Jay, Barry runs over, coming to a skidding stop next to him.

"Dude, what the hell?" he asks, gesturing back at the monster incredulously.

[cutting_edgex23]

Oh, for the love of --

X does not sigh.

She also makes it out of the back door at a sprint, because sometimes a person needs to move fast.

It is probably a good thing she heals from being horribly burned, though. Because this fight is going to involve a lot of that.

[adamantiumloner]

Well, shit.

Logan comes loping up behind X and he doesn't sigh either, but he does give a pissed off growl.

"I left a fresh bottle behind for this."

[freedom_is_grey]

Just when you think you've found a place away from demons . . .

Ah well. Ysalwen unshoulders her staff, gestures to Liranan to avoid any and all fiery attacks, but any distraction of the creature he can provide is welcome --

And she starts running toward the thing, because one of her most effective ice spells requires that the targets be really, really close.

[shadow_and_flame]

This close, the heat emanating off the Balrog is enough to melt softer metals, like silver and gold. Skin blisters and puckers, and even sweat evaporates.

The Balrog spots the elf and flies into a rage. Its whip whines and hisses as it sends the thongs crackling towards Ysalwen's legs, aiming to entangle her. Its sword, the demon swings at Liranan in a diagonal sweep. Both weapons dribble sparks and molten lava.

[irish_vagabond]

Cassidy has never seen a demon from hell, but if he had to guess, this thing would fit the bill.

Drawn first to a window to see what was going on, then outside onto the porch, Cassidy watches the spectacle with stunned wordlessness.

"Holy shite," he eventually mutters, peering over the rims of his sunglasses, their mirrored lenses reflecting the flames curling off the creature's body.

It's a fucking Balrog.

(He's seen the movie like a hundred times, okay.)

Yeah, so, he's going to nope right out of this.

Bye.

[notapilot]

Look, up in the sky....

The only reason Sam hadn't been out sooner is he'd need to get his gear. WIth a roar like that, he knew he'd need something. He's still not sure what he can do, but being who he is, he has to try.

Right now he's flying about looking for any that need escape or a hand.

[OOC: Feel free to PM me and let me know if you'd like Sam to rescue your pup or do a fly by to drop some grenades or the like.]

[childofrebellion]

Once the worst of his fear passed, Cassian drew his blaster and started looking for casualties or civilians in the line of fire.

When Sam flies overhead, he waves to the air support though he doesn't know who it is.

[dragon_dealt]

Oh look there's a dragon.

Kazul soars in a wide arc, out of reach but definitely in sight. She's keeping a wary eye on those weapons; fire doesn't bother her at all, but molten lava is a bit much, and nobody likes a giant sword coming at their vulnerable areas. (Not that she has too many of those.)

"Oh," she says, dry and pitched to carry, in the silence after the roar, "very mature."

[shadow_and_flame]

The Balrog sees her, and points its sword at her, following her flight path with the tip of the molten weapon. The sword drips magma onto the flash-melted snow, and the heat emanating from the demon sets the earth a light.

It lets loose another piercing, eardrum-shattering roar, and the ground trembles.

[margolotta]

There is a rather small being there, in the shadows.

"Oh dear," Lady Margolotta says. "I'm very much not sure you want to be doing that, you know. All these fiery demon whip things are probably well and good where you come from, my dear, but here, you'll find people tend to be rather blasé about that sort of thing."

[shadow_and_flame]

The Balrog burns with an unholy fire; the odors of blood and charred flesh rises to meet the hot air around it. The demon cocks its head, assessing the threat the woman poses. It raises its hand, and its whip's thongs whirl and hiss, as the Balrog sends the weapon screaming towards Margolotta.