“You are all appetizers! Kaz'guhk!” the towering behemoth bellowed as it swung its body around. Raising a tail that could rival mighty oak trees in size, the dragon brought it down on the charging warrior with a horrifying thud. The tail swinging back revealed Jax's corpse.

“Not again...” Grom said dropping his shoulders. He began shuffling forward, with a clamor and jingle from the gold coins that filled this dark cavern. “Any chance you can get that dragon away, long enough for me to heal him?”

“Yeah, let's see how this prick likes this trick,” the mage shouted. A swirl of Iris purple surrounded her, hands weaving shapes in the air. Eyes burning bright with the spell she now called upon. Airvin thrust her hands outward and slowly lifted them up. The colossal dragon, scales the color of old blood, turned attention to the mage.

“Foolish morsel! Whatever you just attempted to do obviously failed... wait...” A brief pause as the beast drifted off the ground. Weightless, it's body rose higher and faster, gaining tremendous speed. Limbs, wings, and tail flailing wildly because it fell in reverse. “Wyrmgren'ten!” Slamming into the cave ceiling, stalactites perforated its wings and body. Loose stone fell about while the lair shook from the impact. The howls of pain echoed in the cavern, the beast struggling against its own weight. The healer approached the fallen party member. The warrior's body, if you could still call it that because it more closely resembled chunky mashed potatoes, lay still.

“Oh gods... This is going to suck... Astrid! If you're not too busy stealing, I could use some assistance here!” Grom called out. Unnaturally fast, the thief appeared next to him hands full of gemstones.

“I mean, I am too busy doing that. But I guess I can also help out from time to time. What flavors we feeling today?” She lifted up several gorgeous well-cut gemstones held between her fingers.

“An offering of that deep amethyst... Rose diamond... and is that malachite! I think it is, that will be a fine offering. Thanks,” Grom said.

“Of course! You know, just let me know what else you need. You're totes going to run out of juice before we run out of components to bring him back to life again. This place is loaded!” She peered down at the warrior. “Honestly, not the worst he's ever looked. The healer gagged a little bit.

“Don't remind me please...”

“You got it buddy, I believe in you.” She patted his shoulder. “Now if you'll excuse me, that spot over there has some things I haven't seen yet.”

“You're just a kid in a candy store, aren't you?”

“You mean a thief on a pile of treasure?”

“Fair enough, it's probably going to break free soon. Please keep that monster distracted.”

“All I can do is get its attention! It saw me when I was invisible, remember?” She bolted off, leaving only clanging sounds as she rocketed over the hoard of gold. The dragon snarled and pulled itself from the pointed stones. Upside down and digging its claws into the ceiling, it's attention only on the mage. A raspy mighty inhale, the beast's chest puffed out as it's toothy maw hung open, revealing nothing short of an inferno burning within. Astrid looked in the nick of time to see the attacker and its intended target. Sliding a good six feet on the loose terrain, she spun around and shot back even faster. Only a blur, she called on every sliver of speed her boots offered. The hellfire jetted out, illuminating the cave, and shimmered off all the wonderful wealth about. Petrified by her imminent demise, the explosive Wall of fire reflected in the mage's wide eyes.

“Eep...” Airvin squeaked. The blaze washed over the area. Fire subsiding, the dragon looked proudly at the work. Some of the gold lay liquefied, a burning stench in the air as even pieces of rock were almost brought to boiling point. The mage nowhere to be found.

“Come on... come on...” The healer began a prayer. Golden Celestial moonlight poured down around him as the ritual took a divine stage. Rolling the gems in his hands they began to crumple and turn to dust. The powder produced brighter and brighter light as it encompassed the warrior. Eventually clutching his mangled form. Grom winced at all of the sounds of bones breaking in reverse. “Oh gods... I'm going to be sick.” Suppressing the urge to hurl he continued the task at hand. Finally witnessing the last twitching motions, Jax lay whole again. The healer wiped the impressive amount of sweat off of his brow. The dead man's eyes opened with renewed intensity.

“Fuck yeah! I always feel so refreshed after a dirt nap! Thanks my man!”

“Aye... welcome back. So much for the plan... huh?”

“What are you talking about? The plans going awesomely!”

“Well... your words not mine, 'we're going to go in there and mess 'em up,' and so far the tyrant doesn't look too messed up.”

“First of all, I said fuck 'em up. Don't you be misquoting me! Second of all, I am. You know my rule.”

“Yeah, yeah, you... “I kill anything that kills me.” They both said at the same time, Grom helping Jax to his feet. They both hid behind a rock cautiously observing the dragon who was surveying their completed work. The warrior produced his ax. “Hey, got any of that extra kick ass handy?”

“Yeah... I think I know a guy.” The healer reached out and imbued the savage great ax with the same glowing divine fury.

“Hells yeah!” He squared off facing the mighty tyrant, “Hey you big dumb mother fucker! I'm not done playing!”

“You?! Gerx'jeel! Why won't you stay dead?!”

Rushing forward the warrior held his ax behind him. Excited to crush the puny warrior once again the dragon reared it's arm up, claws out ready to slice or pulverize. Telegraphing the move all too well, Jax tucked and rolled while the scaly hand slammed into the gold pieces.

"Take this ugly!" Finding footing and jumping up into the air he swung the weapon about and brought it down. The glowing blade sank all the way through the scaled hand, cutting muscle and tendons.

"Gaahhhrrah!" The beast bellowed. Before Jax could even react, a wing smacked him sending a limp body flying back. He slammed into the wall and fell like a rag doll onto the treasure. Grom watched his friend hit the hard stone with a wince.

"Oh gods! Are you all right Jax!" A muffled groan let him know he still lived. And he turned back to face the dragon only to see its eyes upon the healer. "Uh-oh..." Just as the dragon was about to speak a flash of motion caught those narrow eye's attention. Astrid ran towards the monster and swung around with only a dozen feet to spare.

"Are you still here you nosy thief? I thought you would have left by now seeing as your too puny and weak to carry anymore." The dragon spoke as It's head turned to follow the racing woman.

"Nah, we're going to take this whole place actually. All of it."

"Oh? Is that so? How could you possibly manage that?"

"By distracting you long enough so you don't see her." Pointing back to the stalagmite she had taken cover behind, the monster finally noticed the mage stepping out. Airvin's hair crackled with energy and eyes poured arcane lightning from them. The atmosphere in the darkened cavern crackled with power and a buzzing noise swelled. Bringing her elbows down to her side and balling her fists tight, the storm had been called upon. A multitude of lightning bolts slammed into the crimson tyrant. It roared out while thunder drowned out the sound, the whole cavern shaking violently.

"Tickles! I will show you true power!" The dragon spoke as it reared onto its hind legs spreading its arms and wings wide.

“Really?! That barely did anything?!” the mage yelled. Grom placed a healing spell into the warriors arm. Rolling his shoulder, Jax realized the minimal distance between the three of them.

"Shit! We're too close! Spread out!" the warrior shouted. The dragon inhaled a long breath charging up for a next volley of hellfire. “Everybody run!” The two men took off in different directions but Airvin stood stoic. Wind and arcane energy made a whirlpool around her. While glaring at the dragon intensely, she brought her hands together cupping them like she was squeezing its massive head. The mighty beast stretched forward opening its glowing mouth ready to bathe the party in flame. Just as the first bit of fire escaped a shimmering translucent sphere appeared around that scaly head. The fire breath escaped its mouth... But not the sphere. It turned into a violently bright glowing orb, and the dragon recoiled aggressively. The fire slowly dissipated, leaving heavy clouds of smoke still in the bubble that clung to the dragons head like a diving helmet. The tyrant thrashed about angrily backing up and clawing at the unwanted magical headgear.

“Holy crap! I didn't know if that was going to work,” the mage exclaimed excitedly.

“Nice thinking! Otherwise... That probably would have been mighty unpleasant...” Grom called out.

“You are all less than bugs! I am going to slaughter all of you!” The dragon screamed, head still stuck in a cloud. Finally at the yet to be explored part of the cave, Astrid noticed a fancy looking crossbow sticking out of the pile of gold. Picking it up an inspecting the beautiful weapon showed a fine elven design. The majestic wooden design along with several emerald gemstones perfectly placed along the sleek weapon told a fantastic story. This weapon had not been built... It had been harvested like fruit from a tree. Admiring it carefully a bolt magically appeared ready to be fired.

“Wicked! A crossbow that has its own ammo! Let's give you a test spin.” Firing her new toy at the dragon, a bolt replaced the one that had been fired almost immediately. “No way! Unlimited Ammo?!” Bolt after bolt she riddled the beast with several of the projectiles. Many glanced off upon hitting the scales but several of them did manage to sink into the creature's hide. Just as she started to laugh with giddiness, it stopped making arrows. “Aww man, you mean there's a limit on this thing? How do I get more arrows out of you?” she said shaking the crossbow before slapping it a few times. However no more appeared. Lowering the weapon down her eyes caught a shimmer from a golden idle that shone more brilliantly than the rest of the treasure. “Hello there... what do we have here?” Slowly approaching a foot tall statue laid before her. A golden cobra with onyx gemstones for eyes, body curled and roped around itself making an egg shape. The intrigued woman picked it up with both hands and a voice hissed in her mind.

“Assssstrid... Tell me... Tell me your desssssiresssss...”

“All right, that's not creepy at all. What are you? You, you mind reading paper-weight.”

“Not asssss important... asssss what I can do... Grant your desssssiresssss...” the Idol trailed off.

“Well this fight's not exactly going our way. To be honest we are pretty much in over our heads and dying... a lot. Could you help with that?”

“I can do many thingsssss... I could help you...” She looked up at the dragon just as it finally clawed the almost impenetrable shield off of its face with a popping sound.

“I don't know... could you make me more powerful or something? Anything?” she asked with a panic because the dragon eyed everybody in the party including her.

“More power... is that your desssssire?”

“Ah, I mean...I guess so, Yeah?”

“Then it isssss done.” The gemstone eyes flashed with a deep purple resembling a galaxy. The color mirrored in the thief's own eyes for a brief moment. A fuzzy light-headedness ran up and down her essence. This caused her to stagger backwards still clutching the gold statue.

“What in the gods?” she stammered before a new sensation clung to her. Her boots of swiftness clamped around her feet. All the while the necklace of luck began tightening around her neck. That same dizziness preventing her from grasping the reality of the situation. But everybody else in the cave noticed the change. The boots spit out her black stocking clad feet unable to deal with the change of occupancy. The silver chain snapped in the back and the necklace spun in the air for a split moment. A magical hang-time, it mended the broken link before falling onto the gold pieces. Everyone made puzzled exclamations, loudest of all the dragon.

"What is this madness?!" It roared in her direction. Astrid blinked several times, a loose bit of focus on the beast before gazing down at the trinket in her hands. It shrank in her grasp becoming lighter and lighter.

No that wasn't correct...

She was growing.

“No way! I'm getting bigger! This is awesome!” She looked up and down herself. Her entire being grew larger at a steady, continuous pace. Apart from the magic items, her mundane gear increased in size along with the thief. In just a few butterfly wing beats of time, Astrid had doubled and then tripled in size. She turned and looked up at the dragon and while it stared back, she suddenly became eye level. “I mean, I have to say it. Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?” She took a few steps forward clutching the idle in her fist. Her heavier footfalls crunched the gold pieces like the dragon did when it moved.

“Helzvash'nigh! Well just because you've got a little bit of size doesn't mean you have any chance against me!” The dragon roared in agitation before swinging claws fast. Ducking back just out of range Astrid tried to pummel the beast with the one-two punch. Her knuckles cracked on the tough hide.

“Son of a bitch, you're one tough cookie!” Astrid exclaimed, shaking her bruised hand. But then, the new realization put a smile on her face. The dragon's head slowly lifted as she continued to rise... She was now bigger than the tyrant. Swinging a hook the thief clocked the surprised face with the wallop. Two teeth were knocked out of its jaw and fell.

“Fuck 'em up Astrid!” The warrior cried out, fists bobbing in the air.

“By the gods look at her grow... I mean go.” Grom said slightly transfixed.

“Why does size changing stuff keep happening today?” Airvin asked. Scrambling backward and shaking their head, the dragon couldn't believe this new development. Looming forward with a hungry expression, the thief reached a growing hand out towards the perplexed monster. It turned and ran in fright.

“Oh no you don't!” She grabbed the tail before it could slip away. Claws scraped the gold up as the monster didn't move an inch. A panicked inhale the dragon wheeled its head around letting loose a burst of fire towards the giantess. Her turn to recoil, she put her hands up to block the blast. The warmth painful but not nearly the inferno she expected. Blinking out a few tears from her eyes, the growing woman raced after the escaping beast. It had found the tunnel the party used to enter into this lair and was disappearing quickly. She raced forward now having to crouch, head threatening to brush against the ceiling and jagged rocks. Shoulder slamming against the tall wall, her large arm extended down the tunnel before grabbing nothing but air. “Crap, I thought I had them.” She turned towards her friends. Everybody stared in silence. The thief couldn't believe how tiny the rest of the party looked. And they simply couldn't believe she still grew even more massive, her growth rate continuing. Body soon threatening to take up a majority of the cavern, Astrid opened her fist and looked at the minuscule gold statue in her palm. “You know, I never caught your name, but is this going to wear off soon?” The eyes flashed.

“More...”

“Yeah you did enough, I'm plenty big enough... can this stop now please?”

“More!” the idol hissed even louder.

“Astrid? First of all, what did you do? Second of all what are you talking to?” the mage asked.

“Third, holy fucking shit you're big!” the warrior said while looking up. Hunched over, she made a canopy over the trio.

“Well, I found this golden idle doohickey thing, and it started talking to me.”

“A sentient magic item? Oh that's not going to be an issue at all!” Airvin yelled throwing her hands up. Sounds of cracking stone seemed to agree at the sentiment.

“Well it asked for my desire and I said could you maybe help us out with this fight.”

“What in the god's names did you ask for?” Grom interrupted the mage about to scold her for messing with cursed items again.

“I asked if maybe it could make me more powerful...” She fell to her knees, growing even larger at those words. “And now it just kind of keeps hissing the word “More” at me.” Everybody certainly had thoughts that they were eager to express but no one had a chance to speak because Astrid cried out in pain. Sitting on her legs, her back pressed into the jagged ceiling accompanied by a cavalcade of cracking rock and splashes of treasure being thrown about. This cavern spacious enough for countless gold coins and a cozy den for a huge dragon... started to be filled to the brim with a single woman. Her wails of agony even worse once the giantess's head had no where to go, bending her neck painfully. Jax ran over and grabbed Airvin by the shoulders.

“Hey you know magic bullshit, fix this! Fix her right now!”

“I don't know what's going on, or what's even happening!”

“Well let me break it down for you. She's growing non-stop and...” he looked up at the chest closing in on them, “Her tiddies are about to crush us.”

“I... I don't have very many tricks left! That fight took a lot out of me!”

“Yeah well boobs are about to take the rest out of you!” The whole cave shook as the space to fill vanished. The two of them screamed in terror as the bosoms threatened to squish them. But then found themselves falling onto gold pieces and a kinder pressure blanketed them.

“I died again. I fucken died again. Wait a second...” The warrior opened his eyes to see a gold shimmering barrier over the top of the trio, somehow keeping some distance between them and some absolutely lovely leather armor. “Grom you beautiful bastard! You know, someday I might actually pray to those gods you keep talking about.”

“God, I just have the one deity I keep telling you... and anyways we're... I guess kind of safe for now. But still doesn't fix... I mean she is running out of room to grow!” Thunderous tremors of splitting mountain shook everything around them violently.

“You meant to say ran, she ran out of room. She's splitting this whole forsaken place apart!” Airvin shouted over the racket.

“Well... my shield is still going strong... can't say that for the rest of this place. As long as I can keep my focus. we should be...” The healer trailed off his vision aimed towards his feet. Underneath them the gold pieces began to shift. Astrid's deafening moans of discomfort we're suddenly mixed with the sounds of chasms being created underneath. The mountain couldn't take the expansion and split apart in every direction. Crevices below them started to fill with gold. Airvin felt a pull, herself drifting away. Her body sinking into the gold like sands of time. She screamed before reaching out towards the warrior. He locked on to her wrist and she weakly clung back.

“Don't worry I got you, I got you!” Jax assured. She stared back eyes filling with fright. Being buried alive in an avalanche of metal almost guaranteed one's demise.

“Please don't let go! Please don't let go!” Her face now wore all the panic of the moment.

“I told you, I fucken got you. Grom... Grom?! Any bright ideas?” Jax could also tell the tide of gold intended to drown them. The healer reached out and took the warriors freehand.

“I ... We gotta... We've got to hold on to something, or we're just going to keep flowing with this treasure.”

“Yeah well the only thing I could grab are,” he stared up at the expanse above him, “Astrid's massive tits!”

“Uhh... That would keep us from falling.” Grom suggested.

“Yeah well I can't grab it if this barrier is here. Also Airvin's going to give me shit for groping without permission.”

“Jaxiferd!” The mage cried out in desperation, her grip sliding.

“All right, fine! On the count of three, drop this godsdamn barrier! Ready bud?”

“Yeah!”

“Three!” The translucent magic poofed away in sparkles. In the briefest of instances... The titanic weight overwhelmed the three of them.