"Vorka has the spells!" hisses Poog.
Poog casts Divine Favor on Poog!
He looks at the bag of fireworks and a gleam comes into his eye.
"Mogmurch…Mog best at throwing things and blowing up things. Use the Skyrocket on Vorka." Poog takes out his flint and tinder and grins a very wide goblin grin.
Chuffy shrugs, and whispers:
"Why not use bombs now, and skyrocket later? She no hear bomb coming, but rocket could attract attention..."
Chuffy fires a bolt, before Vorka has a chance to spot him.
Poog tosses a javelin at Vorka.
Vorka's eyes grow to the size of saucers, and she hisses in pain as Mogmurch's bomb lands true. Various missiles wizz past her head, and she turns a burning glare on the goblins before her.
With a frown, Chuffy fires another bolt at Vorka!
Reeling from the punch of another crossbow bolt, Reta unleashes a ball of flame from her hand wizzing past Poog, the only enemy out in the open. Calling out commands to her giant frog, she retreats up the trunk of the ship's mast, taking cover behind the bulk of the lumber. "Bring that one, Lord Longtung! It's eyes will make a tasty treat!"
The large frog gapes, thrusting an impossibly large tongue out, pulling Poog violently into the the light on deck.
"Poog not food, Toad. YOU BE FOOD! DIEEEEE!" screams Poog, and hacks at the giant froghemoth with his dogslicer.
Poog's dogslicer rips a terrible gash in the oversized amphibian, as Vorka's screams increase in intensity overhead.
Reta—now covered in Scribbleface guts—runs screaming from the bag, chases Poog’s flailing form out the door, and stabs Longtung in the face.
”LONGTUNG NO MAKE POOG-Y CRY!
RETA STAB LONGTUNG IN ITS EYE!”
The mighty frog snaps out at Reta, clamping his jaws down as she strikes. She pulls free of his slimy grip, giving him another bloody gash for his trouble.
Mogmurch lights a skyrocket, and the tube ignites with a shower of sparks. Vorka looks on greedily at the pilfered fireworks, then returns her attention to more immediate threat below.
"Big frog likes Reta!"
Giggling, Chuffy adjusts his position, and takes another shot at Vorka!
Even with Vorka crouched behind the mast, Chuffy's expert shot takes a chunk from her flesh. Howling in pain and fury, she bakcs further into the rigging, and waggles her fingers to summon help with her druid magic. "Graaaaaauuuugh! Feast, feast feast! Tonight we feast on Licktoad tongues! Cut them down, and drain the blood! Their meat will feed us for weeks to come!"
A snarling dog appears right behind Chuffy, snapping with its viscous jaws, taking a nip from the rogue's skin. Meanwhile, The giant frog opens its mighty maw, just missing Poog's flesh by the grace of Zarongel.
Chuffy tumbles away from the dog, and takes another shot at Vorka!
”AAAAAAAAH RETA NOT FRAID OF FAT FROGGY!”
Step > Stab!
Mogmurch's skyrocket zooms up in a smoky arc toward the rigging, but explodes against the the rigging's wooden frame. The old timbers are far too wet to burn, but the singed moss blanketing the craft responds with a tuft of steamy vapors. As the smoke clears, Vorka's cackling laughter taunts the Licktoads below – but is brought short by the view that awaits her: Lord Longtung falls in limp, damp bleeding heap upon the deck, Reta's blade having brought him low. The howl that escapes her jagged maw is visceral, almost tangible. "Noooooooo!!!!!! You killed Lord Longtung?!?! You.... All Licktoads will pay! Vorka will strip the flesh from your bones, and suck the marrow while you breathe! Licktoad tribe will BURN!"
The charred remains of the skyrocket belch puffs of smoke and sparks from the crook of the beam, like the last breaths of a tiny dragon. Vorka gnarly teeth form an unsettling grin as she reaches forth to complete her spell... suddenly the firework erupts again, its unspent fuel igniting in a brilliant flash! The noonday sun seems somehow dim, after the fading of the firework's burst, but the Licktoad's eyes quickly adjust. Blinking away purple afterimages, they turn just in time to see Vorka's severed head thump to the main deck, snarled grin fixed in place for eternity.
In the bowels of the ship lies Vorka's lair. The man-things—objects within that once belonged to the crew of Kaijitsu’s Star but were left behind when the crew abandoned ship — are certainly worth something. The majority of these objects are filthy and broken, but 10 minutes or so of sorting and scavenging turns up some interesting finds. All of these items (broken and functional alike) are strangely decorative, depicting colorful serpentine dragons, towering cliffs, delicate humanoid figures, and strange pagodas — not that a goblin would know a pagoda from a tool shed. Even the filthy or broken clutter here could be worth about 600gp to the right collector, but as they are mostly made of bamboo, exotic wood, and in some cases paper, they’re probably more fun to burn. Among the more obviously valuable objects are 140gp, a bejeweled silver and jade lantern built to look like a coiled dragon worth 150gp, a dozen masterwork shuriken, an ivory and gold fan depicting a gecko walking amid cherry blossoms worth 80gp (the reverse side of this fan has been used by Vorka to draw a crude map of Brinestump, not unlike the one Scribbleface created), a long hairpin with a red pearl at one end worth 150gp, a wand of create food and water with only 2 charges left, and an elixir of love in a crystal vial shaped like a heart (the vial itself is worth 50gp). The red chest, though, is the object of the Licktoads' quest. Prying open the unlocked lid, our heroes find it contains several fireworks. The chest itself is heavy and worth 150gp, and there were obviously once many more fireworks within (Scribbleface managed to steal many of them by sneaking into this room while Vorka was out hunting), but those that remain should be more than enough to satisfy the chief for at least a few days. The fireworks in the chest consist of 14 Desnan candles, 20 paper candles, and seven skyrockets.
Chuffy looks speculatively at the pile of highly-flammable man-things.
"Perhaps if we pile them up, and use another skyrocket to kick-start things, we could burn the boat down?"
Reta is appropriately impressed and excited by Chuffy's idea. And once she's done taking the heads of Vorka and her pet frog as group trophies (to be brought back to the Licktoads for bragging rights), she gets to helping him pile all the burn-able objects into one huge pile on the deck.
Their mission forgotten for the moment, the goblins drag all of the dried wooden man-things into a pile on the main deck. Jewels and man-coins are not so shiny as a derelict ship set ablaze! Just thinking of the burning, smoking pile energizes the Licktoads as they set about their work.
Poog looks wide eyed at Vorka's smoldering head-stumps. "Zarongel bless us many, Licktoads. Mogmurch, Zarongel smile on you." He rushes to help gather flammables.