The necros in the hillock neighboring my camp weren't hostile, but they did keep raising the animated corpses that were. I started butchering the bodies to put an end to that. They managed to raise one before I could mangle it, as the kind of rev that could paralyze and throw. After it broke my leg and came terrifyingly close to breaking my spine, I retreated. It followed me all the way to the edge of the settlement, breaking my arm and other leg. Fortunately it kept throwing me in the direction I was retreating, and more fortunately my giant camel was nearby when I crawled pathetically into camp. A solid kick in the head finally put it to rest, at least long enough to set a campfire and throw it in. And that should have been the end of that.
Incidentally my camel has scored enough notable kills to be known in history as "Or Squashedcrushes the Fancy".
I've been preparing my camp for a dwarven embark to populate the Inn I've put so much effort into. While doing that, a full moon rose, and I took the opportunity to eliminate the necromancers next door. There weren't that many in the hillocks, so I was able to make silent and efficient takedowns, butchering as I went. There were six congregating in the Drinking Mound, and I managed to assassinate 4 before the others started raising the dead. Just animated corpses, but I had to strike a lot of dead heads and hands to reach the others, and the few revs they raised I was able to finish quickly enough.
There was just one hillock I hadn't checked, and when I stopped by there was a single dwarven thresher. No 'necromancer' in his title, so I thought he was harmless, and let him flee in the direction all of my kills were still warm. This is when I learned that necromancers can raise skins as intelligent dead.
They may not have a lot of force to push with, but when you're paralyzed and defenseless, a handful of them can deal a solid beating to a werepanther. All I could do was advance time until I had an opening, hoping I was far enough away from the necromancer that I could knock out one without him raising it again, then getting it into a campfire. Even after I caught up to him and cleaved his head, the skin-revs he raised continued raising him as a rev. By the time they were all whittled down and charred, I had enough excitement. And that should be the end of that.