Thomas's heart was in his throat when the monster broke away from him and threw itself on the screaming noble and sank its teeth into him. But then the beast recoiled, burned, and disappeared, and just like that, it was over.

Thomas was still standing stock still, his eyes wide, his breath coming out in ragged gasps, when the hunchback stopped by to rest a hand on his shoulder and impart some fatherly advice. It was all he could do not to salute and shout an affirmative on pure instinct - instead, he managed a mumbled nod. He would love nothing more than to never wag his tongue again - unfortunately, he still had his orders. He wiped the flat of the blade, still dripping with monster blood, off on his leg, and slid it back into its scabbard. The pretty blonde girl - Golde - and the hunchback immediately went to see to the noble's wounds, and Thomas tried not to blush when she called him (well, all of them, but him by extension) a 'hero'. [color=8dc73f][i]Not a hero. Nobody's been saved yet.[/i][/color]

He took a deep breath. What happened next could be decided in baby steps. The beach was dangerous - there were monsters here, which made it an insecure perimeter. They would have to leave, find somewhere else, make camp, build a fire. He was fairly confident they could freeze to death in these waterlogged clothes without a fire. Then? Establish chain of command, find a way to contact friendlies, regroup with friendlies, and repeat. That seemed like it was a good plan. That seemed like it made sense.

Thomas spoke, attempting to project as much authority and calm into his voice as he could - though all he really managed was a slow, serene monotone, it was better than he'd been doing thus far. [color=8dc73f]"We need to move," [/color]he began. [color=8dc73f]"We don't know if more of those things are going to come back, and we don't know if driving that one off was just a fluke. The beach is unsafe. If anyone can't walk, they need to be helped by the people who can. We'll catch up with the crazy naked lady, we'll find a defensible location, make a fire, dry off..."[/color] he trailed off, looking around between the others. [color=8dc73f]"And then figure out what we do from there."[/color]