Part 25: Jazzimus Prime: Prologue 1

Syrupleaf, Chapter V Prologue - 15th Galena, 141


And so life continues as it has for the last twenty years here at Talllabored.

No other dwarf ever stepped forward to take charge of the fortress after my original year of command, although a few dwarves had talked as though they might do so. All of that seems so long ago now. I, Jazzimus, remain in charge here, and it is a good thing for every dwarf that I have. Talllabored may now be the most successful fortress in the history of dwarvendom!

I order our legendary clothier to make me a full set of Adamantine Clothes to go with the Adamantine Armor and Adamantine Mining Pick that I have commissioned for myself. We have so much adamantine to spare now, that I decide I might as well forgo my usual austerity and start to enjoy life a little bit.

The weather here is uncomfortably hot during this season, but the adamantine clothing I have just commissioned should alleviate that somewhat, once it's ready. In the meantime, I decide I will cool off by enjoying a new drink recently invented by one of our legendary brewers.

My adviser pours some of the new Dwarven Whiskey, then mixes in some Dwarven Syrup and crushes some imported Valley Herb into the mixture. I take the Dwarven Mint Julep to my outdoor hammock, just outside the protective walls of Talllabored, and relax. It is quieter out here, and there is no real threat nearby anymore. Our legendary hunters are just that good.

The drink and the cool breeze alleviate the oppressive heat somewhat.

---

I drift off into a nap as the whiskey from the Dwarven Julep courses through my veins. I begin to dream about the situation at Talllabored. What could be left for our great fortress to accomplish?

I dream of the great dwarven superconstructions that Talllabored will soon undertake. There are dreams of great dams crossing mighty rivers, dreams of pyramids larger than those ever seen before, dreams of steel and glass constructions that are so tall that the dwarves refer to them as "skyscrapers". There are dreams of not only striking the earth, but of changing the earth! Changing the earth in ways no dwarf could have ever foreseen!

And then the earth seems to fight back?! It seems almost as though the earth itself is angry at our dwarven meddling! Skyscrapers and pyramids fall to the ground as the earth in its fury begins to shake, shake, shake...

I awaken from my outdoor slumber to find that a dwarf I have never met is shaking my shoulder.

"Milord, I am sorry to awake you. You've done such a wonderful job here at Talllabored that the Mountainhomes have asked that you help a struggling colony become more established," he says.

"Unnnnggghhh..." I awaken groggily. "Um... uh... yeah. Okay. So, where are we going?"

"Eh... it's, well... south of here," he says nervously.

"Hmmmm, okay, let's go then," I say, half-awake, as he leads me away from the richest citadel known to Dwarvenkind.

As I groggily follow him southward while the town guard changes shifts, I think I hear a distant voice scream "Hey! Wait! Who are you, and where are you taking Jazzimus?!" Not being entirely awake yet, however, I can't be sure that I heard it.

"Hmmmm?" I dazedly mutter.

"Uh... I think that was a bear. We should get away from here. As fast as we can. By the way, name's Pumpinglemma," he says as he grabs my wrist and breaks off into a run.