That's a relief. I know that the presence of those that were with me ensured I was... distracted enough for a while. Those that approached the pillar with someone seems to have done best, whether or not somebody ended up touching it.

[He nods at that, frowning.]

Indeed. Hopefully we will be able to deal with it by ourselves, without having to repeatedly go up to the surface and then down again... if that were to happen, I suspect we would find more... ah, opposition.