1.4: Magical Production Supply
Upper Management fulfilled many roles for the average gnome of Batch Productopia. They were political leaders, church preachers, teachers, and parents. Everything a gnome of Batch Productopia did, they did to please “Upper Management.”
So it was no small matter that Upper Management handpicked Groawn to supervise Sammoth and Mag. The three were grouped due to each of their reputations. As talented as Mag and Sammoth were, they had the reputation as being unruly and unfocused pranksters; which was a horribly detrimental and unforgivable attribute in the efficient and structured dimension of 9-Theta.
Groawn’s reputation was quite the opposite. He was regarded among his superiors to be a promising, junior-level manager with a bright future: maybe even destined to Director-Level or higher. He was known for his unwavering dedication to law and efficiency. He was perfectly boring, and was awarded “Junior Employee of the Year” at the age of 10, for his design of a multi-tiered assembly line for recess games: cutting the need for fourth-grade recess by 10 minutes.
Yet, despite Groawn’s immaculate management, it was destined that Groawn, and the two rambunctious young production mages would find themselves in Efficiency Recovery: the worst punishment imaginable by a young gnome of Batch Productopia.
Groawn was 16 years old, and the other two boys were each 13 at the time of the incident. Mag and Sammoth had been tasked with gathering a supply of enchanted ore, which was explosive if dropped. Upper-management thought that the two pranksters might become more professional if they were given more responsibility. In addition, management, in their wisdom assumed nothing could happen under Groawn’s watchful eye.
Sammoth and Mag always wanted to explore Magical Production Supply, where the enchanted ore was housed, as it was rumored that there were dragons chained in the storage rooms. However, when Groawn unlocked the magically bolted door, the two production mages were disappointed to find that Production Supply was just as boring as the rest of Batch Productopia.
Mainly, Produciton Supply was full of rejected products, rare metals, and production blueprints. To one corner lay the enchanted ore in a heavy iron and wood locker.
With a sigh of grief, Mag and Sammoth continued upon their boring duties, and used their telekinetic production magic to carry the enchanted ore back to the production line. Groawn, being as good a manager as he was a babysitter, made sure to close and lock the door to Magical Production Supply behind him, as he assured the two young mages that they were doing a good job. The stressful task was nearly completed, when disaster struck, and a meteor from the cosmos swept through the bowls the Infinityverse, fell through the vast caverns of 9-Theta, and found its way to Batch Productopia, where it fell through the ceiling nearly in front of Mag.