It took a good chunk of time for Sprocket and his crew to sneak out unnoticed, and even longer for Rowanne to acquire the requested baccy. (She considered treating that offer as a jest, but apparently now her word held her fast, and even the thought of going against it needled away at her in a way that was hard to describe.) But eventually she managed to slip away and head towards the old farm house on the outskirts of the village. It joined on to the nearby woods so seemed the most sensible place to wait.

After a time she was joined by Sprocket and his gang, They appeared to be quite the motley bunch, clad in piecemeal armour, pulling with them liberated wheelbarrows, and the odd simplistic handcart, all beautifully decorated, yet somehow rigged to look shabby.

Upon closer observation she couldn’t help noticing something. The armour they were wearing was far better made than appearances would suggest. The primitive exterior hiding a complex honeycomb structure, packed with some sort of ceramic, that would probably absorb some of the impact if struck, and even iron bands studs, and spikes that would be unthinkable for any race but gremlins, and would do a fair chunk of damage to any other type of fae. They may mostly be wearing rags, but they were elaborately embroidered, with what looked like little shreds of blueprints. if one took the time to actually look. Most humans wouldn’t and it seems the gremlins counted on that, so long as the world saw them as a primitive nuisance it wasn’t seeing them as a threat.

They had a few young ones with them, and it suddenly occoured to Rowe why they seemed to form little gangs. Gremlins were smaller than most, and yet if anybody ever figured out how intelligent they were they were in definite danger. Camouflage was how they survived.

She carefully and politely handed over the tobacco to Sprocket who pulled an elaborate lighter from his tattered sleeve and promptly lit up.

“we should get moving” he said, “they don’t like to see us out and about in the light. We even pretend it makes a difference to us, after all who looks for a gremlin in the sun” he snickered. “How far is it anyway?”

“A few miles doon the road” Rowe replied. “If it helps at all I have a way to deal with Cutty, but I divvent like it and we’ll need to work together to pull it off”

“A plan you say? I really hope it’s a good one, and it better not drag any of mine into danger.”

“No Rowe shot back with a shudder, only me, but first I need to knaa, how are ye and yours with poodah? Could ye mek damp squibs tek?”

“With some work I suppose we could rig something up with soaked rope, this plan involves things going boom doesn’t it? I’m liking the sound of it already” A sinister smirk surfaced on the old Gremlins face. “But if you plan to blow the entrance, which is the only plan I can see here then why are you going to be risking anything. Surely we can just detonate the powder from a distance and have done with.”

“Aye that we could” she replied with a groan. “but the poodah has to come from somewhere, and I only knaa of yan place there’s any spare kicking about.” Rowe was really not looking forward to this. With a shudder she started her plans to step down into the darkness once more.