"Hey courser! Hey, hey couuuurser!"

The imps cackle louder as Corsair pins his ears back against his head. He turns a look to Fetch, imploring her to do something about the noise they've been dealing with for the last… however many minutes.

"Bet your mom was a real brooder!"

"You gonna doooo something about us? We know you waaaaant to."

"Come on, courser, don't you wanna give us a little taste of that blade?"

Corsair takes a deep breath, and another, and stamps a hoof. "Enough! Fetch, are we done in here yet?"

"Hm? Just about. Give me one more minute." She blinks wide eyes at him, her ears perked high, and then goes back to tugging on a knot in the rope she's been fiddling with.

Corsair rolls his eyes and turns, pacing in tight circles. The imps won't stop egging him on and he's about to give into temptation and throw his dagger at them. Or maybe he'll just bite them. More aggressive… more satisfying.

Ada lifts her head from his back and chirps.

"Yeah, I know," he mutters to her.

She trills and waves a clawed paw at the imps, imitating scratching them.

"Don't get yourself hurt. We're low on medical supplies as it is."

Fetch makes a triumphant sound as she steps back from the contraption she made. "There! Now, Ada, would you be a doll?"

"A doll with what?" Corsair asks, coming to a halt.

"Playing bait," Fetch answers cheerfully.

"We aren't going to be baited so easily, missy!" One of the imps shouted. "Your little trap won't work on us. You can't contain us!"

"Who said I was trying to trap you? You're just annoying little pests with a larger bark than your bite and all you do is chatter. No, no, sillies, the trap is for that." She points with one hoof, and everyone comes to a standstill.

That's a golem.

Corsair's ears pin back further. How did he not notice the golem? They were huge hulking beasts, by all rights he should have felt it coming.

Ada chirps and stands, stretching out her limbs one at a time before she launches herself off of Corsair. She flies towards the golem at top speed—Corsair's heart leaps to his throat—and the imps scatter with a shriek.

Fetch steps on something that clicks, and a while cage pops up around the fleeing imps. They're trapped, helpless to do anything but beat against the sides of their prison and plead for mercy.

"Wha-" Corsair doesnt get to finish his question, because Ada dive bombs the golem made of moss and mud and… goes through it?

"Illusion," Fetch said with a flick of their tail. "It shows up here all the time. Scared newcomers and imps alike." She tosses her head with a small laugh. "Now, should we haul our collection back? They're paying a good bit at the tavern a few floors up for imp. Apparently this lot has been terrorizing them for ages."

Corsair blinks once, twice, and half sits back on his haunches. "You… were on a completely different quest than me."

"Yeah, but the company was nice, wasn't it?" She pushes against the cage with her shoulder, moving it onto the cart she had dragged down with her.

Corsair doesn't have anything to say to that. So he just goes over and helps them instead. The imps are still shrieking, but he can gleefully ignore the cries of "hey courser" now.