The demon pony stretched out and gave a soft little grunt. "They feel ready." She grit her teeth and made little noises. She was no delicate flower of matronly splendor. She demanded the birth, and woe unto any child of hers that was slow about it. Almost violently she expelled a red and wet sac to the ground and let out a sigh of relief. "It's been fun. I have other planes to torment." She looked over the party. "Unless one of you wants a ride? No? Fine." She vanished in a puff of brimstone and flames.

Their eyes settled on the almost bloody-looking sac. Bed Time looked sick considering it and turned away. I couldn't really blame her. "So... Do we wait some more? Is he coming out of that thing?"

Paul advanced with uncertainty, reaching a hoof and tapping the thing. It split open with a wet squelch, revealing a little demonic-looking goat, not that goats had to work very hard to fit our definition of 'demonic'. The reddish fur was notable. He looked... tiny? I moved up beside Paul "Is he a baby?"

Paul shrugged. "I have no idea." She sat down and gently nudged Brad. "You in there?"

Brad shook himself out, then stood up. "Why are you all huge?"

Joe chuckled at that. "We aren't any bigger, genius."

"Your mom's bigger." Brad seemed to be getting a hold of his new body. "Alright, why the hell am I so small?"

I rolled my eyes. "Good choice of words. You're a little hellspawn now."

"Lame." Brad looked himself over, then appeared to try to do something, concentrating to no visible effect. "The fuck! Why can't I shapeshift?"

Paul rolled a hoof. "Fiendish cloven don't have any shapeshifting powers, and you're level 1, and you don't even have a class yet."

Brad's face fell. "You're shitting with me! I'm not even a PC anymore if you do that."

Paul snorted and frowned. "Don't cheat and we don't have to go through this." She stomped a hoof on the ground. "We've wasted enough time with you. Let's continue. I hope she was a good lay at least."

Brad thought back to it. "Uh... yes, actually..." He sounded a little sheepish (goatish?) as he admitted that. "Look, I'm sorry, OK? Turn me back! I'm useless!"

Bed Time suddenly advanced on him. "You were useless before! Worse than useless! You were given another chance by fate to be better than... what you were. Don't squander it." She bared her teeth a moment before sighing. "Now come on. We have a quest to finish."

The party as a whole agreed to forge on and we began to walk towards the next room. Brad followed after us on quickly pumping little legs. "Hold up! These legs aren't good at fast."

We let him suffer and continued apace. We missed Brad's DPS a little, but the party worked together with so much less friction that it made up for it. Everyone smiled at everyone else, and no one had bad things or snarky comments to say. As we reached what felt to be the last room, we felt confident.

Brad caught up with some huffing. "Blank Slate, can you.. scry into the room?"

Paul tilted her head. "That's a good idea." She sat down and pulled out a crystal ball, starting to cast a spell over it. An image formed within it of a skeletal pony seated on a throne. There were channels of lava running through the room.

Joe tapped each of us, a burst of flames escaping our pelts. "Fire protection up." He went through the party again. "Death ward up. We're ready for this."

Brad waved small hooves. "You didn't hit me."

Joe pointed at Brad. "Because if you're smart, you're staying out here. The boss probably has some AoE, and if you get caught in one, you'll go from annoyed to dead real fast."

Brad sunk to the floor, sulking but not arguing.

We kicked the door in and charged into battle. The skeletal pony rose up smoothly. "Who dares defile my tomb? Begone, or serve me forever!"

Bed Time, bless her heart, charged right for the guy with a loud war cry. I was right beside her, lance aimed at the skeleton. The lava channels we were jumping over suddenly exploded upwards, creating a hedge maze of heat instead of dangerous stepping stones. Charge foiled, we began to make our way through the maze, battling smaller skeletons and flame elementals that sprung up to bar our way.

"Sleet Storm!" Paul sent a frigid blast over the plumes of lava, turning them into sheets of cooled rock. I grabbed Bed Time and took awkward flight, barely getting her up on top of the stones. We could see the big boss, glaring at us with his cold blue flames of eyes. We were on him after a few jumps, but he conjured forth a fresh wave of skeletal minions to distract us from him. This is why I took cleave! I bashed through the skeletons in great sweeping strikes, knocking them into still flowing channels of lava to burn.

Bed Time bashed the boss' skull with a hoof. "Your little pets can't stop us!"

"Maybe... How about something larger?" With a grand gesture, the room darkened as a dragon made of shadows made its appearance with a roar.

"With the power of the sun, I strike you down!" A shaft of blinding light erupted from Joe, striking the shadow dragon dead on and making it howl in agony. I charged the beast, flying at it and plunging my lance deep into the shadow stuff that made up its body.

It began to discorporate instantly. "Finish him off, Bed Time!"

Bed was only too happy to comply, knocking the boss back onto his side and coming down with her hooves, smashing him to bits.

We were suddenly gathered around the table, the adventure concluded.

Joe pointed to where Brad should be. "Shit!" There was no Brad. His figure was still on the board, though it was now a little hell-goat kid.

Author's Note

This is what you get for making typos on purpose, Brad.