Joosha Kugg's Saga

# 25 Septus 132021

**A Morning of Despair**

Morning wore on, when, suddenly, Joosha was tossed from his beetle-mount. He fell to the ground, and watched his hideous transport lumber away in the direction from whence they had come. Hungry and wet, Joosha despaired, for all around him was only unfamiliar forest. There was no village, no “Sword Haven”, nor even a trail for which he could estimate some direction.

Joosha turned a concerned look upon his small sack and opened it. Peering inside, he breathed a sigh of relief, the whitish green eggs - his unhatched children - all seemed intact. With no direction and little food, Joosha's unease for his little ones grew fretful and edged with panic. A pressing doubt threatened to overwhelm him: *what, exactly, were the needs of these half-breed eggs?* Rain fell lightly and dampened the The Gates of Sword Haven.jpgegg sack in Joosha's hands. I was a purer, watery rain - unlike the acid rains in the land of their mother. Would this rain aid their growth, or hinder it? It was all so alien and baffling to care for something other than himself.

Joosha sighed and gathered his things, listening for sounds of laughter, music, drinking, or perhaps unfamiliar languages gossiping merrily. These were the hopeful dreams of Sword Haven that had occupied his mind while riding the six-legged horror from Egonera. Alas, there was only the buzzing of biting tiny insects that defied the rain. Joosha searched the sky, longing for the sight of a skyship, or at least a radium cloud-trail, but the dark clouds masked everything.

Then he heard it - cries in the distance.

**Devilkin and Defenders**

Swiftly and with great caution, Joosha made his way to the clashing and noise. He emerged behind a group of wily, horned beings whom stalked toward a group of others that he could not well make out. The horned ones, were they the malevolent devilkin? Joosha had read many stories as a child about them, and fear now gripped him. But the others... they could be from Sword Haven! With tenderness, Joosha set down his sack behind a marked tree, then followed the horned ones with sword drawn. Soon, they were fiercely assaulting the others, who appeared to be fleeing toward the gates of a small fortress. Could it be, the very gates of “Sword Haven”?

A man in the blue uniform and hat of an officer spotted Joosha and shouted, “Hullo! Are you a Defender?”

“Yes!” Joosha answered, not knowing what a Defender was, but surmising hopefully that these people now on the defense were also Defenders, and being one would allow him to enter the gated fort.

At this, the horned ones whirled and snarled at me with sharpened teeth. Oddly, this relieved Joosha, for he knew then that he chosen the right side. He circled through the trees to stand with the motley crew heading for the gates.

Stepping to the front, Joosha gathered his courage and thrust his sword at the nearest devilkin. Beside him were two others: the uniformed person, looking much of the same species as Joosha and wielding shield and sword; and a large, green scaled being brandishing a polearm. Behind them were five others: three aimed rifle and pistol carefully over the frontline and blasted the devilkin with radium spheres. They were a dog-like man, and a caped cyborg, and man in a wide-brimmed hat. By the wayside, a man in black chanted gravely over the body of a fallen, pointy-eared Lemurian. These were the Defenders with which Joosha staked his life.

The horned ones fought wildly, but were held back. They pointed to a man in the wide-brimmed hat, "Give us the Crypt Keeper...!"

The others refused and thus so did Joosha. The battle raged on. A stab to the foot wounded Joosha, along with a strike to his arm, but they managed to flee to the gates and turn away the devilkin. Joosha's hopes were realized, he had arrived at last to Sword Haven.

**Things of Note From the Day**

Tar, a Lemurian, suggested to Joosha that he place 5 green radium vials amongst his eggs to help them hatch. He said he was familiar with similar places as Egonera. Joosha managed to collect 2 of these vials that day, and placed them amongst the eggs. The dog-man thought this was folly and said so, casting renewed doubt in Joosha's mind about his ability to care for them.

Tar spoke of a disease in his lands that infects the ironwood trees. Joosha decided to help Tar to find a cure, since this disease could be a danger to Sword Haven's forest, and thus to his unhatched children and whatever food source they may one day require.

Luke, the green-scaled being, thought the eggs a snack and tried to eat one. This greatly upset Joosha, but as the day wore on, he came to trust Luke and accept that it was likely and innocent mistake.

Riah, the uniformed one, told his tale and shared food, which warmed him to Joosha. He and Luke were nearly always at the frontlines of each excursion, showing tremendous courage.

The one in black, Bartholomew, chanted and sang to heal Joosha many times over the day, proving to be a great ally, as well as brave in times of battle.

The day's adventures included an excursion into the territory of a vicious family of large birds. There, Joosha and the others gathered the remains of a fallen Defender. Later, a desperate fight to turn back a powerful Devilkin and its minions was eventually won. Joosha discovered that these Defenders with which he had joined were each heroic in their way. Lisa was a skilled healer, and she and Kaldor seemed friendly and kind, offering food and fighting valiantly. The dog-man was a skilled rifleman and greatly assisted us from afar, but was not much for talking, and Joosha learned very little about them.

When nightfall came, Joosha reflected on the day, and finally made up his mind. Sword Haven, along with its Defenders, seemed like a passable place to raise and protect his bizarre children, should any hatch and survive his clumsy attempt as a father.