Link pulls out his Magic Mirror and stares into it. In a flash, he is returned to the Light World right in front of the well. The shadow of the fox in the Dark World sits down to wait.
"I see you," she says with a giggle.
"I see you, too," Link says, "I'll be back. It shouldn't take too long to drain the well..."
Link enters the well building and finds some moveable blocks in the way. He pushes them aside and walks along the bridge to a room with two switches in it. Link approaches the two switches.
"Hmmm... Which one do I pull...?"
'Choose wisely, Link!' Sahasrahla says psychically.
Link breaks into a nervous sweat, staring at the two switches.
'I'd pull that switch,' Zelda comments psychically.
"Thanks, Zelda, very helpful," Link says and rolls his eyes.
After some thought, and getting hit a few times by the Anti-Fairies that are floating around, Link picks a switch and pulls it. A bunch of bombs drop from the ceiling.
"AH! WRONG SWITCH! WRONG SWITCH!" Link cries out and runs out of the well as quickly as possible.
The bombs explode behind him and he just barely escapes in time. The fox shadow stands up abruptly.
"What are you doing? Did you drain the well?" the fox asks.
"No... I pulled the wrong switch..." Link says.
"Well, get back in the well and pull the right switch," the fox says.
The bombs finish exploding inside and Link sighs in relief. He turns around and goes back in. For whatever reason, the push blocks are back in the places they started in.
"What? Didn't I already push these aside?!" Link asks.
So Link pushes the blocks aside once again and enters. This time, he pulls the correct switch and the water from outside begins to pour into the well.
"Now that's what was supposed to happen!" Link says and goes back outside.
The fish who were living in the water around the well are now splashing about because their water was stolen. The fox shadow pounces on them, but they pass right through her because she's not actually there.
"Come on! Fishies!" The fox cries out in frustration.
"I drained the well," Link says.
"Ah, so I see!" the fox says and runs back to her place, "Come back to the Dark World, then."
Link jumps into a puff of glittery sparkles and it takes him back to the Dark World again.
"The Swamp Palace should be full of water, now," the fox says.
"Alright!" Link says.
"I will await your return! Just don't die!" the fox calls out.
"Thanks, and I'll try my hardest not to die!" Link says.
This time when Link enters the Swamp Palace, the water level is high enough that he can reach what is left of the ladder. As soon as he swims across to the ledge, however, these silly looking green creatures on long silver legs attack him.
"AH! Get out of here!" Link cries out and slashes at them.
As he is trying to defeat the water monsters, a bubble of water flies up and hits him in the face.
"Ouch, that kind of hurt!" Link says.
After defeating all the water monsters, a treasure chest appears. Link opens it up and finds a small key.
"Okay, here is my first key!" Link says, holding it above his head.
The very first door is actually a locked door so Link unlocks it with the key he just got. Beyond the door, the dungeon actually begins. That first room was just a taste of what was to come. The room behind the locked door is a long watery room with a few out-coves and more monsters, of course.
"Wow, there is a lot to look at in this room..." Link comments, stepping out of the doorway.
As soon as Link exits the protection of the doorway, another blob of water flies and hits him.
"Hey! Cut that out!" Link cries out.
Link stops and wrings the water out of his hat before continuing on. He finds a crack in the first out-cove on the left side.
"I guess I'll start here," Link decides, glancing back at his other options.
He drops a bomb and the wall explodes. Beyond the wall is a single treasure chest.
"Hmm, is this another key?" Link asks, mostly to himself.
However, it is not a key, but a Dungeon Map.
"Alright, I'll take that," Link says with a shrug.
He opens up the map and stares at it for a bit. Using his finger, he traces the path he took to where he is now.
"Hmmm... This certainly is an interesting layout..." Link says.
He puts the dungeon map away and turns around. He goes back through the crack he created in the wall to the long watery room. As soon as he renters, he gets hit by yet another blob of water.
"Hey, what did I say about hitting me?!" Link yelps, "...I guess this is what I have to expect out of a watery dungeon..."
Walking further down the room, Link encounters more of the aquatic monsters with the long legs. Then, he finds the next door is locked.
"Huh, if only that map had been a key," Link says, staring at the lock, "I'm stuck!"
'Link... Do not forget to thoroughly check your surroundings...' Sahasrahla says psychically.
Link sighs and goes to the skulls on the ground. He picks them up one at a time and under the fourth skull, he finds the key.
"Hey, thanks, Sahasrahla! I'll try to keep the skulls in mind next time!" Link says.
Link uses his key to unlock the door. The next room has a Blue Stalfos, a Red Stalfos, a Blue Bari, a Red Bari, and a Fire Bar Snake.
"Oh no," Link says.
Quickly, he tries to kill all the enemies, expecting a treasure chest to appear. He even attempts to slash at the Fire Bar Snake and gets burnt.
"OW, OUCH, OWIES!" Link exclaims.
No treasure chests appear even with most of the enemies defeated. Link sighs and takes the steps to a lower area. Here, he finds a small key under a floor skull.
"I remembered to check this time!" Link says, proudly.
He then takes the key to the next locked door. Through this door, he finds a lever guarded by stupid laughing moles. Link smashes all the moles despite only needing to smash one and pulls the lever. CLUNK! SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH! Water begins to flow from the mouth of a dragon head statue on the wall.
"For a "slimy old place" this water looks pretty clean. In fact, I can't even see why this place is referred to as a swamp," Link comments with a shrug.
Link turns around and heads back the way he came as there is nowhere else to go from there. When he comes back around, he realizes that the water level being higher allows him to access a ledge that was previously too high up.
"Aside from those annoying water blobs, this place seems easy enough to handle. I doubt I'll nearly die here!" Link says with a grin.
He jumps into the water and swims to the high ledge. From here, he goes through the doorway to the central chamber of the palace. From this one room, there are many doorways. Some are locked and others are free to enter. On the central platform sits the big chest. Across the room from the big chest is the boss key door.
"There's the boss room! But... I don't seem to have the boss key... Or any way to cross the gap to that ledge... Maybe there's another switch I can pull to raise the water even further?" Link wonders.
As he is standing and thinking, a fish like creature rams into him as it passes.
"Ouch! Another new enemy to worry about?" Link asks.
Link heads to the southwest doorway first and finds it to be almost exactly like the other room with the Fire Bar Snake.
"Aren't these the same enemies...?" Link asks, "And there's another dragon head statue! So there must be another key nearby!"
Link is correct in his thinking. He ignores the enemies this time, knowing he likely won't get a treasure chest for beating them, and continues on to the next room. Under the skull is yet another small key.
"This is easy, I wonder how many more rooms are like this..." Link wonders out loud.
With the small key in hand, Link turns to go back to the main chamber. There are still plenty more doors to check out in the main chamber of the dungeon. Link then heads north and goes to the locked northwest door. Just like on the other side of the dungeon, there is a lever to control the water level over here.
"Maybe pushing this will raise the water level in the main room," Link comments.
He slashes the crystal switch first to get passed and, after nearly getting hit by a blade trap, pressed on the lever. Water pours out of the dragon head statue into the hallway he just came from. Link shrugs his shoulders and turns around to check if the water in the main chamber has changed. It has not.
"Huh? That did nothing..." Link says, looking disappointed, "Maybe I was supposed to defeat the monsters earlier... I guess I can go back and do that."
When Link returns to the southwest room, he finds that the running water actually did do something. Previously, there were heavy blocks preventing Link from heading a staircase. Now, they are floating in the shallow water and can be pushed aside.
"I wonder what's over there? I missed this earlier," Link comments.
Link shoves the blocks aside and heads up the staircase. For the rest of the first portion of the dungeon, Link finds himself running in circles and dropping down holes. Down one of the holes Link falls in, He happens to find a treasure chest with the big key in it!
"Yes! Now I can go see what the big treasure is!" Link exclaims excitedly, holding the big key above his head.
'Great job getting the boss key... Keep in mind that you still have a little ways left to go,' Sahasrahla says to Link psychically.
"True... I guess I better get going!" Link replies.
Link turns and heads back to the main chamber. The large treasure chest awaits. Link runs up the steps and sticks the key in, unlocking the box. Upon throwing the lid open, he finds the Hookshot!
"Whoa! This is exactly what I need! Uh... It's... What is it?" Link asks, sweating nervously.
'That's the Hookshot! You can use it to reach previously inaccessible locations! You can hook it into many different objects, so try it out!' Sahasrahla explains psychically.
"Hmmm..." Link says, pointing it at his face.
'I wouldn't recommend pointing it at yourself...' Sahasrahla warns.
Link hits himself in the face and falls over backwards. Sahasrahla groans in annoyance.
"Ouch... I guess it's a weapon as well...?" Link asks.
'On some enemies, yes,' Sahasrahla says.
"Well, seems like it works pretty well!" Link says and chuckles nervously, "You say I can reach previously inaccessible locations?"
"Correct," Sahasrahla confirms.
Link gets up off of the floor and looks around. There are decorative skulls on the ledge in front of the boss door that was previously inaccessible. He studies these a moment and glances back at his Hookshot.
"Ah! Perhaps the switch to raise the water is this way!" Link says, turning and using his Hookshot on a different decorative skull on a different ledge.
Sahasrahla groans and face-palms. Well, Link's choice wasn't entirely pointless. Under the skull is a Small Key. Link picks it up and smiles.
"Okay, but there was no switch over here," Link says and shrugs, "...Wait a minute... It works on decorative skulls..."
'Yes... Yes...' Sahasrahla says.
"...so maybe I missed a ledge somewhere else in the dungeon!" Link exclaims excitedly.
Much to Sahasrahla's disappointment, Link proceeds to revisiting various rooms in search of a switch to raise the water. After running around, Link comes back to the main room and sits down on the steps, panting.
"No switch... How can I raise the water?! This isn't fair!" Link cries out and accidentally activates his Hookshot.
The hook flies and attaches to the decorative skulls in front of the boss door. Link screams in surprise as he is taken over to the ledge.
"Oh! Why didn't I think of that before?!" Link asks with a laugh.
He unlocks the door and enters into the final section of the Swamp Palace.