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{{main|Act IV#Synopsis}}[[File:Will with mammoth.png|thumb|right|''WILL: Maybe I oughta read it back-to-front ...'']]Act IV's storyline diverges and reconverges based on player choice to either stay abroad the ''[[Mucky Mammoth]]'' tugboat, or go ashore, at a variety of locations. As the silhouette of the animal fades into view, its mechanical body comes to a halt; a man named [[Will]] stands on the edge of the ship. He and [[Junebug]] talk about the [[Echo River]] and their precarious travels on the {{expandZeroLink}}to get there. [[Shannon]] approaches from the helm and talks to Will about how he was led to meet [[Cate]], the captain, and how he helps with maintenance, mail, trash, and recording their journey. Shannon talks with Cate, who notes that they must make other stops before reaching the [[Silo of Late Reflections]] mail stop, near which [[Dogwood Drive|5 Dogwood Drive]] is located. She introduces Shannon to her dog [[Valkyrie]], or Val, and tells her of the boat's amenities, including a video room with various curious VCR tapes. As Cate back inside, [[Ezra]] runs up to Shannon and asks for batteries for a tape recorder [[Johnny]] lent him. [[File:The Mucky Mammoth.png|thumb|left|''CONWAY: I've got to repay my debt. Hell, I should be grateful for the opportunity — if you want to die with any dignity, you've got to settle up. That's why it's such a damned shame when people go sudden.'']]Inside, Junebug and Johnny sit with another musician named [[Clara]] who has come from Lithuania to play a concert on the Echo. They discuss another musician friend, [[Cyrano]], who's playing at a bar known at the [[Rum Colony]] and where Junebug had an appointment that she missed. Johnny sends Ezra out with his tape recorder to collect "found sounds" for use in the concert; as he exits, Conway walks into the room and grabs a beer from the fridge with his now-skeletal right arm after being sober for 15 months. He heads outside and talks with Shannon, where he reminisces about [[Lysette]]'s kindness and says that he must repay his debt to the [[Hard Times Distillery|distillery]]. [[File:Gas station.png|thumb|right|''AL: GLORYITISGOODTOBEAMONGFRIENDS!'']] Cate, Junebug, Johnny, and Ezra debark at a floating gas station, which drifts aimlessly along the Echo. Cate talks with Junebug about the heavy storm outside; while it will bring flooding and damages, it also means she and Val can forage for mushrooms. Various characters enter the gas station, such as [[Norm]] who is waiting to meet a date and [[Al]] who recounts a miraculous story of being saved by a lightning bug's glow after being lost on the Echo with no light. Junebug chats with the station attendant who offers food, drink, and crystals for sale. If the player chooses to stay on board the ''Mammoth'' instead, Ezra makes observations from the captain's chair and Cate talks to him about the ship's controls and her home-brewed [[wikipedia:kombucha|kombucha]]. To navigate the Echo, she tells him that she relies heavily on landmarks and lights rather than compasses. Ezra heads to the map room to deliver a message about a nearby landmark to Will and passes Shannon on the way, who is trying out Clara's [[wikipedia:theremin|theremin]]. Will updates his charts based on Ezra's information and, in exchange, offers him a selection of old maps charting underwater islands. [[File:Echo River 2.png|thumb|left|''WILL: I'm sure I talk too much — everyone on this river does. The problem is that we ''listen'' twice as much as that. We're only telling you half of the stories we hear!'']]After sailing for a while longer, the passengers get off at the Rum Colony, a drowsy beachside bar illuminated by torchlight and where Cyrano is playing a lap steel guitar. Shannon wanders the beach with her flashlight and finds various buried trinkets. Will relaxes on a couch while Ezra runs on the beach and Conway sits at a table drinking alcohol by himself. At the bar, Shannon, Junebug, and Johnny talk with the bartender [[Patch]]. Junebug notes she was supposed to meet a woman there hours ago but missed her appointment. Patch offers them drinks from dozens of options, but they decline. Nearby, they also talk with a couple named [[Sonny and Dawn]]; Sonny who woefully mourns the world's environmental problems such as melting polar ice caps and toxic runoff while his wife apologizes for him. [[File:The Rum Colony 2.png|thumb|right|''Will never has any money. Good for him.'']] Johnny talks with Cyrano and agrees to go around collecting tips for his performance from the bargoers. After Cyrano's [[My Light Heaven|song]], Johnny and Junebug agree that they're ready to set off, and Shannon goes to get Conway. As she approaches, three glowing skeletal figures sit around his table, visible only in her flashlight beam. She asks who he's talking to and, startled by her presence, he says it's nothing to worry about and the two return to the boat. If the player chooses to stay on board the ''Mammoth'' instead, Shannon stays aboard and watches old tapes on the TV in the video room. One video features a young Will taking calls about supernatural stories, just to listen. Shannon inserts a tape labeled "???" and begins to hear a humming sound. On the screen, [[Weaver]] stands in a room with video equipment in the corner, looking directly at the camera. Her words appear as captions on the screen: [[File:Mammoth video room.png|thumb|left|''That awful hum ... it seems to start before Shannon even hits "play."'']]:'''''WEAVER:''' ... mail, school, and these magnificent, tragic horses. Go underground, as deep as you can go. The air is cool and the earth is damp, and when you close your eyes you are surrounded by the dead. Remember where that is? You'll find your way from there. I think this place is what you're looking for. Some of it will wash away soon, but I think you'll be happy here, even without the mail, school ...'' The text repeats on loop and Shannon stops the tape. She walks upstairs to find Will and Cate, who explain that the VCR automatically records over anything left in it, but the only signal available is the public-access community TV station [[WEVP-TV|WEVP]]. Cate suggests Shannon meet [[Dashiell Morse|Dashiell]], who used to do volunteer work for the station, at the [[Echo River Central Exchange]] where they'll be stopping later. [[File:Phone.png|thumb|right|''SHANNON: ''(To WILL.)'' So, any important messages? <br />WILL: Every single one.'']] The ''Mammoth'' docks at a floating phone booth. Not wanting to wait in line, [[Conway]] jumps into the water and swims back to the boat to look for more alcohol. Will listens to a variety of calls – audio of [[Here And There Along The Echo|players']] personal anecdotes, stories, and feelings. Next in line, Cate calls a woman named [[Summer]], one of her clients for whom she assists as a birth [[wikipedia:Doula|doula]], and suggests a natural remedy to her sleep problem. Next, Clara calls her older sister [[Nadia]] in Lithuania and they talk about their [[Andrius|uncle]] in hospice care. Another man on the floating platform reveals himself as [[Brandon]], the janitor from the [[Random Access Self Storage|self storage facility]], and mentions Conway not only seemed drunk and preoccupied, but also "spiritually distracted." If encountered in [[Act I]], [[James B. Carrington|Carrington]] calls, in attempt to talk with a friend who is a lighting designer in Chicago if not for the phone lines being affected by the storm. Shannon answers, and he asks for advice for his upcoming [[Death of the Hired Man|play]] which will be held at dawn in the location provided in [[Act II]]. He notes the cast and stage crew are all delayed by the bad weather but hopes the group will be able to make it to the premiere. If the player chooses to stay on board the ''Mammoth'' instead, the dogs simply lounge on the ship's lower deck. [[File:Radvansky Center 2.png|thumb|left|''MIMI: Weaver's video showed up again right before the flood. Actually, I think it might have been the last thing we ever broadcast.'']]The crew stop at a place known as the Radvansky Center. Security camera footage begins playing; two employees, [[Mimi]] and [[Jenn]], watch and discuss undated video tapes of the group's visit to the center, which a [[Darryl|coworker]] discovered recently along with old, unprocessed questionnaires. In the first tape, Shannon wanders around a room and answers experimental survey questions about memory and doorways. Upon seeing the name "Márquez" on Shannon's file, Mimi is taken aback, and recollects her time with WEVP-TV, the community television cooperative forcibly-funded by the [[Consolidated Power Company]] who to screen her video art before being demolished in a flood. She says she doesn't know Shannon, but did know a ''Weaver'' Márquez who worked at the station before leaving on "weird terms." The two continue looking through tapes. One showing the group's arrival at the dock causes Jenn to remark that Conway, who has stayed back to guard the dinghy, looks like "one of those creepy distillery guys." The next tape shows a cat, [[Coconut]], who Jenn mentions disappeared from the center one day without a trace. Other tapes show Shannon feeding Coconut, flipping a calendar, and doing more questionnaires, plus one of Will sitting in a waiting room. Mimi recalls Will used to work at the university when she was a student, which reminds her of her distressing final year in which her boyfriend, [[Charlie]], died suddenly by falling off a roof. [[File:A grove.png|thumb|right|''EZRA: Nine gray feathers, seven blue petals, three white doves, eight deep breaths, five slow hours.'']] Mimi and Jenn discuss what happened with Weaver – soon after her departure, bizarre events started happening around the station that persisted for years, such as interference during regular broadcasts via a jamming signal that blacked out the feed, followed by a Weaver staring at the camera with a sinister-sounding hum and captions in an unconventional font. A final tape of the dock shows Conway talking with three glowing skeletons who disappear as the group rejoins him, and Coconut following Ezra back to the boat. If the player chooses to stay on board the ''Mammoth'' instead, Cate, Junebug, Clara, and Ezra play a card game about memory. Sailing down the Echo, Will chronicles the group's adventures, noting an open-air gallery they pass by which contains photographs of small-town life, including one of [[Flora]] folding a paper boat. Will notes that the town depicted in the photos was "very recently flattened to make way for a [[Museum of Dwellings|big museum project]]." The tugboat stops at a grove and Cate and Ezra step onto a lush, floating island. She teaches him about various kinds of mushrooms as they forage, eating a few in the process. The two have their own introspective moments simultaneously, with players choosing to advance two side-by-side texts at once. Cate remembers how she got started with learning about fungi while Ezra remembers a childhood story of playing in the woods outside, alone. She tells him about her mother's death and how she now considers her family to be those who come aboard her ship, while he talks about about his missing parents and about Julian, his brother. As they talk, a large, old battleship filled with mewing cats floats by, which Cate calls ''[[Iron Pariah|The Iron Pariah]]''. [[File:Bat sanctuary.png|thumb|left|''SHANNON: I don't think you ever forget anger like that. <br />CONWAY: I guess that's what a memorial should do, huh? Help you hang on to your feelings. Otherwise, they fade away; that's just what time does.'']]If the player chooses to stay on board the ''Mammoth'' instead, Ezra heads down to the lower deck and records various sound samples. Will sleeps in his bunk, listening to recorded university lecture titled "History of the Philosophy of Death." At one point, the lecturer takes a question from a student in the audience named [[James B. Carrington|James]]. Will wakes up and tells Ezra of his dream about being a cat aboard the roaming the ''Iron Pariah''. As Will cooks a stew in the kitchen and talks with Ezra and Shannon, Cate interrupts to ask Shannon if she and Conway would make a delivery in the dinghy to the Echo River Central Exchange – or, as the power company has called it since they took over, "Consolidated Auxiliary Switch Number 30" – as the ''Mammoth'' is unable to fit through the narrow passage to reach it. She says they'll want to talk to [[Poppy]] about the parcel, reminds Shannon to meet Dashiell, and says that they'll rendezvous on the other side at [[Sam & Ida's]] for an early breakfast. [[File:Echo River Central Exchange 2.png|thumb|right|''FLORA: I'm a romantic. <br />SHANNON: Really? What does that mean to you? <br />FLORA: It means I like poems and rivers and mysteries.'']] On their way to the Exchange, Conway, his dog, and Shannon pass through a bat sanctuary-slash-artificial hibernaculum. At its entrance is a shrine to miners who died in the flood of the [[Elkhorn Mine]], comprised of a a central pile of helmets spilled out into the water and large wooden beams with signs nailed on. As they drift away, two skeletal figures pass by in a small boat and wave at Conway, who waves back with his skeletal arm. Shannon looks at him oddly; he tells her his leg and arm don't hurt anymore, and instead feels as if nothing's there. He says the distillery workers can help him take care of his medical bills for his leg, get everything together on a plan, and consolidate it. Worried, Shannon tries to talk him out of it, but he says he has a feeling everything will work out and offers Shannon his truck. In the entrance to the Exchange, Shannon sees Flora who has come to retrieve her paper boat. On the other side of the river, Shannon talks with Dashiell who is repairing old phones at a reception desk. He tells her about the Exchange's history as a train station, reclaimed by the Bureau for the phone company after a flood. He mentions he works on wiring for WEVP in the "Crystal Room," an underground area of resonant, amplifying rock formations, though doesn't know what happened to Weaver, directs her to the Silo mail stop where other volunteers are located. [[File:Sam & Ida's.png|thumb|left|''SAM: Just passing through. Hey, aren't we all?'']]Shannon meets with Poppy, the Exchange's switchboard operator, and delivers Cate's package to her. She tells Shannon about massive job cuts and automation from when the power company took over, and how she is now its sole remaining employee. As Shannon prepares to leave, she turns her flashlight around to see three buzzing, skeletal figures sailing away in a boat. Conway's dog can choose to either follow or stay behind. Shannon returns to the dinghy alone. On the way back to the tugboat, she shuts the motor off and floats in silence. Shannon, now having lost Conway, reconvenes with the ''Mammoth'' crew at Sam & Ida's, a floating, stilted restaurant on [[Lake Lethe]]. Cate, Will, and Junebug sit at a table deciding on a to-go order for Clara; Shannon talks with Johnny and Ezra off to the side, who are playing a crane game, and tells them what happened to Conway. She returns to the table and vows to complete Conway's delivery as Johnny and Ezra look at a display of [[wikipedia:Shellac|shellac]]-covered plates of food. [[File:Clara performance.png|thumb|right|''JUNEBUG: When I met you — when we met, we were nothing, just these little gray shadows. And we grew, and filled in, and ... but we did all that together.'']] The cook, [[Ida]], appears, and tells a story of two divers with bottomless appetites who helped kickstart their restaurant's success. Down below, Ida's husband [[Sam]] returns from a diving expedition with a small eel and recounts a similar story to himself about the two divers. As he walks up the stairs, Ira brings out the food, and the group prepares to leave. Shannon walks back to the tugboat as [[Emily, Ben, and Bob]] float by, playing "[[This World Is Not My Home]]." [[File:Silo.png|thumb|left|''JUNEBUG: Tired? Don't worry, lady. We're almost there.'']]The tugboat arrives at a small houseboat neighborhood. From the deck of the ship, Clara plays a [[Music for Rivers|solo theremin piece]]; Ezra can choose to watch from shore or assist her by playing the sounds he recorded as part of the performance. Junebug and Johnny reminisce about a previous performance of hers, and the two discuss Ezra, who seems directionless and lost, and agree that he could join them in their travels, and could teach him to play the drum machine with them. The group reconvenes, returns to the ''Mammoth'' and sails to their final stop. Clara decides to travel with Shannon, Junebug, Johnny, and Ezra, and they disembark, while Cate and Will depart on the tugboat. As the group stands at the bottom of a large spiral staircase, with no way to bring the vehicle to the surface, they begin to unload the truck to complete the delivery on foot.