I had the "run ahead and die" problem with Tomi Undergallows. I think Madriver's solution is a good one. Or you can hire Linu, the cleric. She seems to be slow and gets stuck on everything. Also if she does manage to escape my grasp she can always heal herself while taking a beating. The only thing that has managed to kill her was a dire bear. I'm playing a fighter though, so the second solution might not work quite as well.
DeSoya