The dead ever welcome the living.

Caligari held back and observed the movements of the others as they rushed into the room. Brute force would certainly smash the bones of the draugr, but the Necromancer himself would take more than that. The giant Erik’s attacks were devastating, but there were more undead to contend with and the Necromancer proved elusive as she knew he would. She unclasped her cloak and let it fall to the ground along with her small roll of mundane survival gear. The bone claws worn as weapons and adornment on each of her fingers flared to life in an unwholesome green light very much like that of the Necromancers. Illuminated in that light, the witch’s milky flesh showed terrible scarring at her wrists and tattooed abdomen and the crooks of her arms.

She retrieved a razor sharp blade concealed within her headpiece and held it delicately in her left hand. With two deft strokes almost too fast to discern she’d sliced deep marks across her belly. With the blade stained in blood she began pulling visible wards of protection into rotating rings around herself at her head, waist and feet. It would do little to shield against the Necromancer, but the undead would at least give pause. And though the dead could live again, they could also die again.

It did not escape her notice that none in the party had taken an opportunity to question her about what to expect from their adversary or his ilk. Perhaps these adventurers were so well traveled and experienced that they knew those answers for themselves or perhaps they had not thought to ask. More likely they simply did not trust Caligari enough to value any insight offered on the subject.

She approached the throng of undead with an almost leisurely pace and the first she encountered gave pause as she sauntered past. The second actually stepped aside then turned back and watched her. The third barred her way with sword held high, fixed in mid attack. Cali launched herself onto him bodily, wrapping her legs around the waist and forcing the head violently to the side as she sliced it free of the neck. She rolled to the floor and gouged her claws through the eye sockets of the head held in her hand. It blazed into green flames that licked at her arms though they remained unscathed. Cali tossed the head at a nearby undead and it exploded, taking down two.

She thought she heard a gasp from a companion and looked up in time to see Amdir’s lifeless body tossed aside by the Necromancer. There followed a quiet as combat paused, but it would not last. With Naurfast’s attack everything moved back into time. Dyvia violently interceded on the Necromancer’s behalf and when it was done the great wolf lay dead on the ground with a crushed skull. Gods what a mistake the dwarf had made. They needed Araghol alive, but he need not be uninjured or intact. Their leverage against him would be much improved were he not.

<"We just saved your sorry arse, so we still got a deal or what?">

“You want no part of any deal this man offers. You must name the terms and exchange in your favor or he will deceive us all to our doom.” Caligari's belly was bleeding freely as she moved over to stand nearer to the dwarf. “I take it you have never negotiated your way into the underworld? The dead ever welcome the living. The trick of it is in returning from that lifeless place.”