[UVG] Session 3 – Danger at the Spring of the Yellow Water

Dramatis Personae: Teen Squad

• Marceline Chaiya Grove. Grapefruit nomad Steppelander Coffee-maker. Teenage girl formerly impersonating her father.
• Finn Skyshambler. Greenlander Phytomancer Emerald City Preacher of the Good Word of the Great and Powerful Physics. Keeps a small but vicious dog named Jake in his backpack.
• Limon Field. Lime nomad Steppelander climate migrant. Bound in servitude to a demigod Bonsai Turtle named Glum. Owner of a strikingly wide-brimmed pale green wizard hat.

Family Reunion

As Limon slept, he dreamt of a turtle. Rather, images (dreams?) hazily fading in and out from the week-long bender that brought everyone to the grasslands. In these dreams, his bonzai tree growing from the back of a turtle shell spoke to him. It told him to bury it in the Black City at the End of Time, that there would be a tavern... that he would know when he got there. Doing so would resolve their pact, though Glum is long lived and in no rush. He awoke in his homeland.

Limon saw his folks for the first time in years. A prolific drought spurred him to leave the steppes as a tween (he ended up in the Yellowlands making a living as a showfighter, but that's a story for a different time). After catching up with his parents, brothers, and sister, Limon agreed to tag along on the pilgrimage with the rest of the crew.

Her Limeyness's Yellow Spring

Quite familiar with trips to the Spring of the Yellow Water, the Fields wasted no time jumping from their favorite spots in its occluding ravine into the restorative waters. The rest of the pilgrims began reciting prayers and sunbathing on the shores while Finn prepared to participate in a diving contest and Marcy helped Layma with the tents. Plunged into the depths of the spring, Limon saw a school of translucent fish with bioluminescent skeletons swim around and past him. Come noon, it was time to dive.

Every time the Fields visited the Spring of the Yellow Water, they would hold a contest to see who could dive deep enough to retrieve a phosphorescent crystal growing in the riverbed. The winner was to go home with a crisp new $20 bill! But when Limon's oldest younger brother Lombo dove for the gold, he did not come back up. In a panic, Limon, Leemon, and Finn dove down to find him, Limon frustratingly unable to make it deep enough to help.

At the bottom of this spring, near where the crystal grew, an undercurrent pulled hapless divers into a subterranean tunnel. Leemon and Finn entered this tunnel assuming Lombo had been pulled in. Its jagged edges and protrusions slashed at them, bloodying the water but causing no lasting damage due to the spring's restorative properties. A couple hundred feet into this tunnel, they found themselves in an air pocket with Lombo clinging to a stalactite. Leemon stayed with his sun while Finn climbed back to the surface for help (and grabbing a crystal along the way). For the first time, Finn seemed thankful for his fingernails having been turned to metal in Ynn.

Acting swiftly, Marcy and Finn dove back down with a length of rope to tether the fields to their expert cave climber. Marcy used the phosphorescent crystal to provide light, and after a harrowing three trips to and from the air pocket, the Field family was reunited and intact. Shaken but relieved to see her loved ones back safely, Layma proposed a way to repay Finn and Marceline for their bravery. With Limon's blessing, Leemon agreed.

[REDACTED]

[The exploits of the Teen Squad as recompense for their prior heroics has been redacted to protect the sacred holy secrets of the Steppelanders.]