I see this as a plot to set up Haley as the rescue crew.
Imagine Roy's dad going off about this "If you'd been a wizard..."
Can we please just get the party back together again? I'm sure hilarity will ensue when Celia meets up with the Necromancer, but it won't be as funny without Elan there to laugh at it.
I feel like I am reading the Wheel of Time. Just when you get excited about a particular storyline it goes away and doesn't return for 2000 pages.