Dwarf Fortress Tales: The Exiles (Part 2)

Today one of the plant gatherers brought a disembodied hand and foot to my attention. We have no idea how they came to rest there as we’ve yet to lose one of our own. Fortunately for us the had was frozen to a copper battle axe which is a great improvement over our current wooden variety.

Besides that. its been a relatively uneventful spring so far. One of the recent migrants informed me that its possible to melt ice by pumping magma underneath it. If we can manage to find some magma and pump it close to the surface we may be able to thaw out this desolate stretch of land and make a home out of it. Unfortunately, we’ve yet to find an area where it is possible to dig deeper than 2 layers down without hitting an aquifer.

There was a tragic accident today. I instructed Ustuth Atissoloz our miner to mine down through the frozen river in the hope that by going through the river we could avoid the aquifer and find some stone (and a way to the magma). If we were to encounter the aquifer I assumed the freezing cold would freeze the water layer by layer allowing him to mine through it. My assumptions were correct but I failed to consider Ustuth’s stupidity. The cold did freeze the exposed water but with Ustuth in it... I guess I can’t expect the cream of the crop up here but I didn’t realize these dolts were stupid enough to kill themselves. The real tragedy, though, is that Ustuth had our only pick and it was lost with his stupid ass. I guess we’re back to square zero again. Or maybe square one, at least we have two stories on our wood fortress now and the ability to build two underground levels before we hit the aqueduct. It looks like I will have to alter my plans. A vertically orient fortress would obviously be most efficient but horizontal will have to do in this wasteland because last time I checked drowning wasn't very efficient.

Nothing of interests has happened since Ustuth’s death. Since summer began we’ve had two snow storms which is two more than migrants we’ve attracted this season. That's fine by me I guess, less mouths to feed and less useless idiots to deal with.

I’ve ordered the construction of an ice tower to pass the time. I estimate we’ll be able to finish about two stories before our ice stockpiles run out but once we get a new pick we can use our pump system to create an infinite amount of ice and continue construction. If we can’t live underground then we’ll just live in a glorious ice and wood castle above it.

I’ll be sure to provide a rendition of our progress at years end. I’m guessing we’ll still be alive by then. Barring any concentrated attack or my plant gatherers forgetting to bring us food. I’d say the second is more likely than the first and on second though I wouldn’t get too invested in ever seeing that picture.

Ustuth, even when dead, is a perpetual thorn in my side. Now, he’s haunting the fortress. Its his own idiotic fault he’s dead not ours. Why can’t he just leave me alone. In any case, I instructed our mason to engrave him a memorial stone. That should shut him up.

Apparently you need stone to engrave a memorial stone. Go figure. Well, Ustuth, if you didn’t have to lose our only pick maybe I could find you some stone for a memorial, but you did. So, suck it up you dead prick.

A caravan arrived today. I told them we don’t need anything in particular. We’re living in a glorified tree fort without a tree and sucking on ice cubes for dinner. If we survive another five years and maybe make it through the aquifer maybe we will start needing some of the finer things. On second though, maybe I should have requested some sort of stone... Oh well, whats another year without any going to hurt?

Hrmp, he told me our fortunes rise and fall together. He must not be planning on living long either...

The merchants finally left today, the lazy freeloaders. It was just my luck that they neglected to bring a pick with them this year. Hopefully they remember to next year or we’re in for another year of toiling above the surface. I was able to but some plump helmets from them. After we process them I’m going to start an underground farm so we have a sustainable food source.

The year was relatively uneventful. We lost a miner and a pick but no other horrible tragedies (like losing the pick) plagued us. I’m hoping the caravans bring a pick to trade next year but I’m not optimistic. It might be two years before we can make another attempt at breaking through the aquifer. I’m sure I’ll have some good ideas by then.

Here are the pictures I promised. As you can see we started a farm in our basement level one and are almost finished with upper level three. We ran out of ice for the tower across the river after we finished the first two floors for obvious reasons (Ustuth is an idiot - but at least it seems like hes not a vengeful spirit). I’m not sure what my plans for the coming year are but building up is on the docket for the foreseeable future. At least we’re doing okay food-wise *knocks on wood*.