Syrlya's response to that actually probably would be to run headfirst into violent confrontation to stop them, but he isn't going to just say that.

Instead he keeps his face perfectly neutral at the dock hand's graphic description. He glances down at Amser, who still seems tense, and he's sure this is one of those daemon things-- if they're external souls, and his is gone, he's likely nothing more than a shell. Dead in everything except the air in his lungs.

But he'd hard sonething different about the island and it has him curious. "... I have heard children go to that island. Do they handle the... punishment?"

Someone has to. A corpse can do nothing for itself. Who else finishes the process and delivers the body back except those on the island itself?