Well, can the elemental hold itself still? 

It sinks into a slow moving whirlpool on the floor. Sulkily.

:I'm sorry we're so squishy. It won't be for long: 

When the elemental is on the floor and slowed, he informs Fazil and then drops his shield. Ready to fling it up again instantly if there's a problem. 

He - wades into the water elemental - takes Vanyel and Mahdi's hands -

- and then they Plane Shift.

They are in water. It is incredibly astoundingly cold and impossible to see at all. Fazil clenches Vanyel's hand more tightly.

Vanyel attempts a very, very tight shield just around the three of them. 

:You all right?: he Mindspeaks at the elemental.

He has all of his Othersenses on alert. Are there other minds around? Magic? 

The Elemental Plane of Water shows up really really weirdly, his senses don't reach far at all, but there's nothing obviously in them. 

The elemental is racing away through the water. 

He reaches for the other tuning fork - he's wearing it on a necklace - and tries sending them back.

And suddenly they're somewhere different, still pitch-dark, still freezing cold, still surrounded by water but Vanyel's very confused Othersenses will be telling him it's not the same place they were a second ago.

Damn it, Vanyel thinks, sort of distantly, as he flings up shields over them again. :Do either of you have any way of telling where we are - I can try to Gate...?: 

He doesn't have a doorway to Gate on, he forgot about that, but maybe if he makes a mage-barrier in the shape of one, he can get it to work anyway...

:I don't have a way to tell what plane we're on.: Mahdi too sounds more distantly frustrated than actively panicked. :If we successfully made it back I should be able to teleport us to Sothis from here but if we were disrupted in leaving somehow Fazil needs to Plane Shift again first. Not recommended to teleport when your destination might be impossible.:

:Can Fazil Plane Shift again if he has to - just a minute, going to try something–: 

Does Farsight work. If they're in the right plane and just the wrong place then they must be in the ocean - can he feel which way is up, and Farsee, oh, a couple of miles in that direction...?

:I can Plane Shift again.: He has made some magic light so he can read the scroll for it. 

Yep there is some sky less than a mile in that direction!

:My Farsight is picking up sky less than a mile up. I'm guessing the Plane of Water doesn't have that. So I think we're back–: Wait. :We're in a normal plane with oceans and air. Probably it's the one we left, just imprecise arrival location, but - what happens when you attempt a teleport to an impossible destination: 

:If there is a sufficiently similar location sometimes you'll land there. Sometimes the spell fails gracefully. And sometimes you get rather badly battered.:

:How big a likelihood is that 'sometimes'. If it's small and we think we're probably back maybe chance it, otherwise I try to Gate us?: 

Mahdi pauses for a second, doing math in his head. :Forty percent chance the spell damages us but less than one in a hundred it does so fatally.:

Gods. 

:Might or might not be better than my chances of pulling off a Gate underwater without a doorway, though at least that'd just fail, not kill us: Should've tested it, except he's not sure where he would have found a pond to try it in in a goddamned desert. :Can you do the shorter range Teleport thing just to the surface. I can show you my Farsight: 

:I will have to use a full Teleport unless the range is less than eight hundred feet but one will remain to get us to Sothis or another population center.:

Vanyel grits his teeth. :It's more. I think we should teleport to the surface and then I'll have time to Farsee where the hell we are: He shoves his mental image and sense of distance-and-direction at Mahdi, it strains his Mindspeech to get that much across to a non-Mindspeaker but he can just barely manage it. :That enough?:

And then they're on the surface of the water.

"Lesser Restoration," he says, "Lesser Restoration, Mahdi come over here so I can do you too, being deep underwater's not great for people. This sure looks like the Material Plane."

"Fly," says Mahdi, and then soars over to touch Fazil's hand.

"Lesser Restoration."

"Don't roll your eyes at me, I can't swim."