Yes, I did get the Book for Ghale and he did speak with... "his contact" in the temple.
What's so confusing about the death scene is that Withers announces the character back to life... but that's the final scene in which I ever saw "my character" (well, in so far as a mindflayer is my character). Whithers appears in the post-credit scene having a monologue with a depiction of the dead three.
However, I had Shadowheart, Astarion, and Lae'zel with me on the final approach. My main character was a Warlock, while I like having Gale around, it wasn't particularly efficient; I can neither swap myself out, I need somebody to open locks and disarm traps and I need a healer, so I'd have to swap Lae'zel to take Gale into the group.
Shadowheart got the final shot in; I have a final save in which the Will of the Netherbrain is down to 4HP, it's Shadowheart's turn, and she has 99% hit chance on a Guiding Light. I had two options, destroy the Netherbrain or dominate it. I chose the prior. In the cut scene is a shot in which the crown breaks in two pieces and falls out of the sky - at least I think that's what it's supposed to mean.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/IGNk3x8.jpg)