Dwarf Fortress Tales: Juxtaposition (Chapter 1)

Vast expanses of frozen tundra and sheer ice walls surround us on all sides.


I see evidence of a pack of ice wolves in the area - good thing we have a dedicated military dwarf in our group.

Its imperative we find ourselves some shelter and forge some picks, weapons, and armor as soon as possible. I've ordered the temporary construction of a forge immediately so we can accomplish those ends.

We successfully completed our forge but before we could forge any weapons or picks we were attacked by an ice wolf.

I'm going to give it a chance to leave but if it lingers much longer we will be forced to attempt to kill it without the necessary equipment.

I ordered the attack today, four ice wolves were knocked unconscious and were subsequently killed. We suffered no losses, but I believe many of our party were injured. We must get digging as soon as possible so we can establish a hospital. Hopefully we have enough medical supplies.

We're going to begin digging today. I've designated a barracks and hospital to be mined out of the ice in a seemingly easy to defend canyon. I've also ordered the miners to destroy the ramps into the canyon making it easier to defend.


After we complete the barracks and hospital I hope to patch up our wounds and create some farms and establish a food industry as well as give our dwarves some rooms.

Our wounded are dying of thirst. I've ordered the an immediate search for water and construction of a well. Hopefully we manage it in time.

We've yet to find any water source. I'm organizing the creation of a temporary hospital area.

Hopefully I can ease some of their pain and get them back to true dwarf form - a form where they will drink some alcohol.

I moved our two injured dwarves into the temporary hospital today. Hopefully I can fix them up. Here are their conditions currently:

I think we found a source of water today, but it freezes the second it is exposed to the surface. I've ordered a small room to be dug above the water source so it will stay warmer and hopefully we can get some of it.

We were unable to secure a water source quickly enough. Today, Kadol Oboktashem , miner, died of thirst. I've instructed our remaining miner to make the securing of a water source his top priority.

Kadol was laid to rest today. His coffin is in the main entrance so we may all remember his sacrifice.


You can also see my temporary hospital above the coffin.

I've instructed our farmer to start planting plump helmets year round in our farming area.


In a few seasons we should start planting pig tails to get our clothing industry running.

Three new migrants arrived today. I've instructed one of them to take over as our cook/brewer/mechanic because Reg Sirabfath has been rendered useless by his injuries.

Also, one of them I've instructed to take over mining for our military dwarf so he can concentrate on protecting us from the ice wolves.

It turns out our water source was salt water rather than fresh water. This is what happens when you send miners to do a doctors job...

We've begun the search for a new water source. Hopefully we find one before injuries befall any of our other dwarves.

Perhaps I was a little over ambitious with our farming project. Plump helmets are withering in the field because we are unable to collect and process them quickly enough. I've assigned additional dwarves to help with the effort and decided to chip in myself. Hopefully that will turn the situation around.

Reg died today. It wasn't a huge loss because he was rendered useless by his injuries but it was still a tragedy.

A blizzard man keeps interupting my workers. I've decided to send our militia commander out to deal with him.

Perhaps that was a mistake. The blizzard man suffocated Nil Ushrirzokun our military dwarf. Hopefully he holds no further ill will towards us.

Great news! After spending 5 days disrupting our work the blizzard man was struck down by one of our miners with a savage (boom headshot) blow to the head. Perhaps I should promote him to the now vacant militia commander spot.

Some migrants arrived today! We really need them as our current population had fallen back down to seven. Its up to 10 now.

Our booze supply has fallen to zero. I swear I've ordered the construction of two stills already but I don't know what happened to them. I ordered the construction of a third this time out of stone instead of ice.

Another blizzard man showed up today. He amused himself with beating our camel to death with his bare hands. I hope he doesn't do that to any of our dwarves.

A caravan arrived today. Unfortunatly we don't have a trade depot constructed or anything to trade. I have no idea what I would want this year anyway. I need to make a list for next year though...

I talked to the caravan liaison today. I requested they bring as much wood as possible with them next year. We're going to pay through the nose for it but we will probably need it.

With the excavation of our indoor workshops almost completed I've ordered the manufacturing of some mechanisms and cages so we can defend our outpost once we make the transition to living fully indoors. These traps will be essentially due to the death of our military dwarf.

I noticed an ice wolf prowling the halls of our outpost so I ordered the freshly promoted Bembul Mengnitig - slayer of blizzard men - to kill it. Unfortunately, the ice wolf killed Imush Eturstettad before Bembul chased it off.

Those traps are becoming more necessary by the day.

As a result of recent attacks I have two patients. Unfortuantly I am unable to clean there woulds because I have no clean fresh water.

The ice wolves strike again, Olin Mozibtosid has bled to death.

The miner I sent to find fresh water has struck bituminous coal which is good considering we are severely lacking in trees. I hope he makes it home alive. He could possibly be stuck below the saltwater aquifer.

He made it home safe but unfortunately the only water he found seems to be salt water. My medical well may end up being full of worthless salt water.

The loading of our cage traps was completed today. I had them placed in the choke point we created leading into our outpost.


Now we just need to get everything inside.

The remainder of the year has been relatively uneventful. We've moved all of the workshops inside and are in the process of moving in our large supply of tower-cap logs.

As far as food stores go we are doing relatively well. We have about 100 plants and 30 drinks stockpiled as well as nearly 40 seeds. I hope to plant our pigtails and get a clothing industry going in the first half of next year.

The outpost itself is shaping up pretty well. We have traps and drawbridges protecting the only entrance, room for a barracks right past the second drawbridge, a trade depot in the outer courtyard, a hospital (still missing a usable water source unfortunately), and a dormitory, and a dining hall (not pictured) on the first level:


As you can see I've also had our dead entombed in plain view of the entrance as a constant reminder of the dangers of the north.

Upstairs is our indoor plump helmet farm:


The lower levels are currently workshop and stockpile areas:

Lower Level 1


Lower Level 2

We lost five dwarves and three pack animals this year, but we did fight back killing eleven ice wolves (two of which had names) and one blizzard man, Kovestzafal.

Overall our population has increased by 1 but of the original seven only 4 remain.