A true D&D experience

We started the meeting at 4 and ended at 1. That is how you play Dungeons and Dragons.

The skyberg we smashed open last session turned out to be leaking a potentially endless supply of demon blood, resulting in us PCs having to trek inside the skyberg and destroy the Demon Heart generating it. We did so, in the process retrieving several magical artifacts (not with a capital Artifacts, just items of considerable interest and probably value) and nearly getting pulverized by a demon-tainted elder omni-elemental. Having a heavily-armed airship allowed us to fight it off in a battle peppered both by events such as the crew nailing an air elemental to an iceberg with a ballista, an earth elemental giving a water elemental a Fastball Special to our airship, me cleaving said water elemental in half on its arrival, and the devil teleporting into a fire elemental to kill it from the inside, and by a string of such hideous rolls (resulting in multiple cannons nearly blowing open other potentially demon-containing skybergs, our ranger shooting the devil for maximum damage, and a ballista clipping me) that the others want to get dice that are not mine as soon as possible. Also, the crew was almost as good at taking orders as the two guards in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Long story short, we destroyed the demon heart, killed the elementals, lost several crew members, had so put the scouting ship in for repairs, and made off with some interesting relics. My quarters, for example, now contain a demon-tainted, transparent mithril door. The wizard dispelled most of the taint, but it still has a tendency to curse me out.

After stopping to repair the scout ship and mine some coldfire orbs, we arrived at the submerged city we were sent to explore. So far the scientists are conducting their research and nothing has leapt out of the ruins to eat us. There were some things tracking us for a few days, but then they vanished. We discovered some interesting magical devices clearly used for combat training purposes, and we appropriated some of this magic to allow the paladin and me to have a no-holds-barred duel for the benefit of the crew. It is a good thing that we had non-lethal duplicates of our weapons for this duel, as I tore the paladin apart in two rounds.

Now that we've had a couple sessions to see how everything works, here is what the party members bring to the table:

• Allistair (the devil): Knowledge on matters old and arcane, mobility, being FREAKING UNTOUCHABLE (very high saves, and Armor Class is a 39!). The downside? He has the lowest hp and attack bonus of the melee specialists.
  
• Kosov (the wizard): Crafting constructs, weapons, and armor, enchantments, generally being a genius. The downside? He's squishy (naturally: he's a wizard) and can't do much against foes immune to mind-affecting attacks.
  
• "Batman" (the ranger): Archery, scouting, generally being a skill monkey. The downside? His damage output is low and he is probably the second most fragile overall.
  
• I-forgot-his-name (the paladin): Healing and buffs, a griffon companion, ability to inflict lots of damage against evil (and absolutely hideous damage against fiends (glances at Allistair, who I might remind you is not personally evil)). The downside? Doesn't excel in any area of combat the way the others do, and not much in skills.
  
• Hornethand (me, the fighter): Knowledge on matters war- and tactics-related, holding rank on the ship, and being an absolute beast in melee (second-highest Armor Class, highest attack, damage, and HP). The downside? I'm pretty lame at whatever I didn't list as a strength, and I need a wisdom transplant (Intelligence is actually fine).
  

All in all, the campaign is off to a good start. Now I need to catch up on sleep.