"I think that's a real possibility, Elliot. Strange, I didn't know there was a history of dwarven settlement in this area." Merixia leads the way into the ruined building, eyes and ears alert for any danger.
"I didn't either; I'm sure some of the first crusaders were dwarves, but a dwarf stronghold here...? Maybe we fell further than we thought and ended in the Darklands? Those supposedly stretch out under all continents of Golarion," Elliot muses as he catches up. "Maybe these caves the first crusaders hid in were actually part of the Darklands, but no one ever bothered to follow and check..."
"This is hardly a stronghold, though. It's more like a... retreat, I guess?" Anevia says thoughtfully.
"A sanctuary of fragmented promises." Horgus says in response. "Once a hall close to the heart of the Father, now just a shell of feeble memories."
"Huh. Looks like the glow is from some kind of fungus on the ceiling. I wonder if it was deliberately cultivated to provide light?" She ventures further into the crumbling temple, opening the interior door.
Seeing the hammer, graven in stone and larger than life, causes of rush of memory. A high and craggy hold with its bustling city beneath: every line beautiful in its clean and solid symmetry, every face alive with belonging and purpose, and everywhere the hammer of the god they believed had crafted them in his image. Torag. Forgefather. "It is odd that whoever created this 'hall close to the heart of the Father' allowed it to fall into ruin. Torag's worshipers are so fiercely proud of their creations. It also is strange for it to have been built here, in such a lonely place, rather than in any settlement." Where it might actually have done some good, she does not say.
Verene follows Merixia and Elliot into the squat building, maintaining her detect magic spell for now.
Elyda eyed the façade and the tall hammer of Torag. Strange why this place has fallen into ruin...
The young inquisitor knew little of the varieties of fungus and the sickly green glow disturbed her. Lifting her neck scarf and securing it around her nose and mouth as a precaution for there were no windows inside the building, Elyda drew her buckler and moved into the squat building - sword and shield on the ready.
Then to her other companions, she asked quietly, "Does anyone know what this fungus is, or, how hazardous it is?"
She cast her eyes about place;, then strained to listen for any signs of noise/movement (that was not one of her travelling companions).
Pushing on the door reveals that it is quite firmly stuck, but with a surge of effort, the tiefling manages to knock the heavy stone construct open. Within, the antechamber is lined with a stone bench to the south, while the far side has a small basin of water sitting atop a stone pedestal. Torag's hammer makes a reappearance on the stone door to the north.
As the group filters in, Anevia grunts and sits on the bench with a sigh, her eyes falling half-shut. "I... I'd like to rest here for a bit, if that's alright."
"If we keep stopping, we'll never make it to see the sun again." Horgus grumbles, before muttering darkly. "Though with you slowing us down, perhaps we won't anyways. Mayhap it would be safest and quickest if we split up."
Anevia's eyes flare open, and she scowls, surging to her feet despite the pained exhale she makes as she goes. "I'm not shocked that someone so secretive of his own faith and works as to hide them so none can see would be unmoved by this place! To be so ashamed is almost as bad as worshipping demons!"
Horgus looks momentarily startled, before laughing cruelly again. "A most self-righteous position for one so willing to break into others' properties."
Anevia bares her clenched teeth, before she takes a deep breath, settling onto the bench and disregarding him entirely.
For his part, Aravashnial seems utterly bemused.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Merixia sighs, rubbing her temples. "Okay. None of us are happy to be here, we've all had an absolutely terrible day, and if we want to get out of this alive, we have to work together. So please. For the love of Ragathiel, try not to antagonize one another." She's tempted to add her mother's all time classic, 'if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all', but that would probably be counterproductive.
That said, the cleric goes to investigate the water basin. Holy water, maybe? "Verene, Elliot, can one of you tell if this water is magical? Might be holy water if the temple's still consecrated."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"While I have no intention of leaving anyone behind, I would like to say that Anevia has already proven her worth despite her injured leg with her capable marksmanship. It should also be noted that we are not sure how long we will be down here regardless and that we do not know how often we will come across a defensible position like this. I suggest we perhaps knock in the future, but let us take the moment to finish securing the facility and take a moment to rest. We could use to take stock of our supplies as it is," Thesius calmly states while giving Anevia a warm smile. He hopes to disarm the situation, but is unsure of how likely that is with Horgus' current condition.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"In just one moment." Verene takes a deep breath and steps between Anevia and Horgus so she can look them both in the eye, if they will meet her gaze as she glances between them. Kindly but firmly, she says, "We are not splitting up, and no one will be left behind.
"Lord Horgus, already today Mistress Tirablade has twice placed herself between you and danger, and helped bring down that danger with well-placed arrows. She has done this on a leg badly broken, while sick with worry for her lady wife facing who knows what in the city above, and she has done it without complaint. To take a moment of respite while we can is human, sir, not weakness or slowing us down. We owe her our gratitude, not our scorn.
"Mistress Tirablade — Anevia — not sharing the faith of the majority, or not proudly wearing the symbols of one's faith, does not make one a lesser person. Such folk who remain so close to the border willingly place themselves in equal danger with the most openly pious civilian, as we have all seen today — and do so without a divine mandate, or any holy protection to call upon. Whatever one might say of their — our — wisdom, it is nothing like worshiping demons.
"I do not know what past dealings you have had with each other to cause such mistrust between you, and neither do I care. No one asks you to like one another. But to fight among ourselves, right now, is to concede the battle to the Abyss. We need your help. Both of you. We are only as strong as we are united."
Having said her piece, unless one of the two wants to continue to argue, Verene then uses her arcane sight to examine the water as Merixia asked.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As the group filters in, Anevia grunts and sits on the bench with a sigh, her eyes falling half-shut. "I... I'd like to rest here for a bit, if that's alright."
"If we keep stopping, we'll never make it to see the sun again." Horgus grumbles, before muttering darkly. "Though with you slowing us down, perhaps we won't anyways. Mayhap it would be safest and quickest if we split up."
The young inquisitor had heard the squabbling and then Verene, Thesius and Merixia attempting to soothe frayed tempers and return a semblance of peace to the party.
Elyda, in steady, quiet voice, simply added, "Splitting up a party is the quickest way to fail and fall. We will remain together in order to survive."
Perhaps in the days and months to come, if we survive this underground adventure, I will learn a softer manner with which to speak to people. For now, I can watch and learn from those with the talent for tactfulness and patience.
That said, the cleric goes to investigate the water basin. Holy water, maybe? "Verene, Elliot, can one of you tell if this water is magical? Might be holy water if the temple's still consecrated."
Since the others seemed to be occupied with the civilians, Elyda tapped Merixia on the shoulder and said, "I, too, possess such magic. May I?"
Standing on the other side of Merixia, Elyda began to quietly cast.
==
Horgus snorts, but leans back on a nearby wall, apparently content to remain silent for now. Anevia folds her arms, before nodding slightly. "Alright." Her temper is clearly quite strained, but she manages to remain calm for now.
The water in the basin is not magical, but Elyda recognizes it as holy water - enough to fill two flasks, in fact.
After concentrating deeply on the water in the basin, Elyda determined it was not magical afterall. To Merixia and the others, she advised, "The water is not magical. However, as Merixia has opined, it is holy water and there looks to be enough to fill two flasks."
After a moment's silence, Aravashnial speaks up. "Perhaps there are some flasks around the structure" He suggests.
Horgus' eyes twinkle unnervingly in the light of Verene's crossbow.
Elliot is about to answer Merixia about the holy water when Elyda beats him to the punch. Seeing the whole argument skillfully handled in the time he helped his master cross into the temple, he nods at the others gratefully, then observes the temple's interior. "I believe my teacher has a point. So long at that fluorescent fungus doesn't start moving to attack us or such, maybe we should start searching the place more thoroughly. You never know?"
Merixia lets out a quiet sigh of relief as Thesius' and Verene's words have the desired effect. Interesting what Verene had to say about religion. I wonder if she's part of a minority faith? Maybe even an atheist.
After concentrating deeply on the water in the basin, Elyda determined it was not magical afterall. To Merixia and the others, she advised, "The water is not magical. However, as Merixia has opined, it is holy water and there looks to be enough to fill two flasks."
After a moment's silence, Aravashnial speaks up. "Perhaps there are some flasks around the structure" He suggests.
"Sorry, I didn't bring any flasks. Aravashnial has a point, though. Let's see what's through this door to the north." Merixia looks at Anevia. "It doesn't look like this place is too large. I think you can just rest here a bit more while the rest of us look around." With that, she tries the door.
"Finding some empty flasks would be ideal, but if we don't, I have two flasks of lantern oil that could be emptied, and a waterskin that holds four pints. I imagine some of you do as well," Verene comments, all practicality again. "If we have another source of fresh water, let's share out the contents of one waterskin now and use it for this holy water. But if not, we should be sparing with our water, and instead pour out the lantern oil."
Merixia pushes open the door into the nave, which opens up much more widely than the antechamber. Ruined stone benches line the room, and a thick coating of dust covers them, the floor, and the altar that sits in the middle of the nave. On one of the benches sits a short, stocky figure, also covered in dust, its back to the adventurers.
Thesius will move forward with the group when given the chance and maintaining the back of the line. He continues to renew his Dancing Lights when it’s close to being done.
Sword in hand, Merixia cautiously enters the temple. "Huh... is that a statue?" She moves closer to the short figure.
"I see a couple of what looks to be dwarven corpses. Wow, there is a lot of dust in here."
The hair stands up on the back of Verene's neck at the sight of the corpses, clearly long undisturbed and covered in dust. Thamyris huddles into her neck, his feathers puffed out. What was it Horgus said...? "'Who betrayed whom first, the servants or the master?' Have we stumbled on some ancient murder?"
With a murmured word, she turns her arcane sight to the inside of the room.
The figure is, in fact, a dust-covered dwarf man, with a hood over his head. As Merixia approaches, she feels a faint sense of unease come over her, something confirmed when the dwarf lurches upwards, screaming horribly as he turns to look at her.
From the corner, the corpse of a dwarf man lurches upright and rushes at Merixia, arms flailing wildly. Despite her surprise, the priestess dodges adeptly out of the way of its clawing fingers.
The dust falls off of the screaming dwarf as he lashes out with a hand as well, clawing at her. This time, she's unable to evade, and she feels the skin on her upper arm tear beneath the... claws... of the man she had thought was a statue. As she considers it, the facade fades, revealing a skeletal-looking dwarf with the cracked symbol of Torag dangling from a chain on its chest. It howls at her again, the stench of grave dust striking her in the nostrils. Its empty eyes glow with a malignant fury, and it skeletal teeth gleam dimly in the darkness.
The final dwarf, this one presumably a woman from the lack of the beard, stumbles around the altar towards the priestess, but doesn't manage to get very far.
"Listen up, everyone! Those are just normal zombies, and there's not much to say except they need to be slashed apart. But the life-like one has diseased claws and resists weapons not silver or magical!" Elliot calls out from the back.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do in this situation. He knew undead were immune to mind affecting effects and that his daze and colour spray magic wouldn't work, all of his allies were in the way for his fire blasts and he couldn't walk in there for a better position or he'd be ripped to shreds.
Instead, he faints around Elyda's shoulder with his crossbow and hopes to distract the zombie slightly as the shot goes very wide. Hopefully, that would allow the inquisitor to score a hit slightly easier.
"Now I'm really fighting alongside an inquisitor... I don't know how to feel about this."
As Elliot's shot goes wide, the zombie lashes out with its limbs, striking at Merixia with surprising vigor for such a creature. Though she lifts her shield to try to deflect the blows, one manages to get through, cracking against her collarbone, sending her to her knees as she blacks out from the pain.
Elyda glanced across to Verene upon seeing Merixia fall under the recent attack, "Verene, take the healing potion I gave you earlier and give it to Merixia."
Dropping her longsword carefully by her feet, Elyda drew her morningstar and took a 5ft step diagonally to make room for the companions behind her. Holding her buckler in one hand, she swung her morningstar at the black undead dwarf, hoping to bludgeon it.
The dead things move so fast. Her eyes note the cracked symbol of Torag with a kind of detached horror. But Elyda's words shake Verene from paralysis.
"Right. Potion. On it." She shrinks left, away from the closest zombie , pulling the potion from her pocket and yanking the cork out with her teeth. Carefully, she holds it to Merixia's lips and tries to lose as little as possible while pouring.
"If anyone has a magical or silvered weapon, now would be a good time to use it. Or if anyone can scoop up some of that holy water in the font outside and dump it on these creatures, it will harm them."
Elyda lashes out with her longsword, slicing deeply into the dwarf corpse's flesh and carving a significant hunk out of its flank. Meanwhile, Verene swiftly moves away from the grasping hands of the female dwarf zombie, and quickly gives Merixia a potion to heal her.
The huecuva (for that is what it is), steps over the prone tiefling priestess, focused more on Verene now, before lashing out with its claws at the wizard in a dizzying flurry of blows. First a claw catchers her in the stomach, ripping through her clothing and tearing open a horrific gash in her abdomen. Even as she attempts to ward away the next blows, another claw emerges from the right and rips a chunk off of her face, sending her spinning into painful blackness. As she falls, the light on her crossbow bolt fades, leaving only Thesius' dancing lights to ward away the darkness.
"Hold on! Aid is coming!" Aravashnial, having heard the cries of pain and battle, begins chanting a spell.
Thesius says a prayer to Desna under his breath as the carnage unfolds in front of him...
...his mind racing as he tries to make sense of the chaos...
...quickly Thesius mind sorts out the details as Elliot's words stimulate his mind along with the smell of grave dust. A half-hearted smile plays upon his lips as he recognizes the spell Arvashnial is invoking. He hopes that it provides the aid they need at this time, but can not stand and wait to find out. With a step forward he lashes out at the Living? Dwarf identifying it to his companions for what it is, "Be gone foul huecuva. May you find comfort in oblivion."
If nothing else, he hoped to at least garner it's attention to buy his companions time.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Merixia's eyes flutter open, and years of trained reflexes have her grab her sword. Never, never, never drop your weapon! She looks up just in time to see Verene collapse bleeding, a potion vial in her hand, and she realizes what must have happened. "Verene!"
The smart thing to do, the self-preserving thing to do, would be to stand up and then see to the wounded wizard. But Verene fell trying to help Merixia, and she is a servant of Ragathiel. It is her duty to aid her comrades, even at her own expense.
The cleric grabs her holy symbol with her free hand and holds it up. "Ragathiel, grant me your healing light!"
Fiery golden light fills the temple.
Thesius rushes the huecuva, but despite the touch of Lady Luck on him, the fallen priest deflects his blows with an ease that seems almost contemptuous.
Whether Ragathiel's mercy is weak due to the defiled shrine, the depths in which the heroes fight, or the simple vagaries of fate, Merixia's healing light fades to reveal only a few wounds sealed. While Verene is no longer bleeding out, she is not conscious, either.
The female dwarf zombie takes the chance to lash out at the half-elf archeologist, swinging its arm in a mighty downward arc. The young man cannot get his sword up in time to block the dead flesh, which crashes heavily onto his head. A searing pain burns through his skull, and Thesius feels his ears ringing.
"Fallen stars!" Anevia curses and shoves herself up from her seated position, grabbing her bow.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Crap. This is going really, really bad, really fast! What do I do!?" Elliot thinks, frantically searching for a solution.
Okay. Deep breath. Calm people lived; stressed people died. Time to think about this rationally.
Fighting wasn't working - the undead dwarves were just too powerful as they were. So they needed a workaround.
What did they know? That they were probably worshippers of Torag, and at least one of them had died after renouncing his faith.
They were also in a sanctuary of Torag.
Slowly an idea began to form.
Elliot clasps his hands and closes his eyes in prayer to the dwarven god. "Hail Torag, Mighty Father and King of dwarves! Ruler under the endless sky! Lord of creation and overseer of the forges. Your sanctuary is desecrated by the presence of undead, even one of your children who has renounced you! I beseech you for aid, help my allies fend off this threat!"
After speaking, he re-opens his eyes and faces the huecuva. "That's right, I just worshipped your former god! What are you gonna do about it!?" He says, and promptly follows this bravao by running past his master out the door!
Hopefully this would have at least one of three effects: Torag would actually help those in his sanctuary, the normal zombies perhaps loyal to Torag would stop attacking, or the powerful undead dwarf that seemed to hate Torag would be so enraged at hearing his former god worshipped that he'd make a beeline after him, leaving himself open to the others.
It was the best he could come up with.
"Master, I need to fall back. That thing is slaughtering the others. Hopefully I have its attention and it will chase me. Please walk back until you reach the wall!"
Elliot's prayer goes unheeded - at least by the Father of Creation, who doesn't deign to respond to the tactical worship. The huecuva shrieks, but it is unclear whether it truly understood his taunt. For his part, Aravashnial is focused on his spell, but nods slightly at his apprentice's words.
The male zombie lashes out at Elyda with clumsy but startlingly quick blows. Despite the inquisitor's best efforts, she receives a blow that cracks her sternum, sending white-hot fire through her abdomen and lungs. With alarming alacrity, it launches into another barrage of blows, though this time the lawbringer is ready for them, and uses her sword and shield both to ward them away.
Verene! The lady wizard was down.
Then a searing pain resonated through her being, and, trying to catch a breath was suddenly almost beyond her means due to the mighty strike to her sternum. Gritting down on what self control she possessed, between breaths, she called out in warning, "Fast zombies - swifter in death - attack more than once...have full motion!" Elyda spat the words out before wheezing and gasping to catch breath. Then taking a 5 ft step north, the young inquisitor swung her longsword (no matter how painful) and attacked the black zombie dwarf she had previously injured, hoping to down it for good.
===
Verene lies motionless on the floor, the barest rise and fall of her breath the only evidence that she still lives. The spreading stain on her robe and beneath her head slows, then stops as Merixia's healing light knits some of the wounds back together.
Elyda swiftly circles around the zombie, tearing it messily in two with a single stroke. Its two halves collapse as she turns to face the huecuva, readying herself to face the fallen priest. The undead abomination shrieks in fury once more, slashing at the ill-armored half-elf with vicious bloodthirst. With a horrific tearing noise, blood arcs from Thesius' neck as he collapses to the floor of the desecrated nave.
The fallen priest moves over his prone, bleeding body to attack Anevia, slashing at her with its claws, but she bats away its attempts with her bow. "Thesius! Dammit!"
Dropping her bow, Anevia draws her short sword, stabbing viciously at the undead creature even as Merixia's blade menaces it from her position on the floor. She manages to land a vicious blow into its eye socket... which bounces off of the back of its skull. "Shit," she breathes.
Aravashnial's spell goes off, and a dog, reminiscent of those favored by the Accidental God, erupts in a burst of silver-gold light beside him. "Attack the source of the scream!" He commands it, stepping away... but he stumbles, tripping and falling on the rocks behind him.
The dog, however, launches itself at the huecuva, its jaws glowing with holy radiance. It tears through the fallen priest's leg, ripping away a significant chunk of bone.
Merixia heaves herself to her feet with a jingle of scale mail, trying to keep her sword between herself and the undead. Which are now menacing herself and the fallen Thesius from two sides. Fantastic.
Aravashnial's summoned celestial dog seems to be doing a good job on the huecuva, so Merixia summons her inner fury and slashes at the zombie. "Die already! Properly this time!" Hopefully Thesius and Verene will live long enough for them to finish off the enemy... she really isn't good enough at spellcasting to successfully cast a healing spell with undead breathing down her neck.
Thesius lies upon the ground, continuing to bleed out as his body fights to survive the trauma.
Merixia rises, and the fallen priest whirls around to slash at her with its claws even as she gets fully upright, and she catches the blow across her jaw, leaving a searing cut that begins oozing blood.
However, the pain does not distract her as she calls on the General of Vengeance and lops off the other zombie's head with one stroke, then its arms with two more. As it collapses, she turns to face the huecuva head on now.
Elliot, now outside of the temple, hears the continued cried of pain with a distinct, sinking feeling of dread in his chest. His attempt to lure the creature out had failed. Worse, perhaps, he'd left everyone behind for nothing. Not that he could have done much in those confined quarters with the spells he'd prepped for the show, but still...
He sees his master fall to the side and decides he only had one desperate gamble left.
He draws a torch from his backpack and lights it.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Elyda, her body still aching - her breath rattling from its general labour, took a five foot step and called down judgement on the Huecuva, her voice full of conviction, "In the name of the Lady of Valour, I judge you, Huecuva. In the name of the Light, let my blade dance with the magic of the righteous and remove your dark stain from this once sacred place."
=====
Elliot lights his torch outside the temple, preparing to send its fire at the undead creature should it emerge into the cavern.
Meanwhile, Iomedae's power fills her inquisitor, and Elyda slashes through the dwarf-priest's cloak and many of its ribs, prompting another hellish scream from the abomination. It turns on her, claws blurring is it goes all out to attack her, but the lawbringer deflects the blows expertly with her sword and shield.
Anevia takes advantage of the huecuva's distraction, stabbing at it again with her shortsword. In a blur of motion, she thrusts the blade into the base of its skull, piercing it and ripping the head from its spine. With a gasp, she falls back onto the bench, before struggling to rise again and try to help Thesius.
Horgus, who is wedged as far into the corner near the door of the temple as he can be, looks up. "And now it is released."
Thesius’ breathing softens as his body stops the flow of blood.
The young inquisitor's pale blue eyes shone almost white from the power of her lady goddess before returning to some semblance of normality. Her breath still rattled beneath her breast bone, yet Elyda stood upright and the abomination had fallen. You have my gratitude, Lady Iomedae. Casting her eyes across to Anevia, who now was attempting to aid the still-prone Thesius, Elyda gave the woman a quiet word of thanks, "You are a brave fighter, Anevia. Thank you for aiding us in this fight."
As Anevia tended to Thesius, Elyda carefully bent down to study Verene's wounds, which had thankfully stopped bleeding. "Hold on, Verene. I am no healer, yet we will find a way to raise you to your feet."
"Merixia, how do you fare? You fought valiantly, lady cleric. Verene and Thesius require some healing magic, when you have gathered your strength...If there are others with the ability to heal, looking around at the group, please come forward and do what you can for our friends."
"Wow... we survived. I was starting to wonder." Merixia wipes blood from the wound on her face, breathing hard. Thank you, Ragathiel. The pain is starting to kick in now that the battle high is fading. "Thanks, Elyda. Great job. You too, Anevia." She gets down to one knee beside Thesius and touches his hand, chanting a spell in Celestial. As the healing takes effect, she moves on to Verene and does the same.
"That's all I can do for the day as far as healing goes. And I'll be honest, I don't have another fight left in me. Not until I can rest and pray for spells again. That huecuva hit hard." The cleric sighs and begins to clean her sword.
Anevia slumps down onto the bench, breathing heavily. She wipes her sword clean and sheathes it, before looking over at the altar. "I'm all for a rest, but... I think we ought to at least bury the bodies. Maybe cover them with some rocks or something? Make a cairn?"
Searching the area discovers several interesting bits of equipment and other goodies. For one, the warhammer that the priest presumably had used in life lies in the dust next to the altar. On the huecuva's belt there are two green potions that glow faintly, while its withered hand has a ring of gold marked with a sign of some dwarf clan or another.
Aravashnial lifts himself from the ground, but remains very still as his dog vanishes back to Elysium with a burst of brief music.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Meanwhile, back outside, Elliot is halfway to rushing back with the torch when the sounds of battle suddenly stop, and merciful conversation between the living breaks the silence.
Breathing a huge sigh of relief, he trudges over to his master to help him back up and guides Aravashnial back into the temple. "I'm... sorry, everyone. I thought I could lure it outside after me so you'd have a better chance to win, but it seems I couldn't. I wish I'd had more helpful spells prepared for a situation like this."
He takes off his backpack and sets it down on a nearby bench. "However, if it makes a difference, I have some travel rations with me that I could share. I was packing for a trip with the troupe to Nerosyan. But... something tells me that'll be delayed indefinitely."
If shown the magical items or asked for his opinion, Elliot then identifies and appraises them succesfully. Otherwise, he stays in the background. It's clear that he's a bit down at the moment presumably due to feeling like dead weight.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Thesius eyes flutter open as the healing washes over him, knitting his wounds together. Slowly he rises to a sitting position to see Merixia performing the same feat upon Verene.
After taking a moment to gather his wits, he notes both Elyda and Merixia are still fairly injured and starts to his feet while gathering his sword.
"Thank you all for your help. I have a few spells of healing that I believe should go to Elyda and Merixia if you are all okay with that. After, I would not mind helping the effort to give these poor souls a proper burial. In fact, I think it would be beneficial for us to stay here while we recuperate."
Having fallen, he does not know how long he has been out. There is little within the area to denote time and thusly he refrains from commenting on Elliot's efforts.