Another long week done, the table was clear for another game night. Amber sat at the head of the table, where Jess was getting her acquainted with the GM screen and other tricks to help run her first session. Scarlett was busy cleaning up leftovers after dinner, while Zoe...

"Hey! Are you going to keep pacing in front of the door, or help me put things away."

"She said she would be here soon, I don't want her lost squished on the road."

Scarlett opened her mouth to object, but there was a knock at the door. Zoe threw it open to greet their guest.

"Sonia! You made it! Come on in."

Sonia walked in wearing her usual pleated pink blouse, black skirt, and red Converse sneakers. Everyone paused what they were doing to say hello. Jess walked around the table to shake hands and give Sonia a hug. "Hey! Zoe said she met someone at some modeling gigs that was new in town. I hope you have some fun tonight."

Sonia was a little embarrassed to be the center of attention, but she was smiling. "Thanks! I've had quite the week. I could use some fun."

* * *

After introductions they sat down to get started. Amber gingerly turned a page in her notebook, and read her opening script.

"Last time, the party was resting up in town, drinking and partying at the inn, when something strange happened. A kobold ran in looking ragged. As the townsfolk tended to his wounds, you learned there was a local tribe of kobolds living at the base of a nearby mountain that was surprisingly peaceful. They had decent trade with the town, and the ale you were drinking was actually produced by them.

"The kobold explained that his village's leaders were recently thrown out, and most of the people were now living in terror under a dragon that took up residence in the mountain. Most of them know that it's a bad situation, but don't know where to go. Others threw in with the dragon, even declaring it some sort of glorious leader! He thinks it's only a matter of time before the kobolds are forced to take up arms against the town."

Scarlett spoke up. "And that's where we come in. Nothing like dragon hunting to save a village."

Amber nodded and looked to the rest of the group. "Okay, so everyone's ready to set out?"

"The kobold mountain is out across the plains, through a patch of light forest that few travel through. Rumors of fierce beasts prowling the area persist, so the few trading groups that do travel through here come heavily armed."

"Well, we're a small group," Jess said, looking to the others. "We have no goods to protect or wagons to maintain, so we can keep the horses moving at a good speed and hurry through."

Nobody objected. Amber nodded and rolled some dice. "Okay. You do make good time through the woods. Everyone have a mini for this week?"

Everyone nodded and put one down. Zoe put down a second for Sonia.

Sonia scratched her head seeing the figures. "Wait, I've seen some of the bigger movies. I'm the only person? Everyone's a monster?"

Scarlett shrugged. "We felt like being a little different this week."

"Don't worry," Jess chimed in, "You have the good eyes and ears in the group. That's more important than you think."

Once they were finished, Amber continued. "So, as you leave the tree line on your final approach to the kobold village..."

* * *

Scarlett rode in the front of the group. She was playing as a variant Tengu, playing a more red songbird looking version of the crow people. She wore a few well placed blue scarves wrapped around her. Since she was mostly covered by feathers already, and didn't want anything to interfere with her sorcerer spell casting, she didn't need much more. Her only other equipment was a snowflake pendant, as her spell list was full of ice spells.

Zoe and Jess were both playing goblins, thinking it would be funny to play a mischievous pairing. Jess looked like an otherwise respectable alchemist, with tomes of formulas and a belt full of explosive mixtures, and long green robes. Her big green head, with her neon purple hair, sat on top of an otherwise wiry frame typical of the small creatures.

In every way Jess was a typical goblin, Zoe was still Zoe. She insisted she maintain her impressive human proportions, which looked silly on a goblin. Playing a Ranger in black leather armor and cloak, she almost looked like the chibi anime character equivalent of a goblin ninja, much too short for her proportions. As funny as she looked, the two shining scimitars at her sides were no joke to her adversaries.

Bringing up the rear was Sonia. After discussing things with Zoe, she settled on a half-elf Monk. They even worked out magic bracers that would let Sonia access her growth to make her feel more at home in game. Given she could be huge, the only weapons she needed were her fists. Not one for long descriptions of characters yet, Sonia wore a simple loose fitting pink blouse for fighting, baggy silk pants, and a very peculiar pair of stiff leather boots with laces.

The group was reaching the end of the forest when Sonia stopped her horse. Her half-elf ears were twitching. "Did anyone else hear that?"

The others stopped and turned back, listening to the wind. Jess and Zoe looked at each other, shrugging and shaking their green heads. "Nope, nothing."

Scarlett shrugged and rode out of the trees. "Well, we can't stay here forever. We need to keep-"

*WHOOSH*

The others looked at Scarlett's horse, now riderless. Her red feathers swirling through the air were the only clue their friend was just there.

"SCARLETT!"

All three dismounted and ran towards the clearing.

"WAIT!"

Zoe grabbed the others by their cloaks and pulled them back just before a second large winged creature flew past. Its talons clawed through the ground right in front of them.

"Whew, thanks Zoe!" Sonia peeked past the tree line. "Was that...a dinosaur?"

They could barely see the red feathered figure of Scarlett flailing in the pterodactyl's claws, high in the sky. "WHAAAA!"

Sonia looked panicked. "How are we going to get her back down here?!"

Jess dug through her pouch, pulling out a large corked bottle containing a sticky bubbling liquid. "I think I have an idea. These things are pretty dumb."

She waved the bottle over her head. "HEY DUMMY! OVER HERE!"

Both of the beasts turned, drawn to the sparkling glass on the ground.

"KYAAAAAAAAAA"

They both circled back, intent on winning the race to grab the sparkle. It also meant they dropped Scarlett out of sky.

The ladies could see Scarlett was in bad shape. Even if Tengus could properly fly, or concentrate to cast a spell, her wing arms were crushed against her. She was a mostly squished cylinder, with indents marking where the talons squeezed her. She tumbled down from at least fifty feet in the air, and landed feet first.

*WHAM*
"OOOOF!"

Scarlett's body crumpled on contact with the ground, getting wider as it squished down to a pancake. A huge cloud of red feathers burst around Scatlett's body when it completely flattened out and bounced. The three inch thick, three foot wide coin flipped through the air, showing off the profile "Heads" side and tail-feathers "Tails", before landing and spinning around on the ground.

Sonia looked worried. "Shouldn't we do something to help her?"

Zoe kept her focus on the dactyls, and drew her blades. "She'll be fine, we can gather her up later."

Sonia scratched her head. "Gather?"

Zoe spun her blades in her hands and looked to Jessica. "So what's the plan?"

Jess tossed the bottle into the air as the dactyls got close. They chased the sparkly glass into the air, grabbing at it with their talons. The pair fought over the bottle, juggling it high into the air, before one finally shattered it.

A gooey substance exploded out, sticking all over them. The dactyls were stuck together, falling, but figured out they could still use their wings. They struggled to get loose and fly away from each other, but the alchemical substance was holding them together.

"QUICK!" Jess turned to her allies, pointing at Sonia. "You're strong right? Throw Zoe up there to end this!"

Scarlett looked at the tiny goblin ranger, giddily jumping and bouncing around with her two curved blades.

* * *

Sonia looked to Amber and Zoe at the table. "You said my character could get a little big for a little bit with those bracers, right?"

Jessica pointed to the notes on her sheet. "Yeah. You can make yourself a little bigger, focusing more on and your arm too, for the time it takes to throw Zoe at them."

Sonia tossed her die in the air, caught it, and rolled it...

* * *

The monk closed her eyes, and focused. Within seconds, she grew from five to eight feet tall. Her throwing arm kept growing, big enough for Zoe to stand in her palm.

"Special delivery!"
Zoe excitedly hopped into her hand. "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

Zoe flew through the air towards their harassers, blades out. They were still trying to break free of the substance entangling them. Neither saw Zoe flying towards them.

*SHWP*SHWP*SHWP*SHWP*SHWP*SHWP*SHWP*

The dactyls separated from each other as easily as Zoe separated their wings from their shoulders. As Zoe hung in the air above them, the beasts split up further, breaking into tiny cubes that hovered in the air before raining down to the ground below. Most squished into grey splats on the ground, but a few bounced around and stayed relatively intact.

Sonia shrunk to her normal size, excited but a little confused. "Nice! But, how does she get down?"

Jessica shrugged. "Eh, she's used to this."

"Huh?"

Zoe belly flopped, splayed out on the dirt below as a five foot poster of a chibi goblin.

Jess laughed. "I'll shake her out, you collect Scarlett's feathers, then let's go."

* * *

Everyone high fived around the table, the warm up encounter completed.

Scarlett got up "Does anyone need a snack? I'm going to heat something up."

Nobody asked for anything.

Sonia turned to Zoe at the table. She was still trying to figure out what happened. "I know some people back home play games like this, but I still can't get over how casually you can bounce back. That's really it?"

Zoe shrugged. "Better get used to it while you're here."

"ACK!" There was a bright flash of light in the kitchen.

Amber got up and walked into the kitchen. "I better help with that. Think about what you're going to do when you get to the Kobold village."

Zoe and Jess debated the best way to talk the Kobolds into helping. Would they tell them where the Dragon was? Would they even try to stop them? Could they get free ale for helping?

Sonia heard some of the bigger points, especially when they asked her how many Kobolds she could punch at once, but her attention was on Amber. She returned from the kitchen with two bowls. One was full of popcorn, the other full of red dust.

Sonia pointed at the red bowl "What...?"

"We really need to fix some of the circuits in there." Amber grabbed her water, dumped it in the powder, and mixed it into a red paste. Then she slammed it upside-down on Scarlett's chair. Red goop grew under the bowl into a cute figure, becoming Scarlett wearing it as a hat.

"Whew, thanks babe!" Scarlett gave Amber a peck on the cheek, and started eating popcorn.

Sonia blinked a few times, and they moved on.

* * *

The ladies approached the Kobold village, still not sure what their best move was. Seeing the town did nothing to help them either; It was empty. Weeds were intruding on crops, and harvesting was clearly not happening as fast as it could given the vegetables left unpicked. Doors were closed, and there was no smoke to indicate fire. There was no movement at all under the ominous grey clouds hanging in the sky.

The village itself was small, a few dozen huts clustered a short distance from the mountain. Most were small things, but the remains of largest hut were actually a little disturbing. It may have been grand once, but now it lay in ruins. Its thatched roof was blackened with scorch marks and soot. The building itself was probably stomped. If they didn't know they were dragon hunting, it would have been a great mystery why the kobolds did nothing about it.

They approached slowly, with Jess and Zoe squabbling in front of Sonia and Scarlett. They argued over who would be their best negotiator to send forward.

Zoe stuck her chest out, pointing her thumb at herself. "Clearly I should talk to them! I'm the beautiful charismatic one!"

Jess gave her a bonk on the head, shunting her head into her chest, expanding it a bit. "Dummy, you're a goblin! Nobody's going to gawk at you here! Let me drink an actual diplomat potion."

*POP* Zoe pulled her head back into place. "You're a goblin too silly. They won't listen to a thing you say!"

They glared at each other. It was a stalemate.

Eventually, they reached back and shoved Scarlett to the front. "YOU DO IT!"

"Huh? Why me?"

Jessica raised her finger, as if reciting common knowledge. "Because kobolds are less likely to hate birds than goblins or elves."

Zoe gave her a good shove along the path, ending the discussion. "Now get going! We're counting on you!"

Sonia's stifled laughter finally burst out, and Scarlett was off.

* * *

Scarlett cautiously walked into the village, looking around for anyone that could help. Seeing nobody, she called to the open air, hoping a friendly soul would respond. "Um, hello? Anyone? We heard there's a dragon causing trouble? A mutual friend sent us to help!"

There was a lurching noise from somewhere. Scarlett looked for the source, but saw nothing. Still no movement, no other noise, only a growing shadow around her.

"What is...Oh no!"
*WHAM*

A boulder, presumably from a hidden catapult, fell on Scarlett. Red feathers scattered everywhere. Her body collapsed on itself, giving her a short fat bird look as she rippled out into a massive pancake. She finally disappeared under the rock, her wings and tail feathers still visible around the edges, through the storm of feathers.

Scarlett's beak popped out from under the rock, groaning. "Uuuuugh...I guess we're not wanted."

Her friends saw it from a distance. Sonia asked her goblin friends, "How are we going to get Scarlett back?"

Zoe waved the question off as trivial. "She's a big girl. Scarlett's tougher than she looks." Jess nodded agreement.

As they expected, Scarlett moved a wing. She stretched it around to her tail feathers, and moved them up and down with a loud *CRNNNK* noise. Scarlett's flat head rose like a jack, attached to a neck that looked like a shiny red metal jack. The boulder remained balanced on her head, rolling aside once it was about ten feet in the air.

After a moment, *PLOING*, Scarlett's feet popped out the bottom of her pancaked body, and waddled back to the group.

The beak in front of the flat head moved "Little help?"

Zoe whispered something in Sonia's ears, and she walked over to Scarlett. She looked back to Zoe. Zoe nodded anxiously, like a kid waiting to see a magic trick.

Sonia gave Scarlett's raised head a solid punch down. Her neck shot down into the pancake, making it flare out another foot before snapping back together into a spherical red blob and rebounding into Scarlett's normal Tengu shape.

Scarlett gave Sonia a friendly elbow. "Thanks! I owe you one."

Sonia blinked, not sure what she actually did.

"Okay," Scarlett continued talking to the group, "I think I have a plan. I can magic us to look like Kobolds. Then we won't have the goblin problem." She glared at Zoe and Jess, who both looked innocently into the side.

"Maybe then they'll trust us more?"

Everyone shrugged. "Can't hurt to try"

* * *

Four female kobolds approached the settlement. They all feigned dismay at the devastation before them. They proceeded slowly, sneaking from building to building, staying almost out of sight.

Zoe whispered. "Do you think anyone sees this?"

Jess whispered back, "Hopefully."

The door on the hut next to them opened, and a small reptilian head poked out. "Are you four crazy! Get inside!"

Scarlett peeked her head above the others to respond. "We were away for a while. Big ale delivery. What happened here?"

The denizen rolled his eyes. "Seriously?!" He brought he claws to his forehead before continuing. "There's some dragon that half the village wants to worship up those mountains. Everyone has to stay inside or meet dragon fire! No more ale for a while at this rate!"

"What?! No ale?!" Zoe zoomed around the group to speak with their new friend. "Where can we go to talk some sense into this overgrown lizard?!"

"She's been living up that mountain, with some of her zealots. Good luck, anyone we've actually seen come down hasn't exactly been solid when they returned."

Jess nodded. "Thanks! But where's the mountain entrance? I don't see one."

He looked at the mountain, turning back and forth a few times searching for something. "Arg, someone must have caved it in again. It's over there!" The friendly kobold pointed to a now conspicuous boulder. It was easy to realize it once someone pointed it out.

They thanked him, and ran to the mountain.

* * *

They released their magic disguises, and investigated the boulder. It was huge. Even all together, after several minutes of trying, the best they managed was stretching out their limbs from lifting too much.

Sonia studied the bracers on her wrists while the others reeled their arms in. "I could try to get big and move it?"

Jessica waved her off. "Nah, save that for a big fight. I have an idea for this."

Zoe and Scarlett both cried "NO!"

The yell echoed through the empty village. Both looked embarrassed.

Zoe continued in a whisper. "If you blow it up, you might destroy the distillery!"

Jess laughed and pulled out a smaller vial than her usual bombs. "Please, as if I would risk that. Watch this."

Jessica drank the potion. She dropped the vial, suddenly breathing heavy.

"ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!!!"

She bulked up, growing an extra foot, and looking as strong as a giant. The now muscular goblin reached out with both arms to hug the rock, and lifted it over her head with ease.

"HAH! PUNY ROCK NOT HARD FOR JESSIC-AAAAAH?"

The not-so-puny rock was slowly squishing Jess, even with her muscular shape. Her knees buckled, then her elbows collapsed, leaving the boulder to rest on her shoulders. Her head got squished into her torso, little more than a tuft of purple hair and a giant tongue sticking out under the rock, as her body crinkled wider under the pressure.

"Ow."
*WHAM*

The rock finished the job from there, flattening Jess on the ground.

Scarlett looked in awe with the others. "Well, at least the rock is out of the way."

"Yes, but...Uh oh!" cried Sonia, pointing at the stone starting to roll away.

The rock rolled completely over once. Jess was plastered on, now a smear of goblin getting stretched around it, most of her colors starting to smear.

Zoe fished for her blades, looking uncertain they would be of any use. "Scarlett, can't you do something?"

"Uuuuh...rocks...Ah!" Scarlett ran towards the still slow moving rock, and breathed in deep. A faint purple aura surrounded her beak.

"CAAAAAAAAAAW!!!"

Sonia and Jess felt their bodies wobble from the pulse of shattering noise. Cracks appeared all over the rock. When it rolled over again, they saw the same cracks running through Jessica.

*CRSSSH*

The rock broke along its fault lines, crumbling to rubble. The goblin sticker on it shattered just as much, leaving a collection of green Jessica confetti on the ground.

Scarlett turned to her friends "Uuuuh...I think I stopped it?"

Zoe and Sonia stood still, cracks spidering through their bodies.

"Good..."
"Job..."

*CRRRSSSSSSSSH*

Scarlett looked around at her three shattered friends, and sighed.

* * *

Amber laughed. "Okay, I'll be right back. You have some time after Scarlett puts you back together to figure out how you're walking into the cave."

Sonia laughed. "This one's kinda funny. But next time, let the giant handle it." She stuck her tongue out for emphasis.

Jess shrugged. "Alright, next time we have a problem, you're up. I guess that is the definition of going big."

Everyone laughed, but Scarlett was still shaking her head. "Now I'm a little upset I don't have any fire spells. It would have been easier to just melt everyone back together."

Sonia stopped laughing, and looked spooked. Fortunately, Amber's return distracted everyone back to the game.

Scarlett asked the GM, "So what's in this cave anyway?"

Amber pulled out a map. It pictured a cave littered with crates and barrels.

* * *

The group walked into the mountain. There wasn't much to see here, the entry cave was just a storage room for the clan. Well worn boxes of supplies stamped with the seal of the human town were haphazardly stacked around the room. Vegetables for the kobolds themselves were scattered in piles in other corners with other odds and ends, and barrels of the ale they had in town were near the back.

Jessica poked around some of the boxes, looking for any salvageable alchemical goods. "Anything going on in here?"

Zoe looked around some corners, making sure there wasn't anything hiding around them. "I don't see anything. Let's keep going."

Sonia punched her hand, anxious to move on. "Yeah, I want to punch this dragon in th-"

*WHAM*
*SQUIIIIIIIIIISH*

The others looked back to where Sonia was standing. One of the crates had fallen over, tumbling end over end on the ground. On the floor next to the stack of boxes was a six foot wide pancaked monk. Sonia was staring at the ceiling surprised, her hands to the sides facing up after failing to stop her floppy fate.

"What the hell?" Scarlett jumped back, ruffling her feathers.

"You're next, unless you leave now."

They turned to the source of the voice, coming from the passageway leading further into the mountain. A kobold wearing dark red scaly armor, and a cloak dark as the night, stood before them. Her face was covered in bright red and gold scales. She had tiny gold horns, and her reptilian eyes were as green as Amber's. She held two daggers, spinning one in each hand, and she looked like she knew how to use them. She wore a black belt holding other supplies.

Between her equipment and her stealth, Amber's Kobold had to be a ninja assassin.

"Mistress said I should be expecting you."

Scarlett raised an eyebrow. "Mistress?"

"Yes. Our glorious master knew some strange adventurers would come eventually. I'll only say it once more." Amber threw a dagger that stuck in the crates wide of Zoe's head above her shoulder. "Leave now, and you can walk away on your own."

Scarlett cawed and laughed. "An empty threat! Your aim is clearly off. Now get out of our way so we ca-"

Faster than any of them could react, the kobold threw a large green vial at Scarlett. It shattered on her head, and went to work dissolving her.

"I don't miss."

Scarlett's head was already a dripping pile of red goop. She tried to mold it back into shape, but her hands melted as soon as they touched it. The melting effect progressed from head to talon, globs of Scarlett plopping to the floor like a melting candle until there was nothing but a sea of red goo where she stood.

Jess and Zoe watched Scarlett melt down. When they looked back, the assassin was no where to be seen.

"Damnit, she's gone! Zoe, did you see her?"

"No. She's good, but she couldn't have gone far."

Jessica pulled a fire bomb out of her belt. "Alright. We just need to smoke her out then."

Zoe jumped away from Jessica. "JESS, WAIT!" Zoe waved her arms overhead for emphasis. "Their distillery is back there! You don't want that whole thing blowing up, do you?"

"Ah, good point." Jess lowered the bomb to put away, but something felt wrong.

"Hey, one of my bombs is missing from my belt. Did you..."

She saw it on the ground next to her, the contents sparking and mixing together.

Jess sighed, knowing what came next. "Oh phooey."

Zoe, still oblivious, said "Huh?"

*KABOOM*

The explosion sent Zoe flying back. She hit a box, but not hard enough to knock anything over or squish herself.

Jess hadn't moved, but she was covered with soot. "Teacher always said to secure your bombs properly..." Her limbs fell one by one to goblin dust on the floor. Her torso drained away like green sand, then her head fell and broke apart on top. Her eyes stayed in place the longest, falling on top of the pile after the rest of her was ash.

Zoe picked herself up, took a fighting stance, and started stalking around the room. "UUUGH! Damnit Amber get out here and fight me!"

* * *

There was frustration around the table. Scarlett's hand fell, clacking the pencil in front of her. "Amber how strong did you make her?!"

Amber's response was a mix of defensive and embarrassed. "Well, we had a fourth, so I had to make her stronger. I didn't think nobody would spot her!"

Zoe Jess and Scarlett all grumbled.

Sonia was still scratching her head. "So hey, how do we get back up anyway? You said it can happen in a fight if we're lucky, right?"

The grumbling slowed as the group considered the question, remembering it was Sonia's first session here.

Jess laughed "Oh, right, I guess we never let you know. Just roll a restore check on your turn." She pointed to a line on Sonia's sheet. "What are you trying to do?"

"Well, I want to pop back, and then get bigger so I can actually find and fight this assassin. Even half elves have improved senses and big ears, and Monks are good at finding things right?"

Everyone laughed and signaled agreement.

"Good plan!"
"I want to see this!"

Amber nodded. "Okay Sonia, roll it."

The die clattered across the table. When it stopped moving, there were hushed gasps at the result.

"Twenty is good right?"

* * *

Sonia's head popped out of her pancake. She shook out the cobwebs, and got a better look at the chaos happening around her.

She saw the big red puddle of Scarlett. Then the green ashes of Jessica. Most importantly, she saw the assassin in the darkness right behind Zoe.

"ZOE! Behind you!"

Zoe spun, blades clanging against her attackers. "Hey, You're pretty good!"

The assassin licked her lips, circling Zoe. "You're just delaying the inevitable. I know this place better than my claws. Your friends are smooshed, and you don't have anywhere to hide in here."

At that point they noticed a thin layer of a floppy peach substance creeping towards them. It snuck under them as they circled each other. The assassin gave it a few test kicks for good measure, but it didn't move. It had the strangest patterns on it, almost like big flat open palms.

They stopped the dance of combat to look around, and found the source. Sonia's head was glowing and getting bigger, along with her pancaked body underneath the combatants.

Sonia felt the assassin kicking her palm, and knew it was now or never. "If you know this place so well, how high is the ceiling?"

"Huh? Why would you ask something like-"

Sonia, and all of her flattened growth, popped back into three dimensions. Her arm was raised to the ceiling, holding the assassin in the palm of her hand.

*WHAM*

Sonia discovered the answer to her question was 20 feet. She popped up at eighteen feet, and crushed the hapless assassin against the ceiling. Amber was splayed out, tail between her legs, tongue sticking out, and just a little wider than usual from the impact.

"Pleeeeeh"

"And this is for squishing me!"
*WHAM*

The Kobold spread another foot on the ceiling. She looked a little blurrier than it did a moment ago, as her colors smeared around.

"And this is for melting my birdy friend!"
*WHAM*

The assassin was reduced to a gold and red smear on the ceiling, a messy splatter in the outline of Sonia's fist.

"And this is for blowing up Jess!"
*WHAM*

The assassin actually stuck to Sonia's fist, messy strands stretching off the ceiling to her hand. Sonia shook her hand, and *SNAP* both ends detached, snapped together in mid air, and fell into a gold and red pile of goo on the ground with a satisfying *SPLAT!*

Zoe clapped while hustling to Jessica's ashes. "Nice one Sonia! Let's get the others and keep going!"

Sonia was still growing, getting cramped in her corner of the cave. "Sure...but I think I overdid it!"

Zoe poured water from a skin onto Jessica's ashes, mixing her into a messy green puddle. She checked on Sonia and completely forgot about Jess. Sonia was still getting bigger. Her head was forced down by the ceiling, and if she kept going, she would be crushing herself soon.

"Can't you stop?"

Sonia looked at the bracers on her wrists. "I'm trying! I think they're broken!"

Sonia was out of room. Her head was now smooshed against the ceiling, her stomach crinkling and compressing into itself. Her legs were spreading on the floor just a little from the force, but mostly getting smooshed together into a wide solid cylinder of giant half-elf. Her hands and arms were still fighting the ceiling.

"Sonia, either stop growing or break through the mountain! You can always just toss off the bracers for a minute!" Zoe was surprised to hear Jessica's voice. She looked down, and realized she was pouring water on her recovered head.

Sonia's scrunched eyes looked to her arms, the only parts of her not squished together, and she untied her Bracers of the Giant.

*SHHHLUUUUURP!*

Sonia and her bracers immediately shrunk down to her normal size. Unfortunately, she kept her awkward squished cylinder shape, complete with gangly arms sticking out the side. She waddled back to her friends, wobbling on her boots while waving her arms for balance.

"Uuuuh, I did it?"

A few rocks fell behind Sonia where she grew into the ceiling, fortunately missing everyone in the party.

But they lost sight of the assassin.

* * *

Everyone was laughing, appreciating the wonders of magic items.

Scarlett was grinning. "That was awesome! Jess, we all need better magic items!"

"Alright Scarlett," Jess laughed, "just come up with something better than a Liquid Form potion for next time."

Scarlett blushed at the memory. "Oh wow that's right...you mean I could make something like that?"

Jessica nodded slowly.

"I'll be right back." Scarlett quickly walked down the hall to the bathroom. Everyone was pretty sure they saw a few drops of her hair fall to the floor.

Amber giggled. "Just give her a minute, she can get solid. Anyway, the rest of you get Tengu-Scarlett solid."

"Hold on." Jessica raised her hand to interrupt. "What happened to the assassin? She might know something."

Amber gave a mischievous grin. "Good question! There is no sign of the assassin goop under the rubble Sonia created. There are some narrow cracks in the floor, if anyone is foolish enough to follow."

Her players grumbled around the table.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me."
"Great, Amber's going to make us splat her again later."

"It's still okay that I smooshed her right?"

Everyone laughed.

Scarlett walked back in, discreetly collecting drops of herself. "Sorry, I needed a minute. Did we go further in yet?"

Amber finally looked back to the pile of papers in front of her. "No, but I think everyone's about to."

Everyone nodded.

"What's your marching order?"

* * *

Sonia led the group through the darkness. They couldn't all see in the dark, so they had a bright light giving them away anyway. From there, her senses were the best, so Sonia led the way.

Their path went along narrow caves through the mountain interior. Fortunately, it wasn't volcanic, just large. The winding path was tunneled through brown and grey stone, with occasional chunks of strange gems stuck in the wall. The path was big enough for a few kobolds to walk through side by side, but not for larger birds and half elves. They went single file, cautiously looking for anything dangerous.

"Wait!" Everyone bumped into Sonia when she stopped suddenly. "I think I see something."

They were in the entryway to a slightly larger cavern from their tunnel, maybe a 25 foot across circular room of grey mountain stone.

The others crowded to look around her. Jessica peeked her head under Sonia's left arm. "I don't see anything in there. What do you see?"

Sonia found a loose rock nearby, and threw it. There was a ripple in the air, a *SQUISH* sound, and the rock appeared to hang in the air.

And dissolve away. The ripple looked like a big box.

"A gelatinous cube? Here?!" Scarlett was baffled, scratching her head in dismay.

Jessica dug into her pouch and grabbed some vials. "Everyone get ready to run around it, I'll distract it!" She ran at the cube, while her friends ran around the cave's perimeter.

"Come here ya big cubed blob!" Jess threw explosives at the ooze. Each bomb scattered a bit of the creature around the room, dissolving pock marks in the stone around it, but nothing dangerous to the ladies running past.

When Jess thought the cube was beat up enough, she threw one last extra big bomb in, and ran around it. "Alright girls, wait for me!"

She was a little worried that the last bomb didn't explode immediately. She looked back and saw it sinking into the gooey center. "Uh oh..."

The muffled *boom* popped the entire ten foot top of the cube off one foot deep, sending a wave of acid over Jess. She felt a tingling sensation all over her body. It passed quickly, but she still felt a draft.

The others saw the wave of cube acid splash over Jess. As it washed over her, Jessica's green skin melted into the wave, leaving a disorganized trail of her colors in the ooze. Her skeleton was left standing.

Jessica's bones stood steady after the wave passed. Curious about the drafty feeling, she examined her arms. "Oh..." Seeing she was nothing but bones, Jess shrugged, then tumbled apart into the puddle of acid below, her bones finally melting into the puddle of green goop below.

Sonia ran out to help. "Jessica!"

Scarlett and Zoe yelled in unison. "No, wait!"

Sonia studied the cube. It was missing some mass, but it was still a large chunk of...cube. "Uuugh! We need this out of here before we can fix Jessica. I'm going to smash this thing."

Scarlett was still trying to hold her back. "Just wait a minute! We can magic this!"

Sonia broke free and jumped. Her wry half-elf frame belied her strength and training, and she jumped the full 25 feet of the cave. Mid jump, she reached for the bracer's power to get bigger. She made her legs and feet huge, and pushed off the ceiling to stomp the slime.

On contact, her feet turned to mush.

"What the?!"

Rather than squishing the ooze, Sonia melted into it. As she fell, the saw her feet and legs splash on top of it as peach goop. Her baggy pink pants did not fare any better, mixing with the clear cube and peach skin. She could feel tension leaving her legs as they scattered, but this wasn't the time to discover new relaxation techniques. She flailed her arms, watching more of her body slosh around on top of the cube, literally splashing as if she wasn't solid.

She was goop up to her chest before she knew it, looking back to her friends apologetically.

"I think I made a mistkblublblblblblb"

Scarlett and Zoe watched Sonia's goop get taken into the ooze, creating a nice Sonia lava lamp. Bits of her floated around inside the cube in seven or eight different wobbly blobs. Her eyes were split, each floating independently in opposite corners, trying to figure out how to get solid.

Zoe threw a knife at the ooze. It dissolved on contact.

Scarlett shook her head. "Why did you do that?"

Zoe shrugged. "Do you have any other ideas?"

Scarlett waved her wings. Blue light surrounded her, and her ice blue eyes lit up.

"FREEZE!"

Scarlett flourished a wing, and a freezing wind blew out. Blue magic auras filled the air between Scarlett and the cube. Icicles formed around it, and its wobbling slowed to a stop.

The Sonia goo inside was sloshing around in pockets. Her eyes looked around nervously, hoping this was a chance to escape.

Scarlett smiled at her handiwork. "Wow, I didn't think she would stay melted in there. Can you drain her out?"

Zoe spun her knives. "With pleasure!"

Sonia looked at Zoe nervously as the chibi goblin dashed up to the ice cube. Rather than just smashing it, Zoe carefully shaved the edge. Then another edge. Soon her arms were a flurry of motion, carving something out of the frozen cube.

"Ta daaaaa!"

Then she was done, the cube was carved into a sculpture of Sonia's head. She had a friendly look with a sheepish smile, her mouth slightly open near the base.

Scarlett tilted her head in confusion. "That's great Zoe! But Sonia's still stuck inside!"

Zoe looked at the head and the Sonia goop within. "Oh, sorry!"

She elbowed the head, and the goop all spilled towards the Sonia Statue's mouth, draining through it to the floor. Sonia's eyes looked down at her body pooling up, before they too stretched and flowed into the puddle.

* * *

Sonia stared at the ceiling, mentally experiencing a bad memory. "Ack, melted on the floor again!"

Scarlett was aghast. "Ack? From melting?"

Jess looked more curious than anything. "You mean she-?"

"Now now ladies," Zoe cut in to change the topic, "she'll either learn to love it or she won't. Let's get you two solid and move along."

Amber was silently reviewing her notes.

"Amber?" Zoe prompted the GM. "We move along?"

"Oh, sorry." She shuffled papers in front of her.

"You walk through mountain caves for another few minutes. You can tell you're getting higher. You pass through a few other store rooms, some with mundane weapons, others with a few caches of supplies, money, and raw gemstones. After many minutes, you arrive in a large cave opening to the hillsides beyond.

"The view is spectacular! Hills and plains and treetops are visible for miles. The sun is shining in, a welcome sight after all the darkness. And of course, the kobold assassin from earlier is looking out over it all."

* * *

"Hello again."

"You!" Sonia balled her fists and pounded them together. "Why are you still here?!"
Her allies drew their weapons as well.

"Like I said. Our glorious master has no wish to incinerate you. As a courtesy to your...skills...you can still leave now, and we will forget any of this ever happened."

Scarlett squawked at that. "And what will you do?"

The Amber kobold shrugged. "Enrich ourselves off the countryside, put the humanoids in their place with a magnificent army of kobolds, and return the assistance to our allies in times of need."

Zoe spun her blades. "Allies?"

"Just the one who told us the power hidden in the mountain's core. But enough of that."

"Oh no," Jess said, "don't tell me we have a common acquaintance in The Duchess..."

Amber tapped the pauldrons on her scaly armor. The party now recognized it as being made from the same crystals they saw scattered in the caves on the climb up.

"I told you it was best to leave. I could just leave you as smears on the ground for a while, but after earlier..."

Amber took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Zoe and Sonia took a step towards her, but flames erupted all around her.

"NOW YOU'VE MADE ME MAD!"

Amber's whole body exploded with muscle and doubled in size. Most of the yellow scales flecking her skin, along with her green eyes, glowed and turned red. Her tail erupted into the air at least ten feet long, growing gold spikes. The cloak on her back bulged, Amber roared, and great red leathery wings unfurled, tearing her clothes to shreds.

Not that dragons needed cloaks.

The flames around her calmed, and Amber fell forwards onto all four claws as a huge red dragon. The small horns on her head were now huge golden curled horns that could crash through stone. The spikes on her back, and her claws, were the same golden blond.

Nobody was moving towards the dragon.

Amber roared, the ladies wincing from the spray of spittle. Amber chuckled at the weaklings before her, swishing her tail along the side of the cliff and sending rocks clattering into the abyss. She reared up on her hind legs, and used her wings to send a torrent of wind at the ladies. They tried to stand their ground, but most were tossed aside by the gust.

Scarlett, perhaps because of her Tengu roots, handled the wind with ease. "Why are you doing this?! Can't you see the kobolds below were kind creatures?!"

Amber's eyes snapped towards her. "They are but pawns in our grand game. Besides, what good are worshipers if you can't use them?"

Scarlett was again surrounded by a blue aura. Amber opened her mouth, showing off rows of sharp shredding teeth, and orange sparks gathered in her throat.

Scarlett's blast of cold met Amber's blast of fire, energy swirled and exploded, and both were knocked back.

The dragon roared again. "You know, you could just let my partner work in peace. She won't hurt you...much."

"What does the dutchess mean to you?!" Zoe drew her knives and charged in, tiny goblin body and all.

Amber slammed a claw down on Zoe, but she dodged to the side. Amber tried her other claw, and missed again. Zoe was running straight for her big dragon snout. Zoe leaped, knives up, ready to slice up a dragon.

So Amber clapped.

*WHAM*

Zoe disappeared into the claws. Amber could feel the goblin inside, so she opened them. There on her left claw was a profile view sticker of Zoe. She was spread out a foot wider, but had no depth to her back-arched-swords-raised pose.

"Hey, you're the one I missed last time! We should make up for lost playtime." Amber scrunched her fist, balling Zoe up into a soft green ball with black beady eyes. The ball shook slowly, Zoe trying to pull herself back into shape, but Amber was never going to allow that. She tossed the ball in the air between her hands while breathing in deep, once again drawing in sparks. She held her toy in her hand in front of her face. Zoe stared at the sparks, bracing herself for incoming fire.

And Amber punched her.

*SPLOOOOOSH*

Green goblin goop splattered out of Amber's claws. When she pulled her fist back, the remaining goblin oozed out of her hands to the floor, eyes spinning as they elongated and poured out.

"You know, my favorite thing about adventurers is seeing just how far they splat. Let's see..."

*BOOM*

Amber looked at her back knees. Jessica was lobbing bombs at them. "Hah! That tickles! Explosives against a fire dragon? What are you AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!"

A green ray from Scarlett's wing tips connected with Amber's wings. Her dragon skeleton flashed, and Amber winced from the magical shock. When the aura faded, her wings fell away to dust on her back, red sand scattering around the cave.

Scarlett grinned. "Let's see you blast us with wind now, you big lizard!"

Amber slammed the ground with her claws and tail, enraged. "Learn your place in the skies turkey."

Scarlett brought her wings around to spellcast some more, her ice blue aura returning. "All I learned was not to take orders from dragons."

Again, magic met magic. Again, ice and fire canceled.

But Amber kept spewing fire.

*FWWOOOOOOOOOSH*

When the flames died, Scarlett stood dazed. Her feathers were out of place, and she was covered in soot. Her blue scarves disintegrated ash around her, and feathers slowly floated to the ground. Scarlett swooned fell backwards.

*POOF*

She disappeared in an eruption of feathers. When they cleared, Scarlett was reduced to a headless roast red turkey on the ground, surrounded by red dust.

Amber licked her dragon lips. "Oooo, it's been a while since I've had roast bird." She tore a leg off Scarlett and tossed it into her mouth.

"Mmmm, cooked to perfection." Amber threw the rest of Scarlett into her mouth. She chewed Scarlett with her mouth open, showing off the gooey red mess, and letting the crunches echo through the cavern. Once she was done, Amber sprayed Scarlett onto the wall, painting her as a rather voluptuous tengu trying to hide behind two large feather fans.

Sonia stood dumbfounded. Zoe was a mess on the floor. Now Scarlett was cooked and chewed up by a real dragon. What could she do here?

* * *

Sonia held up the sheet describing her bracers. "Hey, I can use these one more time, right?"

There was a general "Ooooo" of excitement from Zoe, Scarlett, and Jess.

Amber applauded this. "Yeah, go for it!"

* * *

"Hey!" Sonia shouted, slamming her fists together, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size!"

Light surrounded Sonia. She grew to a huge size, almost as big as Amber.

The dragon licked her lips with her forked tongue. "Finally, a challenge! I won't be so easy to lift up this time!"

Sonia charged Amber before she could build up another fire blast. Amber raised her claws, and they tumbled around the cave. Sonia was big and strong, able to hold her own, but Amber was still an actual Dragon.

Amber cackled, "Hahahaaaa! There's no way mere half-elf like you could stand against me!" Amber rose up and flexed her back muscles, ready to kick up wind and trip her adversary for one last push.

But her wings were still dust on the ground.

The surprising lack of a wind blast threw her off balance. This gave Sonia the opening she needed. She used Amber's momentum against her, and actually picked up the wingless lizard. She slammed the dragon butt first into the ceiling.

*SQUIIIIISH*

Sonia got Amber compressed half way, up to the dragon's massive gut, before losing leverage. Amber's back legs crumpled into her, with her tail tucked between them. Her snout contorted with confusion as she tried to push away from the wall, shifting to relief when Amber's push lost force.

She looked like a ridiculous Dragon Drop of gummy candy, except her top half was still very functional.

"Hey! Release me!" Amber swiped wildly at Sonia. She had trouble dodging and maintaining her push against Amber, and was forced to fall backwards to dodge. Before falling herself, Amber smashed two stalactites off the ceiling.

"Ack!"
*SQUISH*SQUISH*

The chunks of stone landed across Sonia's legs, rendering them big floppy noodles.

Amber floated gently towards the ground, using magic to slow her decent.

"Oh no fair!"

Sonia just finished pulling her legs out from under the rubble with a loud *SNAP*. She looked up, and saw Amber floating over her head.

"Uh oh..." Sonia scurried back, but

*SQUIIIIIIIIISH*

Amber dropped, landing squarely on Sonia's midsection, bringing her full Dragon weight down on her. Sonia's entire torso tried to hold the weight, but she discovered even smooshed dragons are very heavy. She tried to puff her stomach up, but every second of holding Amber caused her to spread out a little floppier on the ground.

What began as an epic wrestling match was now a semisphere of a Dragon on top of a large floppy Monk who could only move her head and arms.

Amber fell forward, swinging at Sonia's shoulder.
*SLSSSSSSSH*
*THUD*

And with one claw swipe, Amber made that a Monk that could only move her only attached arm.

Amber laughed maniacally. "Wow! This is the most cleanup I've had to do in centuries! What a shame that you have to leave through the cracks. Don't worry though," sparks glowed in the back of the dragon's mouth, "the mountain tunnels don't go that deep."

* * *

"Uuuugh! I don't want to end up melting through the country side like this!"

Amber shrugged. "Sometimes the dice just don't like you."

Sonia looked at Zoe and Scarlett. "Are either of you close to getting back up?"

Scarlett and Zoe shook their heads. "Nah, we're probably splats for a few minutes."

"Jess, do you have anything bigger? Those bombs are barely scratching her."

Jess was looking over her sheets. "I don't have many bombs that do that much damage. Plus Amber's scales are a little thick." She poked the dragon mini for good measure. "But...I do have one idea. It's a little crazy though, even for us."

Sonia hid her head in her arms on the table, not sure she wanted to face a melty fate. "Will it take out the dragon?"

Jess shrugged. "Maybe? I doubt it, but I'm out of other ideas."

Sonia picked her head off the table. "Then let's try it."

* * *

Sonia the monk looked around for a rock, for anything, that could stop the dragon fire. She was not interested in getting the liquid tour of the mountain cracks.

The only thing she found was Jessica. The goblin alchemist looked concerned that nothing was working, and started swinging her entire pack around, as if she was going to throw the whole thing.

Amber stopped breathing in, and the solid orange ball of flame rested in the back of her throat. Sonia was out of time.

She grabbed Jess in her huge hand, pack and all, and jammed her down the Dragon's throat.

Fire spewed out in a cone, deflecting around the determined Sonia's arm. It was melting rapidly, globs of Sonia dripping all around her.

But she couldn't feel Jessica anymore.

Sonia's hair was dripping in her face, but she was still solid enough to see the fire sputter out. She wiped her hair out of the way to see Amber's face twist. She reached for her gut, looking like she ate something terrible.

"Oooooh...what did you feed me..."
*BOOM*

There was a muffled rumbling sound, accompanied by broken glass and sloshing and every other squelch noise you could think of. Amber's half body ballooned, quadrupling in size.

Sonia laughed as she was completely flattened under the ballooning dragon. Jessica's seemingly endless bomb supply was doing its thing.

Amber's body inflated larger, absorbing her arms, leaving her as a snout with two claws on a scaly balloon. The explosion noises didn't stop. Amber's eyes occasionally bulged out, and her stomach looked like something was trying to punch its way out, as Jessica's bombs kept exploding within.

The last explosion was extra loud.

*KABOOOOOOOOM*
*SPLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH*

The biggest of Jessica's bombs went off, splattering dragon everywhere. Every inch of the cave was covered with a thin layer of red goop, with the occasional fleck of yellow accenting it.

Nothing moved for minutes after that, except the dripping of melted combatants. On the floor was a paint smear of Sonia with no depth, flattened under the dragon and forced further around the floor by the explosion. Next to her were two splatters of green, her goblin allies, punched and burned to splats. And of course, as the dragon goop dripped away, Scarlett was still painted on the wall.

A cloaked figure eventually walked into the cavern carrying a large glass orb. With a wave of her hand, the red Dragon goop collected into one corner, neatly compressing into a cube of red for later. She opened the orb, and started telekinesising the adventurers inside.

* * *

"Wait, what? There's someone else here?"

Amber cracked her knuckles. "Well, she's not too mean. She is cleaning up and keeping you in one place."

Nobody was calmed by this.

"Alright, alright. By your measure, it's about a half hour until you start waking up. Something feels weird though..."

* * *

The cloaked figure was lounging on a couch across from a rather large catapult. Loaded onto it was the glass orb, filled with a weird mix of ooze sloshing about. The lowest layer was pink and peach. The center was a lot of green, and the top was red.

Four pairs of eyes appeared, one in each layer. They looked at each other, and the ladies realized they were trapped for the moment.

Their hostess looked up. "Ah, there you are! I was afraid our mutual friend might have gone too hard on you! Although, I have to have a chat with her about how to handle do gooders like you once we're done here."

All four of them bubbled with angry eyes, recognizing their nemesis's voice.

"Now now, don't go thanking me for not spilling you onto the mountainside all at once. I thought you should know, I have no more need of the kobolds. You can rest easy." The Duchess held up a strange gem statue. "After all, I only needed this one artifact and some of the crystal from this mountain to make another! Our friendly dragon here just had an acute case of greed I exploited to get this."

The four swirled within their glass prison, trying to break out of the crystal ball.

"Oh don't worry. I know better than to trust anything in this world to hold you very long. Until we meet again!"

She threw the catapult's trigger, and launched the group through the sky over the mountains. She held an ear to the wind, and heard the satisfying sound of glass shattering and goo splattering.

She snapped her fingers, and she was gone.

* * *

Sonia looked around "What?! We have to go back and get her!"

Zoe put a hand on her shoulder and laughed. "Down tiger! We'll get closer next time. Besides, I think we need to figure out where we are first."

Jess laughed. "Yeah, it sucks that we got sent off like that, but nothing we can't pull back together from."