Tinkerdown was a member of the '94 Mountaineers, and friend of Augernon. He served as the ‘admissions’ representative for the Mountaineers.
Personality
Like Eaves, Tinkerdown served as the original ‘welcome wagon’ for incoming Mountaineers. It was his job to bring in new recruits and get them on what Augernon called the ‘fragment chain’ (the official '94 Mountaineers puzzle-solving email chain). Before recruits could be accepted, they had to be approved by Tinkerdown.
Biography
Tinkerdown was mentioned in Martin Rank’s post, ‘The Quiet,’ during the time between Phase Two and Phase Three. Martin mentioned that he did not know Tinkerdown personally, but had heard of his name.
When recruits talked to Augernon in Fragment Thirteen, he mentioned Tinkerdown from time to time. Augie stated that he had to go through Tink to get recruits on the chain but ultimately started sharing information after Tink didn’t respond to his request. Later, Augie mentioned that Tink had received strange phone calls, “just quiet on the other end, but he said he could feel someone there, like the energy of somebody on the other end, listening. And then the power in his house blew.”
As the Storm began to pick off the remaining Mountaineers, Tinkerdown was one of the few remaining puzzle solvers. Unbeknownst to him, the remaining Mountaineers were having conference calls, a dangerous endeavor since the Storm could reach through technology to control more people at the same time. The Mountaineers were frustrated with how slow and confusing the email chain had gotten, so they’d been secretly working together on a conference call from one of their offices. The calls sometimes had fifteen people on at a time. These Mountaineers had been discussing old complications (fragments) at night, to try and find any loose threads. One night, the only other remaining puzzle-solver, Seashifter, got stuck at work and was late for the call. When he called in, there were around ten people talking. But it was all gibberish. Someone had been on the call when the Storm came for them, and it got them all.
When Augernon discovered a spellbook from his grandfather, containing a bastard hex that he believed could save the remaining Mountaineers, Tink reopened the forum, so they could send a mass message to whoever was left. The spell required a large number of people to be successful. However, while Knatz went to speak with Augie, the Storm came for Tink and his family, because they also knew.
Since the '94 Mountaineers were attacked by The Churning Storm, when they reached Fragment Twelve, Tinkerdown’s fate has been unknown. It is likely that he was disposed of by the Storm.