(Character) crossed the mountains and was intent on making camp when a great noise erupted from a cave entrance hitherto unnoticed some ways down the slope. As he ventured nearer to find out the source of the disturbance, he slowly and quietly entered the darkness of the cave and followed it into the bowels of the mountain. Finally, he came around a corner and viewed a large smoking being gnawing on the remains of a very dead Cave Troll. As he watched, the being grimaced in apparent agony and cried out "This was too easy!! Give me something else to kill!!"
Character Encounter
Anywhere in the White Mountains or surrounding hexes
| Options | Free People | Neutral | Dark Servants |
|---|---|---|---|
| ATTACK the being | Combat | Combat | Combat |
| State your ALLEGIANCE | Combat | Combat | Escape |
| ASK why the being is angry | Combat | Combat | ? |
| Stand STILL and don't move for an hour | Escape | Escape | Escape |
| Say (only one word) | ? | ? | ? |
| FLEE | Escape | Escape | Escape |
The Demon is NOT a balrog, but ranges the same area as 'a balrog' (White Mountains/Gap of Rohan) and affects loyalty at population centres. The Demon has a guesstimated challenge rank of 50.
COMBAT: Defeating the demon brings gold and a lost list spell.
Flee (Free Peoples): I got this encounter twice in one game. The first time I ignored the encounter, which caused my character to FLEE unharmed. The second time I ignored the encounter (different character), I got a combat response. My character had a chal rank of 52, and won the fight with 74 health remaining. I got +4 to command rank, 5000 gold, and a Sickness spell at 46 cast rank.
Flee (Dark Servants): The default flee option resulted in the death of a DS agent - Doug B. (May 2019)
This demon is quite active in the White Mountain area, and can make life quite difficult for nations which insist on putting down camps in these mountains. Slaying this Demon will win approximately 30,000 gold and a lost list spell.
Apparently there's been a bit of confusion regarding this beast. The demon appears in the encounter to look much like a balrog, and both creatures often track around Aglarond (as my Dunnish armies found out to their dismay). Because of this, a number of players have run in to the Demon in the same place, and assumed it was the nasty that slew 1,000 of their troops just a few turns ago.
Turns out this isn't the case. The Demon is just a demon, with a challenge rank of between 50-75. It isn't a Balrog. There are still two balrogs (Durin's bane and one other), but they're no relation to the Demon.