"Kill them." The necromancer ordered his minions, and the dark armored guards began to march across the room towards Mau and her small party.

"I count thirty five." Suvdaa said.

"That many? Do we run?" Andy asked. Mau shook her head.

"We fight." The catgirl answered back.

With a sharp twang, Suvdaa's bow sang, and an arrow lodged itself in the space between one of the soldier's helmet and chest plate. He went down with a gurgle and the rest continued to march heedless of their companion's fall, some stepping right over the corpse.

Not a single one of them expected Mau to rush them.

As Suvdaa fired arrow after arrow into the mass of armored bodies, Mau lunged forward into a sprint, tail flicking behind her, blades flashing in her hands. The dark armored soldiers hesitated. It was their downfall.

Blood sprayed in an arc as Mau brought her longsword down on a man's shoulder with enough force to cleave clean through his armor, and then darted towards her next target, sliding her short sword underneath a woman's chest plate. Ducking under a clumsy mace swing intended to take her head, Mau shoulder-butted her attacker and knocked them off balance.

An arrow neatly planted itself in the wobbling soldier's side and they crumpled, freeing Mau to hamstring another guard and punt them into a nearby squad, knocking guards over like dominos in the process.

In an instant Mau was dead center in the middle of a throng of weapons and armor, and she batted aside blows as easily as she breathed, parrying and riposting with a ferocity that quickly made the soldiers lose cohesion and morale the more of them fell under her merciless assault.

The remaining soldiers backed down fast, fifteen or so of them remaining, and Mau hadn't even come close to breaking a sweat.

"'Kay. Who's next? Any takers?" She asked, flicking the blood off her longsword. "Honestly, I'm okay letting you all go." She did point out, motioning for the very doors the guards had entered from.

"Drop your weapons, leave Dorn. Never return, and I won't hunt you down to the ends of the earth." She said.

The silent and pointedly hesitant pause that struck the remaining guards said that many of them were very much considering taking the catgirl up on her offer of mercy.

Thanatos however tilted his head.

"Having trouble with one demi-human?" He chuckled at his men. "Fine. I will help this one time." He said, tone amused as he spread his hands. Mau could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand on end again as the necromancer began to chant in Dommonian.

"-Suvdaa!" Mau snapped.

"Yep!" The raider replied, snapping off a lethal shot.

The problem, however, was that Thanatos didn't so much as flinch as Suvdaa's arrow planted itself in the center mass of his chest. He finished his spell.

"Arise."

Mau's teeth itched as the release and surge of dark magic flooded the chamber.

That was when the guards Mau and Suvdaa had just finished killing stood back up. Their eyes were glassy with death and the vacant expressions on their slack faces spoke silent volumes of just how much power this necromancer was working with.

"Shit." Mau hissed as she darted under a haphazard flail and gnashing teeth. The zombies were slow and stupid, but the sudden reinforcement emboldened the living guards, as well, who were faster and more cunning.

Shifting to the defensive, Mau darted and weaved her way back to her archer and acolyte friends while hacking and slashing limbs apart in her passing.

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"New plan?" Suvdaa asked as Mau appeared at her side.

"Don't have one yet." Mau admitted. "But the more guys we kill the more he'll just bring them back."

"I... Might have something for this." Andy spoke up tentatively. "I just need a little time."

"Okay." Mau said. "Suvdaa, aim for their heads, I'll keep them off Andy."

Andy bit his lip briefly and clutched his staff tightly in his hands, tail wagging slowly as he closed his eyes, trusting his new friends to protect him as he began to pray, praising and supplicating Galatea with his every word.

"Of course she needs to be buttered up." Mau grumbled as she turned her attention to the small horde of undead and remaining guards that were approaching fast.

Arrows streaked through the air, and several zombies went down again, from precise shots through their eyes while Mau fended off the more brazen guards. Steel clashed and a sword scraped off her breastplate as she bobbed and weaved through the throng of what had turned into a completely pitched and hectic fight. But Mau was also correct in her assessment.

For every guard that fell, they simply got back up again with glassy vacant eyes and dead expressions.

"Andy--" She called over her shoulder while shove-kicking an undead soldier into several more of his ilk.

"Sec!" The acolyte said.

"Gonna need you to hurry up!"

"I'm working on it!" He replied hastily picking up the pace of his prayers as the small horde closed in on Mau and Suvdaa.

It was at the last possible second where even Mau was about to be overwhelmed and overrun, that the acolyte held his staff aloft, glowing with a brilliant golden light.

"Undead be GONE!" Andy declared, voice booming loud enough to make the room shake. With a bright flash and flare, the light from his staff erupted to flood the whole chamber, and it instantly reduced the zombies to ashes in one vibrant explosion of warmth and light.

When the blinding radiance faded, the three were left alone in the chamber with Thanatos and one final guard who had been lucky enough to not be in Mau's way.

"... Nice." Mau commented upon the acolyte's display.

"Mm. Very good." Suvdaa agreed. "Good boy."

Andy wagged, pleased with himself.

Mau grunted irritably at that, but turned her attention to the necromancer.

"Hoh..." Thanatos chuckled as his servants ashes floated around the crypt. "Clever. Very clever." He praised their skill and tactics. "I might have to up the ante, I suppose and-"

Mau didn't let him finish. In an instant she crossed the distance between herself and the necromancer, her eyes blazed with killing intent, as she cut him down in a single smooth and efficient stroke that cleaved him from throat to hip. He went down without a further sound, collapsing in a heap at Mau's feet.

She stomped him while he was down for extra emphasis that she was particularly done with his shit, and the crunch of ribs breaking under her boot felt particularly satisfying.

"... Anti-climactic." Suvdaa said with a shrug.

"Nah." Mau said, quickly backing away from the body and taking on a ready stance. "He's not done. Right, Thanatos?"

There was silence for an almost comical beat before the body on the ground twitched.

"Looks done to me." Andy said, scratching the back of his neck.

Mau shook her head. The body jerked again, before floating back up to stand on two feet. Thanatos's skull-faced mask leered at the trio as he glanced down at the clean cut that had nearly neatly bisected him.

"Now that was just uncalled for, This was a fresh body, too." He said with a hoarse and throaty chuckle.

"What..." Suvdaa blurted.

"How is he not dead?!" Andy balked.

"He is dead." Mau said, quite calm. "He's just a stupidly powerful undead. Am I right, Thanatos?"

The necromancer's lips curled behind his mask.

"So you figured me out, little kitten. How quite astute of you." He said dipping into a stiff bow.

"So what am I looking at?" Mau casually asked point blank while shifting into a defensive stance. "Lich? Barrow King? A Wight Lord? Just how much of a pain in my ass are you going to be?"

Thanatos grinned again, wagging a boney finger at the catgirl as he shook his head.

"That would be telling. And that's never any f-"

Mau cut him down again.

"I'm not in the mood for fun, games, and pussyfooting around." She snapped, irritably as Thanatos picked himself up again.

"That was quite rude." The necromancer huffed.

"I can keep cutting you down all night until I beat a straight answer out of you, you know." Mau spat sourly while Suvdaa and Andy watched on raptly.

"Alright. Alright." Thanatos said, shoulders sagging. "I suppose I do have a flair for the dramatic, but it is about time I deal with you and take over this stain on the map." He said, spreading his hands.

In an instant the wails and cries of all the prisoners hidden in the catacombs raised in pained unison. Mau's eyes widened as she, Suvdaa, and Andy looked on in horror. The cult had moved the cages and their captives, but they were still down in the crypt somewhere. And liches were at their most powerful in a crypt lair.

Wisps of phantom light streamed from the corridors into the chamber, and Mau could make out spectral faces contorted in agony in the smokey ghost-like light that flooded the room and floated right into Thanatos' body.

"Oh. Oh shit." Mau hissed, understanding, as the lich's flesh sloughed off his damaged body and his skeletal figure began to grow to fill the chamber. Thanatos was stealing the life energy from all the captives in the catacombs.