"Oof!" says Wynona, as she sets down a burlap bag full of dirt down on the floor at the base of the stairs, and pauses to wipe her brow with the back of her hand. "Hopefully we've got enough now."

Galen puts down his sack of dirt onto the floor, and looks to Wynona. "Are you okay?" he asks, observing her effort.

"Doing just fine," Wynona puffs. "Just, I don't usually get this much of a workout casting spells, you know." She grins lopsidedly.

The healer responds to her grin with one of his own. "Good." He takes off his hat, and runs his hand through his head hair. "And I have to admit, the profession of healing usually doesn't offer many opportunities for physical exertions like this, either." He puts his hat back on. "Well … tell you what. I'll take both the bags up to the water level, so that they'll be easy to take into Miss Shimmer's room when the time comes. While I'm doing that… " He points to the table with Miss Teapot, along with the stacks of books they had acquired in their last venture. "Why don't you look through those one last time – the unbooby-trapped ones – and see if there's any more information we can possibly use."

Wynona nods. "Sure, I can do that! Light reading or heavy lifting. I think I can make that choice easily enough. Have fun!" Still grinning, she heads over to the books and traces her fingers along the spines as she selects a volume.

Galen watches the bat mage select and take out a book from the stack, then he turns around, grabs one bag, and proceeds to walk up the stairs. I could carry both at the same time, he thinks to himself, But I shouldn't try to wear myself out either. As he climbs up the steps, the burlap sack over his right shoulder, he carefully goes over the plan he had talked to Wynona about while they were walking back to the Tower, trying to see where any possible inconsistencies could lie.

Let's see … first, we tie ropes around our waist, then we tie the other ends of the rope to the stairway railing no too far beyond the door of the pool room. In case Miss Shimmer tries to flush us, at least we can hope the ropes will keep us from being swept away, and we can try to pull ourselves out of the room if worst comes to worst. He makes it past the fire level. Hmm … we should also wedge the door open, so it won't close on us. I'll need to see what we can use as a wedge once I get back downstairs …

The Mephitian makes it up to the air level. And then, both of us take the sacks of dirt into the room. And then comes the really, really tricky part for me. He makes it to the water level. He drops the sack near the door, then hurries back down. Somehow, I'll have to convince Miss Shimmer to wait and let us spread all that dirt around the entire room. Then, once we're done, we can let her use up all or most of her pool water to clean up all the mess, at once. Hopefully – very, very hopefully – enough of her will have been used up, so that when Wynona starts to cast spells at her, she will be focused on Wynona just long enough for me to climb into the pool and try to retrieve that gem. Oh, if Miss Shimmer catches me and keeps me in the pool … He shudders involuntarily. He makes it back to the ground floor, and grabs the other bag. He progresses back up the steps again.

Perhaps there's some way Wynona can control those towels, without them desiccating us? Oh, if only Randle were here! We sure could use his fire breath and spells right now. This plan is too shaky; maybe we should actually try and open those booby-trapped books. And it doesn't help that I don't really want to hurt Miss Shimmer. Dagh it all.

He finally makes it back to the ground floor. "So … any progress?" he asks out loud to Wynona.

The bat looks up from a book. "Oh! Well … uhm … " She flips through a few pages. "Hard to say for certain." She furrows her brow, while picking her words.

Galen takes a seat at the table, while he waits for Wynona to collect her thoughts. "Miss Teapot," he says, "One cup, please, no sugar."

"I'm mostly finding confirmation of information we pretty much already had before," Wynona explains. "Obviously, the bedroom is aligned with the element of Earth, and the pool room with Water, as we already know. And I do think that your plan with the dirt just might work. At least, it's worth a shot. I suppose it's all in the timing, you know. I'm not quite so sure what to do with an earth elemental. I think that the key is somehow to separate the earth elemental from its anchor to the material world – in this case, the floor. That doesn't sound like an easy task."

"Oh, right away!" the teapot burbles, while the sugar cup quietly pouts. An instant later, there is a steaming cup of tea for Galen.

Galen momentarily muses over the idea of him lifting the earth elemental up into the air. He snerks. "I have a feeling the earth elemental will be a relatively tough customer." He nods a "thank you" at Miss Teapot, and takes a sip from his cup. "Perhaps if we convinced him to walk or crawl onto a nice, thick rug, separating him from the floor? Or even if we could somehow use the ropes we bought to lift him up into the air, without his weight breaking our backs, or him breaking the ropes?" He shakes his head. "It's too much to think about him right now. Pretty soon, we'll have to deal with Miss Shimmer." He takes another sip. "Can you think of anything to add or take away from the plan we've discussed?"

Wynona shakes her head. "No, I can't, really. My main concern is that we unload the dirt quickly, before she starts cleaning it up. If she's geased into cleaning up the dirt, she might oppose us hauling the bags of dirt in there in the first place. But that's a lot of 'maybes,' and I guess if things go that badly so early on … well then, we regroup and come up with a Plan B?"

Galen blinks once. "Plan B?" He takes a sip … very, very slowly. "I'm afraid I can't really think of one. And while I was taking those bags upstairs, I've been seeing that Plan A itself could use some improvements. For example: is there any way that you or me could possibly use those drying towels against her? And also: do you think the possibility of finding some useful information in the booby-trapped books would be worth the effort of setting them off?"

Wynona says, "Well, I suppose we could try tossing the drying towels into the pool. They seem misbehaved enough that they might actually start lapping up the pool – but there's just the risk that they might try lapping up us as well. I suppose for everything, there's a risk here, with so many unknowns."

"And, as for booby-trapped books … well, there's just no way of knowing what's in them until we look inside," Wynona says, frowning. "I don't have any magical way of knowing what we're missing, I'm afraid."

Galen sighs, deeply. "Far, far, far too many unknowns." He finishes his cup. "Wait … is there any chance that you could use your air spells to 'blow' the towels into the pool? Or do you think they'll be too strong, and will just coil around the towel rack bars?"

Galen adds, "And as for the books … let's hold those off, for now."

"Oh!" Wynona squeaks. "That's a great idea! I'm so used to just thinking of using my wind gusts for brute force … not for clever things like handling items because I don't want to touch them personally. That's a splendid idea! I could conjure a little whirlwind … " She drums her fingers on her chin, as she contemplates the particulars.

The Mephitian smiles, and nods. "Good, good. Okay, so that might work, and if it does, it'll help us out lots." He looks to Miss Teapot. "One more cup, please, no sugar." He looks the teapot over. "Miss Teapot … I know what we're talking about is not exactly your 'cup of tea', so to speak. But, do you think you know anything about the upper levels, say, the pool room, and the bedroom, that you think we should be careful about?"

"Oh yes!" Miss Teapot burbles. "Don't touch anything! In fact, I dare say that unless the Master is there to guide you around, don't even go there at all. You can't get much more careful than that, now can you, dearie?"

Galen blinks at the teapot. "Oh, true, true … em … you wouldn't happen to know any animates up there in particular, now, would you? Like, say, any chests in the bedroom?"

Wynona says to Galen, "How about if, ah, we have some sort of code phrase for you to give me when you want me to try using my gust on the towels? Let's say … uhm … well … how about, 'Do it NOW, Wynona'?"

The teapot bobs slightly. "Oh yes. The chest is rather possessive about keeping things. In fact, he's always looking for new things to keep. If you're not careful, and go poking things into it – such as your hand – it might simply bite them off and keep them nice and safe inside, too!"

Galen blinks again at the teapot. Three times this time. Then he just nods. "Thank you for telling us that." He then looks to Wynona. "Yes … that does sound like a good code phrase." He starts to sip his second cup of tea that has been proffered to him. "One other thing: I was really counting on the idea, that Miss Shimmer would hold back from cleaning up the dirt immediately, until we're done emptying the sacks completely, and had spread it all around. I'm hoping – as crazy as it may sound – that I can appeal to her sense of pleasure in cleaning things up; I'm hoping she thinks cleaning is fun. If she does, I'm hoping, above all hopes, that I can convince her that it will be much, much more fun and satisfying for her, to clean up a big, big mess, rather than a small one. Hence, make her wait for us to finish making the mess. What do you think?"

Wynona hmms. "I'm thinking that we're going to get washed out of there on a big pile of suds, is what I'm thinking … but we won't know until we try!"

The Mephitian slouches. "You don't think she'll hold back and let us spread the dirt?"

"I don't know," Wynona says. "I'm not going to be terribly surprised either way at this point."

Galen doesn't respond immediately. He takes his time to finish his cup of tea. Not as strong as the mateh we ordered at the cafe last night … but it'll do. Even for a last drink, if that's what this turns out to be.

The healer puts his finished cup down. He nods to Wynona. "Okay … I'm ready to go. Want to go over the plan one last time, to make sure there are no mistakes?"

The teapot, oblivious to Galen's brooding, just burbles to itself happily, seeming to swell up with pride at the consumption of another cup of tea.

Wynona rubs her temples. "I think I just want to get this over with. We go up there, we unload dirt, you try to sweet talk Miss Shimmer into not dumping suds on us before we're finished, and while she's distracted, you go for the gem (or if you're occupied, I give it a shot). And as a backup, I can fire off a spell to send the towels into the pool as further distraction, at your command. That cover it?"

Galen nods. "That covers it." He pauses. "That reminds me – we need a wedge for the door, to keep it open." He looks left and right, then back at the bat. "Anything we can use, that we won't mind potentially getting lost and gone for good?"

"That psychotic cleaver comes to mind," Wynona says, "at least insofar as the 'getting lost' part. I wouldn't count on it as a reliable wedge, of course. Uhm … " She looks around. "Oh!" She points at a wedge of wood next to the front door. "A doorstop! I hope it doesn't talk."

Galen looks to where Wynona is pointing, and spots it. He smiles. "Good looking. That'll be just what we need." He stands up out of his chair – but doesn't walk over to the doorstop immediately. He looks down to the teapot. "Miss Teapot … do you know that doorstop over there? Or is it not animate?"

"Oh, that's just a wedge of wood," Miss Teapot says, almost snootily. "Not the least bit talkative, I assure you."

"Good, good," replies Galen. "Just wanted to make sure. We wouldn't be wanting to use any of your friends in bad ways, you know. Thank you, Miss Teapot." He walks over to the doorstop, picks it up, and puts it into his belt pouch. Then he walks back to the table, and grabs his walking staff. He looks to Wynona. "Ready?"

Wynona nods, getting up from her chair. "As ever!"

"Okay, then," nods the healer. "Let's go."

The Mephitian and his bat comrade are just outside the pool chamber. They have just wedged the door open, and are now checking each other's ropes around their waists. Galen looks to the railing both his and Wynona's rope are anchored to. I hope they'll hold … and that Miss Shimmer won't be incredibly suspicious. He checks the tightness on his rope on last time. Satisfied that it is nice and fairly tight, he looks to Wynona. "Yours is okay?"

Wynona smiles and poses, tugging her own rope for emphasis. "The latest in adventurer fashion!"

Galen smiles. My, she's opened up a lot since we've first met. If we both survive all this, I hope she will stay that way. He secures his hat onto his head extra-tight. "Okay … let's go!"

Wynona nods, takes a deep breath, and picks up the lighter of the two bags of dirt.

Galen grabs the heavier, and the two march into the Pool Chamber.

Once through the door and in the chamber, the two look around. Everything appears to be deathly still and silent. After taking a moment to appraise their surroundings, Galen walks forward, over to the central pool. He stops when he is less than ten feet away from it, then closes his eyes, and takes a deep, deep breath. Here goes. Then he opens his eyes, flashes a big smile on his face, and bows deeply, in front of the pool. "Good day, Miss Shimmer," he speaks out, fairly loudly. "May we have the honor of your presence today?"

The water ripples, and the surface rises, expanding into the sleek form of the water elemental, gazing at the skunk with translucent, faintly luminescent eyes.

Wynona gulps at the sight, and quickly hides her dismay with a forced smile.

The Mephitian raises himself back up to full height. He takes a moment to appraise the beautific entity in front of him. Please forgive me. "You look absolutely luminescent today!" He exclaims, looking her over up and down. "Just as any wonderful, virtuous spirit and guardian of purity and cleanliness would!" He beams broadly. "You must certainly take the greatest of pleasure in cleaning up horrible, unsightly messes, do you?" he asks her, hoping that she will respond with her head nods or shakes, like in their last encounter.

Despite his hope, the elemental only looks at the skunk, and doesn't offer any nods or shakes. Rather, the water is starting to bubble. The elemental's eyes have no pupils, but it doesn't take much effort on Galen's part to discern that she might be looking at the little specks of dirt that have fallen loose from the bags upon being pulled into the room.

Galen blinks, but suppresses his urge to gulp. He looks back down to his bag, then looks straight back at the elemental. "Miss Shimmer … my friend and I were most pleased, and thankful for your wonderful generosity towards us the last time we met. And after we left, we got the thinking, that you were … bored. Sad. That you are stuck in here, for such a long time, without having any way to fully express your incredible powers of cleansing everything around you with your mystical touch. And so …

Here goes. "… I was wondering; are you bored, having to stay in your pool all day, with nothing to do whatsoever? Would you like to really, really stretch yourself, and use your powers a fully as you would like? How would you like to tackle a really, really big, unsightly mess? Wouldn't it give you the greatest of pleasure to take on a humongous mess, and to destroy it utterly, cleansing its filth from the world forever, proving that no mess can thwart you?" He pauses, takes a breath, then continues. "Miss Shimmer … do you want to prove to us, and to yourself, that you can clean up antyhing, no matter how big and filthy it may be? Please, nod your head for 'yes', and shake your head for 'no'."

The elemental's eyes "blink" momentarily … and then her features contort slightly, as if in a disapproving frown. The pool immediately churns up noisily, generating an ever-growing supply of bubbles, even as she shakes her head in a definite "no".

"Uh oh," Wynona whispers under her breath.

Galen's tail hairs start to raise. "Miss Shimmer … " His voice remains low and calm. "… you hate messes. I can see that. And I hate messes to, almost as much as you. I absolutely HATE dirt, and filth, and uncleanness; chaos, infection, and ugliness always, always follow it." He maintains his breathing. "I know there is no greater pleasure in all the world, than to destroy dirtiness, to cleanse the world of it." He pauses, carefully choosing his words. "After having seen how quickly and completely you cleaned up that detestable mess the last time we were here, I saw how much you enjoyed cleaning, how much you enjoyed, maybe even more than I do, getting rid of ugliness and filth. So … "

He holds up his bag. "I felt sorry for you. I thought that you were bored, unhappy here, never being able to find anything to clean. So … I thought that it would make you happy – " He lifts up his bag. " – if I brought a bag of evil, smelly dirt in here. BUT, not out of evil … but because I KNOW how much you enjoy destroying it." He points to the bag. "I do not want to make you angry; if you don't want me to have brought his bag of dirt in here, for you to destroy, I am sorry, and I apologize. If you want me to take this bag out of the pool room, please nod." He clears his throat. "But, BUT – if you want to destroy this bag of filth, of dirtiness and inherent ugliness, please fold your arms across your chest, and I will give you an opportunity to vest all of your purifying powers on it once and for all, to show your power at its greatest. Please, Miss Shimmer, I implore you; nod if you want me to take this bag out of this room. Or fold your arms, if you want an opportunity to destroy it permanently and forever."

"GALEN!" Wynona squeaks. "Look ou – " And just then, the pool explodes in a big burst of foamy suds that launch out toward the skunk – and the bat! "Eeeeeee!" squeaks Wynona, as she struggles to open up her bag of dirt before it's too late.

All Dagh breaks loose. But in the form of raging water and frothing foam instead of fiery flames. VAIGH!!! curses Galen, inwardly, as he attempts to dodge to the side and out of the way of the elemental's wrath.

Galen manages to dodge out of the way of the wall of suds. Wynona looks like she's about to get enveloped as well … but as the suds explode into a burst where she was standing, and Galen manages to recover his senses, he sees that Wynona must have made it after all, for there is now a blast of dirt flying around the room! She must have triggered her blast spell on her dirt rather than on the towels.

Tendrils of suds shoot around the room after airborne clods of dirt, spattering on walls, and sending bubbly sprays into the air. Between the jets of soapy water and the gusts of Wynona's artificial whirlwind going loose in the room, the chamber has erupted in utter chaos!

Galen takes a split-second to assimilate all that has happened, and realizes, first in surprise, then in horror, that the bat mage must have used up her precious spell. Through the explosion of dirt and suds, the Mephitian thinks desperately. Should I go into the pool now to get the gem? Or should I wait until I can see with my own eyes that Miss Shimmer is gone from the pool?? Oh, pustules and fewmets!! What must I do?!?

The Mephitian takes a full, eternally long second, torn in the limbo of indecision … then makes it. Jump into the pool! NOW!! And, quick as a wink, squinting his eyes as he peers through the chaos surrounding him, Galen runs over to the poolside, and jumps down, feet first, bracing for impact, and hoping simultaneously that the pool is free of water, yet is also not too deep.

SPLOOF! Galen crashes into a mound of suds, and then falls through that … into a pool of water underneath. Apparently filling the room with suds and water does not necessarily deplete the pool of water entirely, though it's shallow enough that Galen's feet hit bottom. Still, what with the big mound of suds, it's all the skunk can do to not end up getting a mouthful of them, and the churning water threatens to throw him off balance. He hears a panicked squeak, followed by another explosion of suds, then the sounds of Wynona flapping overhead, pursued by blasts of soapy water.

Oh, dagh it dagh it dagh it, the elemental must be attacking Wynona! As terrible as the thought bears down upon his mind, Galen realizes that, for the next few seconds, he is free to move around in the pool. He does, so – swashing through the suds around him, and then realizing with another stab of horror that the foam prevents him from seeing the gem. Without further ado, he takes a deep, deep breath, then plunges in completely into the shallow water. He then opens his eyes, hoping desperately that there will be enough light for him to see any glint of the precious gem in his now-blurred vision.

The soapiness of the water stings Galen's eyes, but he is nonetheless able to keep them open just long enough to see … a brightly glowing emerald at the bottom of the pool, tantalizingly almost within reach, at the center of the swirling maelstrom of suds and water. And at that same instant, he also is struck with the inexplicable feeling that he's being watched … and the water suddenly feels cool … and getting colder.

The physical feeling of coldness and the psychological feeling of paranoia almost quench him. But he steels himself, and crouches down into the water, fully immersed, and launches with his legs towards the emerald. Now, or never. is his only, single thought in that instant of time.

As Galen grasps for the gem, he feels its cool, hard surface brush against the tips of his fingers … and then a strong current in the shallow pull wrenches him away from it, sending him careening about wildly!

In momentary glimpses in the madness, he can still catch sight of the gem now and then – and occasionally glimpses of the foamy form of the water elemental, who looks quite perturbed now – but if things were confusing before, they're even worse now. And, oh yes, the water is still getting colder.

Panicking, Galen flails about in the water, trying as hard as he can to grab onto anything he can, anything except this flailing, falling feeling. He realizes that he needs air, but doesn't know which way is up in the environmental insanity. He weaves his arms around again – and grabs onto his rope!

Desperately he pulls on it now, with both hands, hoping that it will bring him back up again to the surface. Once I gulp in another breath of air, I must go back down and find that gem! Before this water gets any colder …

The rope is still there, and it's amazing that the skunk hasn't been wrapped up in it, with how many circuits he's no doubt been making around the pool. Nonetheless, he is able to get back up and get a gulp of fresh air. The temperature is steadily dropping, and before long, he could be in danger from more than just being buried in suds.

As the plummeting temperatures begin to bite into his muscles, a single word flashes across his mind, seemingly from the back reaches of his mind, where all his knowledge of medical conditions are stored. Hypothermia. Still, now that he has had a gulp of air, and convinced now, that he will not have any kind of second chance with the elemental now, he dives back down into the shallow but murky depths.

The water gets progressively more chilly, and Galen's fingers start to feel numb … but they nonetheless close around the smooth surface of the gem, which now seems warm in comparison to the water around it – and this time – he has it!

I … I got it!!! So joyous is Galen's realization, that he very nearly whoops underwater in joy. In almost any other instance of the healer's life, he would next be questioning why he would do such a stupid thing … or even why, all of a sudden, his thoughts seem to be going much more slowly, and lazily. His bones feel very, very heavy. And now, suspended in the blackness, all he wants to do, is … fall to sleep.

The surrounding water's temperature continues to decline. As does the Mephitian's core body temperature. Still clutching the warm, gently glowing emerald in his hand, Galen feels at peace, and sleepy. And so tired. So tired. He feels so peaceful now … he no longer feels the cold biting into his fingers and nose with ragged teeth, nor feels any sensations of panic. He clutches the emerald to his chest, and closes his eyes. In a few moments, he is sure he will be dreaming of faraway lands, where magic towels crawl like caterpillars, and dragons walk around in bunny slippers. And another image flashes across his groggy mind. That of his having wings, like a Creen, and his being able to fly around in the air, cartwheels and pirouettes, feeling the breeze across his face and body as Wynona rises up from below to join him holding a bag –

WYNONA!!!

The dream ends. The images fade. Galen opens his eyes again. And the coldness stings them. Wynona! She's still up there!! She needs my help!

Galen, his thoughts still groggy, but now on the alert, forces his cold, numb body to feel around. Finally, he finds the rope. He clutches the gem with his right hands. With his left hand, he starts to slowly – and now, very, very painfully – pull himself back up.

Oddly enough, at first it seemed more a chore to stay in the pool … but now that he has the gem, it's more trouble to try to get out. If he did not have the rope, it would be a struggle indeed to pull out with his prize, but it appears that his preparation has paid off. It takes a moment to be quite sure of it, but at last he is out of the water, and, still cold and dripping, crawling his way through seething masses of suds, occasionally blasted by jets of water from unseen sources, his ears full of the panicked cries of Wynona: "Galen! Speak to me! Are you still there, Galen? GALEN! AIEEE!" She flaps past overhead, pursued by another jet of foam.

The Mephitian, miraculously having pulled himself out, crawls slowly, on his hands and knees. He is gasping for breath, nearly hyperventilating. Yet as the same life-giving air hits his body, and the winds from the room's chaos start to bite in, he suddenly feels incredibly, horribly cold – which jolts him awake.

"I'm here, Wy – !" he manages to say out loud, but cannot finish the sentence, as he is suddenly caught in a spasm of coughing. He gasps some more. Then he tries, so very, very heavily, to stand back up onto his two feet. "Go, Wynona!" He shouts, as loud as he can. "Get away! I'm okay! Run away! RUN!!"

Wynona shouts, "Keep yelling, so I can hear you!" Her exact location is fairly hard to pinpoint at the moment. As for Galen, he manages to get onto his own feet, but there's no telling how long he can remain that way.

Galen feels his knees wobble, then shake. Then he realizes that his entire body is shaking, and that he can't stand up completely; he is crouched over, and his arms are involuntarily wrapped around his chest, instinctively trying to warm himself. "No time!" He yells out, and another spate of coughs plague him. "Get to the door! NOW!"

"Okay, okay!" comes Wynona's diminishing cry.

The Mephitian, hearing Wynona's answer, then squints his tearing eyes, and tries to see through the whirlwind of dust and suds. He is trying to find the door. He also unwraps his free arm, and finds the rope around his waist. He tries to follow the rope, despite it's notbeing taut, and hopes, above all hopes, that it will lead him back to the door.

Hand over hand, despite the distress of finding frost on the rope in spots, Galen pulls his way along the rope. Sure enough, it provides as good a trail as any to find his way back to the door. All along the way, squirts of water and blasts of suds knock him down, badgering his every step … but the rope provides the one sure link to safety … and at last … just as he blindly stumbles through the doorway, his head caked in clinging suds, he feels a hand grasp around his wrist, and tug him the rest of the way through, to the safety of the stairs. "Hold on, Galen! It'll be all right!" the bat squeaks. Once Galen has passed the threshold, the tumult dies down suddenly. The Pool Chamber quiets. The suds finally slough off of the skunk, and he can see again.

The Mephitian, blindly following the bat's helping hand, finally realizes that all the tumult is over with. He opens his eyes, slowly, and blinking many times.

Wynona wipes suds off of Galen, and then her eyes go wide at the green light seeping out of Galen's tight grip. "You've got it!" she squeaks. "You got the gem! You did it!" She bounces, and throws her arms around Galen, giving him a hug. "We did it!"

Galen, stunned, and momentarily completely disoriented, reacts to her hugs as one in shock. Then, as his body temperature slowly begins to rise, the rational level of this thoughts do as well. "Why … why yes … " he croaks. He slowly returns her hug with one of his own, with his free arm. "Yes … we did it."

He slowly extends his other arm, and appraises the glowing gem. He smiles. "Yes … we did it. We di – " And then he faints, and falls to the floor.