Beaten

Tarmen at first didn’t truly hear Voah, too busy trying to understand what the fuck had just happened. So that was one of the long lost legends? A culture revived from the grave or one that had found a way to hide and thrive here? It made more sense after learning Gonyaul’s own people had been hiding in Kru’ll for generations.
The way she had played with them, treated them like a fun exercise more than a true threat. If his pride had been intact this would have shattered it, but at this point the world was seemingly rubbing the pieces into the dirt beneath its boot.

He didn’t even think they COULD have done anything, the woman had just vanished. Either her magic or her skills would have held them off long enough to complete her task.
It was a hard truth to swallow.

Voah’s yelling got through to his thoughts, the subject of Sentinel sounding so far fetched.

“The rottin’ timbers?? Voah, I know that’s where they wrecked, but after this long they would-“

A chill ran through him upon remembering their investigation. How it had remained intact that long, the odd tunnel they had decided not to traverse… the idol.

“The statue… it was meltin’. If it preserved the ship..”

The idea still sounded crazy to him, even after everything he had witnessed. Magic was one thing, but that kind of longevity?? Shaking his head to focus, he couldn’t help faintly remembering the cackling imp.
Maybe it had served a greater purpose…
Already wrapped in the details, he took a breath to slow himself down. He had grown to like Gonyaul, but the reality of such a rescue was something he felt needed to be approached.

“As much as I’d want to dispute it, it’s our only confirmed place for them. But….. not only did that woman thrash us by herself, but we barely survived the island itself last time. As much as I want to believe he’s alive, what chance do we stand to save him?”