The Toy-Maker's Dilemma

[IamLEAM1983]

George Murray Gammell's been in Hope for a long time. Nobody's really ever seen him, but a lot of people know him nonetheless. Look around any reasonably wealthy residence and you'll find little clockwork toys and figurines dating back to Hope's days as an expanding town leaving its fishing and mining roots behind to begin to capitalize on industrial development. They sell surprisingly well on eBay, even. Most of them have a quaint, antiquated, but unmistakably cute bent to them. Considering, "Mister Gammell' is the object of generally good-natured fictionalizations and engravings the city's public library lovingly maintains. Some people say he's an excessively private dragon, others say he's a vampire. Nobody knows.

Yet, there's another segment in town, another clientèle. Archie was surprised to see that the practice of "tweaking" - altering your Clank body's prescribed functions to force new sensations onto yourself - hasn't diminished in popularity. Tweaking is usually the sort of stuff people do in private, or with their partner of choice. The problem is, some of Gammell's puzzle boxes and Tweaking tools have begun to pop up around crime scenes. Other than the toy-maker's involvement, there's a link between the victims, but nobody knows what it might be.

Shield's core unit, just freshly trained, is called to action just as they've gotten their little celebratory get-together going. This looks like it might be Shield's baptism by fire...

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Seeing as our guys are fresh off the bus and still very much nooblets in terms of law enforcement, this is probably going to be a very laid-back, investigative general storyline. If you've got tremendously explosive set pieces planned, they might be better off in the serial planning thread. Expect a few spurts of action and a fun reveal near the tail end - but this one really isn't going to be an excessively gun or action-happy storyline.

With that said, feel free to chime in.

[Karl the Mad]

Could there be a brief appearance by Jimmy, since he's in the same neighborhood as Romanov and would have heard of the murders? Nothing big, mind you, he'd just show up, introduce himself and say hi to the new guys, maybe say something cryptic and then leave again?

[IamLEAM1983]

Sure, but does he really need to pop in so you show him off, essentially? I'd kinda rather his contribution were a little meatier.

If you're itching for a chance to mess with him, the other thread might be a better fit. Ciaran and Bucky are about to try and talk with Weasel.

[Karl the Mad]

I don't mind doing a little more; I was just concerned about Jimmy doing too much. It's Shield's investigation, after all, and Winters is just some old layabout.

...no really, he is. >_>