Scenario:
Gale, all by himself, hiding on the nautiloid, trying not to be recaptured, sees you unconscious and surrounded by intellect devourers.
He's one guy. A first level wizard. Is he going to:
A. charge in and get killed in the hopes that he might be able to save you assuming you're even still alive?
-or-
B. try to get away?
That's definitely an understandable course of action on Gale's part. But, like, shouldn't he feel bad about that? His tone when he mentions that to us is jovial, like he saw us passed out in a silly position after a night of drinking haha. Idk, I'd certainly feel sheepish having to tell a person I left them for dead, if I even mentioned it at al. It certainly wouldn't be the first thing I say after meeting them...
My point was that he doesn't even try to explain, and you don't have the ability to ask. I actually assumed the same thing, and I'm putting that very explanation in the Tabletop campaign I'm writing - that he saw you, there was an intellect devourer, and devils in the next chamber. It was suicide to help you. That's what sparked this post, actually. I was writing the campaign and thought about the potential that players might ask him to clarify. I even went back to the Prologue and rewrote the part about waking up in the pod chamber. I made sure to say that they wake up in pools of blood, and each PC is half HP to start. I did this just to fit with Gale's comment.
But, see, it's all assumption based on... What? It's assumption based on the fact that nothing else really makes sense, I guess. But even that doesn't make sense because you don't wake up in a crucibles worth of blood, and there are devil bodies in the next chamber but no devourers. So... It's like assuming Shadowheart killed FOUR devourers herself just because the bodies are near her, or assuming Gale singlehandedly killed the goblin patrol because their bodies are near where you meet him. You have no real reason to assume that's the case. You just assume because you have no other real evidence.
But the point is, you can't even try to find out. You can't ask or make Investigation checks to see what killed them... And with Gale's comment, you can't ask him why he left you or when exactly that he saw you or was he even in the same pod chamber or anything.
Like I said, it's only a small thing, but I just find it weird and it doesn't make full sense. A LOT of the companion stuff doesn't make sense. Again, maybe at full release it will, but right now... Not so much.
