Singing Mushrooms

The gate is the tomb of a betrayed general, and the talisman has been screaming his name this whole time. Heart is his key. They set the stone in the door and something crawls out — an eye, a robe, a rhyming corpse called Der Tib who remembers being murdered and wants a crystal soul to reap. Beetle's mother is waiting on the other side with a knife at Heart's throat. The Rotgoons have one finale in them. Make it count.

Last chance to say goodbye. Gray hands Brog a rhythm bone to remember his daughter's laughter. Heart apologizes to Hollick with a sunflower seed. Talim plans a life after the gate in the land of Admari. Beetle gets a pocket elemental extracted from his skull. Then they walk toward the gate because the talisman is finally pointing somewhere.

Giant spiders chirping like birds. A nest that drops its catch and pulls them up half-alive to finish later. Heart gets cocooned. Beetle shoots him trying to save him. In the bones of a long-dead delver they find another dungeon-runner's pack — and a truth about Heart's father that the party has been skirting for months.

The caves on the far side of the ferry fold in on themselves. A kind old man at a cottage door turns out to be the tongue of a mimic. A room of disembodied hands demands their darkest secrets. Somewhere in the bends, the crew gets separated from the army marching behind them.

They find their friends. Vena, the Elmas, Hollick, Brog and his daughter — all driven underground while Outset burned topside. Greg the potato mancer shows up with 64,950 gold. The Ferryman's rate has climbed to a thousand a head. Talim clutches the money bag like scripture and weeps.