Maine's Mutated Monster Assembly

Mountains of Maine
2:34 PM

If you had told Glasawyr that this weekend he'd be drunk, scarfing down lobster rolls, and discussing the best ways to disembowel a human with a massive yeti from Canada, in a secret mountain lair, he would have disregarded you as a lunatic and returned to his homework.

And yet, that's exactly where the dragon found himself. When he'd found the invitation in the middle of the woods, he'd almost immediately tossed it. But then, something had caught his eye: a complementary, all-you-can-eat seafood buffet and open bar.

So, in typical college student fashion, Glasawyr had flown to Maine, slipped into the function through a side entrance unnoticed, mingled with the crowd a bit, and then proceeded to raid the bar and buffet with a ferocity reminiscent of Smaug the Terrible upon the fictional city of Erebor.

At first, he'd had a grand-old time. Here, he was free to roam in his true, draconian form, amongst other monstrous creatures, without the fear of being hunted down by mortal authorities. The invitation had been vague in the purpose of the gathering. Glas had assumed it was some sort of social function, and indeed the topics of discussion at the beginning of the day had been innocent enough. However, as the afternoon dragged on, and Glasawyr continued to put away fine craft beer, the vibe had turned much more violent and misanthropic, to put it lightly.

"This is not good." Glasawyr muttered to himself as he slowly shuffled back to the buffet table. He'd begun to overhear conversations about the criminal exploits of some of the attendees, and realized that this secret meeting within this secret mountain lair was not, in fact, a social gathering.

He needed to dip, like, now, before this joint got busted by a superhero or something. No doubt Glasawyr would be arrested, given that this was some sort of evil mutant monster club.

But even worse, he'd no doubt be exposed to the world, and once the public started to figure out that a friendly, powerful dragon was among them, they'd probably start expecting him to save them from their own ineptitude on a daily basis. "With great power comes the responsibility to save us from our own responsibility" and all that foolish human nonsense.

However, as Glasawyr loaded up his plate one last time, and grabbed a few bottles for the road, he noticed a few pairs of eyes on him. The dragon wasn't one for feeling bashful, but he had to admit that it would be so awkward if he ghosted after demolishing the buffet and only talking to like, three people.

"I need to go to the bathroom." he said to no one in particular and began stumbling in that direction with his loot secured, hoping he'd find a solution on the way. It was time to boogie.

Maine had always been what Lyra considered to be home. The majority of her direct family hated it here, they thought it was too wild, and it was for that she loved it so much. She could work in peace, get fresh air, and enjoy the distance from her family. No judgements or bickering, just easy goings. At least, that was the usual goal. She would travel from time to time to do proper heroing work where she felt it was needed, but…it was rare that a job would pop up so close to home.

Reports had come in days prior from a few hikers who spotted strange creatures lurking in the woods near the peaks of a small mountain range. A few more reports had come in of a few getting attacked, injured, only one death so far, but plenty more sightings of strange and terrifying creatures. Lyra had always been on jobs to go after other metas or other mechanized ne’er-do-wells, never monsters. Never beasts or mutants. It just never came up for her.

Needless to say, she was pumped up and ready for action. Her and her mechanizied champions found themselves at the base of the mountain within a few hours of receiving the job (one of the perks of getting a job on her home turf). They had their drones for evac, but in a wooded area it might be rightly difficult to get them past the tree line. Still, they were plenty well equipped to handle anything that his place might have to throw at them. For her gauntlet, she was sure to bring along the grappling hook and the mender, she wanted to play it safe and be able to get out and stay alive while her champions took care of the big guys.

As the group made their way up higher and higher upon the mountain and the cold air began to set in (though thankfully not high enough where snowfall was around) they planned. Generally it was the same thing as always, Blast would scout, Pummel would be back up, and Aegis would stay on Lyra to keep her safe, only leaving if he really had to. Though, something felt a bit different about this job. This wasn’t another meta or a legion of lesser robots. These were monsters, things of incredible strength and stamina. Man eaters. Things that gave kids nightmares, and rightfully so. Although she never once showed it on her face, doubt began to set in on her. It lingered all the way until they stood at the edge of a small clearing on the mountain, and there on the other side of it she saw one, one of those terrible beasts, several arms with claws from its back, crawling down on all fours, and having a head that looked more like a skull. It was awful.

Awfully exciting! She had never seen or fought one before and excitement began to rise up in her. This was what heroes were made of, fighting monsters. From her bush, just for now, she watched and lingered, wondering if this strange monster would lead them to the rest.