Dwarf Fortress Short Forts: Skullhorror #1, Fetid Tundra

In those lands of fetid frost where corpses roam and none lie dead
Not man nor elf nor goblin found. Only dwarven boots dare tread.
A wicked shriek of ice-crisp wind blows past those wretched ones corpse-born
and on it rides a melody. Skullhorror's voice, it's fabled horn.
Thanks to the BEST colorizer around: Mrs. Kruggsmash!
A HUGE thanks to all of my patrons, without whom I would not be doing these videos right now!
And of course, special thanks to the creators of this beautiful, complex madness: Tarn & Zach Adams: bay12games.com/...
And of course, Thank you for watching, m'bastard. I couldn't do it without you.
Ambience tracks by Sword Coast Soundscapes: / @swordcoastsoundscapes
Short Forts Theme by Chriswk210
My Patreon page: / kruggsmash

[@chukolance]

"For their symbol they have chosen a Dwarf. The Dwarf is dead. The Dwarf is also laughing." - The most accurate symbol for Dwarf Fortress ever.

[@kruggsmash]

Losing is fun! I guess you're right on that :)

[@defensivekobra3873]

@@kruggsmash ah yes, the one thing the wiki will not shut up about

[@weaponizedpizza8825]

almost as accurate as "the tundra of suckers"

[@defensivekobra3873]

@@weaponizedpizza8825 ...this comment somehow got better

[@viktord2025]

Brings back the painful memories of my first proper fortress. Damn flying fire breathing Stibmer you son of a...! *Technical Difficulties, we'll be right back.*

[@Loromir17]

When you find yourself in fetid tundra, don't eat the yellow snow.

[@Dewey_the_25U]

Definitly don't approach pink snow, there could be a monster hiddin' just 'eneath the frost!

[@kruggsmash]

Ha! Oh boy That stupid joke hadn't even occurred to me. Good one, y'bastard

[@Leverquin]

frank zappa reference ?

[@FuriousGorge]

Nanuk Nanuuuk

[@kyzylalchemy9776]

Does the rain to reanimation or does it happen regardless?

[@madhijz-spacewhale240]

Dorf 1: The land to the south west of the realm, do you know what is? Dorf 2: The 9th circle of Hell manifest? Dorf 1: it's free real estate

[@speedlimate]

@@KamenArts Dorf Forfress

[@Skyl3t0n]

@@speedlimate Dorf means Village in german so it kinda works i guess

[@Milo_Estobar]

Dwarf from Ohio

[@Bloodlyshiva]

@@Skyl3t0n Village Fort. So...a castle town.

[@aslandus]

"three of our dwarves are unlikable, one is lazy and the other is meek" This isn't a fortress, it's a sitcom

[@eglib499]

This comment is simultaneously an excellent comment and factual.

[@authorofgriz]

I'd pay for a show or movie of this game. Especially to see what Kruggsmash does with Skullhorror if he was made director.

[@RelativelyBest]

Dwarf: "Welcome to Skullhorror, the Frigid South Nightmare-Fortress of Death!" *migrant looks around at the frozen hellscape full of fetid slime and roaming zombie animals* Migrant: "...Yeah, that sounds about right."

[@Koifish]

This is the highlight of my Thursday!

[@spartapanda5153]

gotta say I wasn't expecting you here but I see you are a man of culture.

[@DBT1007]

What?? Koifish in dwarf fortress video?? Koifish's Dwarf Fortress gameplay video confirmed

[@kruggsmash]

I will drink from your skull!

[@Koifish]

@@kruggsmash EH?! BEGONE VILE BEGGAR!

[@elendil3567]

IT'S ALMOST HARVESTING SEASON, M'LORD! BANNERLORD APPROACHES!!!

[@theblackpantslegion]

This channel alone reassures me that it's okay it's only Thursday. It signals the freedom of the week end being on the horizon. Thus I am pleased.

[@zaccthirkettle8209]

TEX! Not sure if either of you will read this, but if you could have Tex do a few voice guest lines for some bossy nobles then I'm sure that DF13 community may just have our hearts pop. C'mon dwarves, move that freight.

[@infoman567]

SS13 and DF, the best of combos

[@Dewey_the_25U]

I saw black-pants and thought of The Door Monster First. . . No, a new creator to follow though!

[@Morghuul]

Checkers! Reporting in! FOR CARGONIA!

[@freefiremclin9379]

What a pleasant surprise

[@keithkania3810]

Seems you chose the “Gods toilet” of biomes -Constant “yellow liquid” - lots of zombies/bacteria -Is white -Lots of water on the second layer

[@r3dp9]

...And two dwarves have already died due to being flushed down the drain, so to speak.

[@cantharelluscibarius2244]

I TOILED IN GOD'S TOILET!!!!!

[@diamondmetal3062]

Urist Mcswole the craftsdwarf “I’m a force-a-nature!” “No! *BOOM* Mistake of Nature!”

[@UNOwenWasMe]

I suspect the reason one of those migrant waves was so large was because of the ridiculous value of that golden artifact!

[@mosesbrown4126]

@Maintenance Renegade Sucks that adamantine blunt weapons are garbage. He could just fight piles of reanimated limbs tho.

[@Soridan]

@Maintenance Renegade He has magma. The obvious solution is to build a system to flood the surface with magma at the pull of a lever.

[@Zielbandideal]

"Nekolkozoth Ishollaldisuthgeshud Rôsh - Skullhorror the Frigid South Nightmare-Fortress of Death" This is the most metal fortress name I've ever heard. Straight up brutal.

[@tefnutofhoney2832]

Ah, evil tundras and glaciers. The classic hellscapes. I love how you basically made a dwarven bunker. Ive always wanted to settle in an evil mountain and basically make a fallout-esque vault, myaelf

[@kruggsmash]

Isn't it terrible? Pretty happy that slime didn't melt their skin off or anything :p I hope they can keep things together down there..

[@agihammerthief8953]

It's basically Icecrown, isn't it Or Santa's workshop, but then again, what's the difference

[@vanconojl]

@@agihammerthief8953 it is pisscrown.

[@leejames929]

I can just imagine the dwarfs dropping chunks of gold down a hole in the ground that goes hundereds of feet down. What could gi wrong lol

[@Dewey_the_25U]

Theortically? Nothing at all! Practically? Someone's going to get crushed or their pet (INSERT_RACE_HERE) will.

[@Syluxrox]

FOOL of a Took!

[@kruggsmash]

I'm sure SOMEONE will get smashed along the way :p

[@Dewey_the_25U]

Without a Doubt, I mean two were frozen just getting in the earth! Edit: Didn't want to @ you.

[@lexicus1275]

Standing there is gonna be hazardous for sure. Imagine, minding your business as the local goldsmith, catching your breath in a corner after some hard work and-- *KLUNK*. You're red paste.

[@addityasinghal897]

12:30 that's probably the prettiest dwarf yet. No warts, no cross-eyed, clear hair. That's a freak among dwarves

[@kruggsmash]

We'll see how long she lasts :p She'll probably get crushed in the gold shaft or something

[@arcanus9725]

@@kruggsmash I'd recommend putting a grate over the top of the chute on a lever pull. Gold can be dropped *down* the chute whenever, but only reaches the bottom when you pull the lever. I've found not doing this usually results in rather unfortunate deaths.

[@bdetert82]

@@kruggsmash Tough dwarves aren't the pretty ones haha. Unless your talking about the GQ model dwarves from 2nd lord of the rings trilogy.

[@olliefischer]

meanwhile i'm just sitting over here unbelievably disappointed that krugg chooses to portray female dwarves as beardless >:(

[@olliefischer]

@Antivaxxers for Nurgle 2020 oh. :( well then i'm just sitting over here unbelievably disappointed that tarn and zach adams choose to portray female dwarves as beardless :( :( :(

[@Sparra2629]

The Thing: Dwarven Edition

[@Altertine]

I love how we go from the lovely and cutesy mushroom kingdom to pure hell on this frozen land.

[@IronianKnight]

The Halloween just kicked in

[@lordfriedrick7911]

A good thing is to make 4 tunnels with locked hatches at the corners of the map for the migrants

[@kruggsmash]

Lol, is that a Steelclutches reference?!

[@lordfriedrick7911]

@@kruggsmash Yes

[@Anubis1101]

I embarked on a Horrifying biome once. I have no idea what was raining, but it caused broken bones AND blisters. It was a pretty sweet fortress that worked out for a while, with many great features carved into the ice. Unfortunately a werebeast outbreak killed most of them off and I ended up abandoning it.

[@raithelsolspark6058]

The whole reanimated body parts in the tundra aspect reminds me of The Thing. I love it!

[@kruggsmash]

Hey that's totally true right there! Wow, I hadn't put two and two together I guess. good thinking!

[@caseygoddard]

That's brilliant! Next fortress I make is going to be in an evil frozen biome with the population limit set to under 40...give all the dwarfs names like "Blair", "Norris", "Clark", and "MacReady"... yeah...

[@gloverelaxis]

Absolutely lol

[@Kanggaxx]

Best content creator on KZbin. Nice creepy background music too, btw

[@kruggsmash]

Too damn kind. I certainly try my best! Glad you liked it! Tried to go a little more "ambient" at the start of the episode for a change

[@NineSeptims]

Kruggsmash slow zoom at the beginning and later on is disorienting

[@KINFIN123]

Kruggsmash: mentions zombie wool. Me: Has flashbacks to Zombie Donkey Head Hair

[@guaymaster]

You made me shiver.

[@SpaceTrump]

Noooooo!

[@mosesbrown4126]

End boss of Delersholid.

[@Shins_Jim]

Just a tip when invading a necromancer tower as a non undead: don't butcher the zombie bodies. Every bit of that zombie will continuously grab you until you're either killed by other zombies or strangled to death. I found that out the hard way.

[@KINFIN123]

Snap into a Shin Jim! I’m specifically referring to Kruggsmash’s original Dwarf Fortress Series. A donkey head hair ended up being a major problem for him back then

[@archsteel7]

My headcanon for these starting dwarves is that they're all exiles, basically sent on a suicide mission out into the middle of nowhere.

[@kruggsmash]

I do like that! We can roll with it

[@kyzylalchemy9776]

When you're one year in and you finally figure out where you are.... Medeival Navigation at it's finest

[@semitesupreme175]

Knowing how the last time an evil biome went on this channel, I just KNOW this is going to be good.

[@kruggsmash]

Ha! Hoping to keep things under control a LITTLE bit here! Guess we shall see though!

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

@@kruggsmash This is what, your fourth time just on camera? You got this down by now.

[@thek3nger]

After 5 minutes watching the tundra, I can see the tundra also with my eyes closed.

[@Erikreaver]

Well, this is very exciting prospect for a fortress! I still don't know how you can pronounce those dwarven fortress/artifact names most of the time. Looking forward to the next one!

[@kruggsmash]

Haha, it usually does take more than a couple tries!

[@I_am_Berdbox]

Skullhorror, huh... Sounds like a brilliant place to take a vacation!

[@emiledlund9559]

H3RTZ H3 Almost as well as boatmurdered

[@kruggsmash]

Hell yeah it does!

[@I_am_Berdbox]

@@emiledlund9559 nah, Boatmurdered is where you settle down and begin a nice family, maybe loose a few kids to the ravenous elephants while you're there.

[@karoliscool1]

This fortress is one of the most esthetically pleasing so far! I'm getting some real dungeon keeper vibes with all those skeletons up top and that central "dungeon heart". Keep up the good work!

[@feb4252]

Gotta love Krugg's design choices. He isn't afraid to change up fortress layouts every time he builds a new one.

[@nuffsaid0]

God, I love these videos so much. The stories, the drawings, the sound design. Just thank you.

[@kruggsmash]

Well, thank you so much dude! Really means a lot more than you know :)

[@sharkjumpingwalrus6744]

The Fetid lands sounds like a Lich having a little too much fun. Just, everything about the fetid lands is something that would work for making a lich's domain.

[@exhorter7363]

Another tainted fortress raises... Freezing horrors rule the land Beware the power of undead The earth is rich with other horrors Don't dig too deep, don't dig to shallow

[@kruggsmash]

No promises there }:)

[@animedude34]

A human sees a living mass of wool, screams and shouts, "Oh god please no!" A dorf sees a living mass of wool, runs up behind and kicks it shouting, "Oi, git back down ya damn shavin trash!"

[@chtulufhtagn1344]

I've always wondered how the two worshippers of the God of rainbows and the worshipper of the God of night felt, in those weeks and days where they debated how to proceed. How did they feel knowing that their only option for survival was to forever seal themselves off by the divinity within the sky they had found such great comfort in?

[@TheForgewright]

Random factoids: Tiercel peregrine refers to the male, the peregrine falcon refers to the female.

[@gloverelaxis]

Random fact: "factoid" doesn't mean what most people mistakenly think it means! (Which means that soon, it *will*, indeed, effectively/conventionally mean "small, tangential fact" rather than "a lie willed into acceptance by media repetition").

[@TheForgewright]

@@gloverelaxis Neat!

[@mattrocde]

Your art is easily the most amazing for describing the horror and wonder of Dwarf Fortress. You're a one in a million youtuber, Krugg! Thank you so much for making these videos.

[@richardmoore5347]

I can tell, that horn will have an awesome story in the future. Like the horn of Helhammerhen in Helms Deep.

[@kruggsmash]

Oh I really hope so. Gotta do something with it other than letting it sit in the junk pile :p

[@RVGmetallicasaw]

That thing is going to attract adventurers and thieves... and goblins.

[@mezz09smezzanine]

@@kruggsmash Maybe you should give your military a dedicated "Horn Blower" who just has the horn and armour, no weapons.

[@vaclavsoukup7302]

@@kruggsmash YOU LET THAT THING LIE ON THE JUNK PILE ?!

[@glenneric1]

I thought it was Helm Hammerhand

[@Redsoul291]

This is one of my favorite fortresses youve done

[@kruggsmash]

Oh good good! Hoping to keep that up in the next episode. Can't wait to start playing again

[@mezz09smezzanine]

Every long fort krugg does ends up being my favourite yet

[@RoyalFusilier]

"The Blizzard of Suckers." Very timely.

[@Erikreaver]

Oh boy, I forgot it is the best day of the week!

[@kruggsmash]

We here! Welcome to Skullhorror!

[@wisedylan]

Inod may be the cutest dwarf I've seen yet.

[@muffinzrpg315]

This fort is going to be interesting I can feel it in my bones!

[@kruggsmash]

Uh oh. make sure they aren't reanimating!

[@MrLocurito]

so your bones are zombies?

[@Waggendaily]

I keep coming back to this series in particular. The rugged tenacity of the Dwarves is really inspiring as they survive in this literal hellscape. The idea for this fort is really cool and I feel would make a great book. Great work as always, Krug.

[@Liam-B]

"The Island of Vaults" Quite a harrowing name for Dwarf Fortress. "Blizzard of Suckers" Then the game decides to add insult to injury. Ouch.

[@edim108]

It's so surreal to me that this game has been in development longer than some people who can vote or legally buy alcohol are alive. Hell by that metric I'm only a year older than this game... Absolutely love the combination of gameplay and illustration for the visuals! Very engaging and I'm in awe of how much I got invested. Definitely one of the best things I've watched on KZbin in a long while. Lovely stuff! ♥️

[@danyraven7624]

I love your vids as a former DF player and tutorial maker in italy, thank you for supporting this marvellous game with your effort and drawings. Also love the 8bit music in the intro

[@chidori0117]

I often rewatch your past series and to be honest even though this is a shorter one it is by far my favourite.

[@retematic2351]

Imo ur best series so far, I rewatch this about ever 6 months.

[@rd22.rd22]

This was an awesome reminder of a game I used to play. Thank you

[@King_Of_Midgard]

Evil Weather, such as slime rain, can not only inflict syndromes on your dwarves, but depending on the randomly chosen inorganic substance, can cause damage. Imagine iron rain.

[@Dewey_the_25U]

Amazing work, I can't wait to see the tomes of deep knowledge your dwaves create isolated as they are from the rest of the world!

[@MCraven120]

I love these series! Everything from the illustrations, music and narration are so cinematic!

[@airjamy]

I must say, i really like the year notations. Gives a good sense of where we are in the playtrough.

[@Crunchymunchys]

This was a very interesting fortress. Please keep going with it as I was hooked watching it the whole time. Thank you for your content on a game that I have a hard time playing but absolutely enjoy watching

[@King_Of_Midgard]

Also, Tiercels are male hawks, especially male peregrine falcons.

[@JamesDM_]

And a Tercel is a compact Toyota economy car

[@condoslime776]

Ah, kruggsmash, return of the evil biome. I still remember the great times you had in steelclutches.

[@kruggsmash]

Ohh yes. Good tiiimes. goooood tiiimes :)

[@condoslime776]

@@kruggsmash Make sure you don't end up with a situation again where 4 dwarfs exhaust themselves from attacking some zombie head again. That ram wool possibly could've caused just that but that ended up just fine.

[@DAMD01]

Condoslime As far as i'm concerned, i think Toady fixed that bug since the artifact update.

[@kevinscales]

'The Laughing Corpse' Would be great name for an inn

[@Tanjou21]

I love how the dwarves personalities shine with these slides! I mean it's always has been but there's something about this set I love.

[@vontacompton5089]

These videos always inspire me to be more creative with my fortress designs, and now this one really makes me want to try out one in an evil biome like this, which I've only tried like, once, when I was really new to DF.

[@elheffe80]

Yet another great episode! Can’t wait to see the rest.

[@KindlyCryptid]

This episode was beautiful! Your art is only getting better, my dude

[@veng3r663]

This video is giving me all KINDS of 'cool' (Evil) ideas for the South Pole regions of my world... >:)

[@oz_jones]

Weaponized zombie penguins?

[@veng3r663]

@@oz_jones Hmmn, I better add THAT down on me notes also... :P

[@AtillaTheFun1337]

Should have given that zombie bird kicking pig a medal! Also, kangaroo cheese.

[@horsebakk]

This is your finest work yet, sir

[@Narokkurai]

The way you draw zombie eyes is so wonderfully spooky.

[@Ultrawup]

Fallout 5: Skullhorror _Now featuring dwarves, and guaranteed to be 100% apocalypse-free!_

[@ricmrp]

Loved the introduction voice. Simply a *masterwork* voice

[@kruggsmash]

Hey thanks! A couple filters can work wonders sometimes!

[@hugoalvord2779]

Love to see how much your art has progressed :)

[@federicorodriguez451]

I simply love your drawing.

[@xDMrGarrison]

My first Kruggsmash video :D:D This was SO COOL! I've been playing Dwarf Fortress for maybe a week now, lmost non stop, and the reason I waited so long with watching these videos was that I didn't want a huge amount of spoilers or "quick tips" on how to play and instead figure stuff out and discover things. Now I have. And holy shit I am gonna enjoy this channel :D Also I liked that you let that first migrant wave in. Perhaps not pragmatic, but welcoming those kindred, adventurer spirits! Okay the tutorial doesn't count. That was actually my first (and probably 5th) Krugg video but whatever.

[@herpderp3916]

Just found this channel today and have been binge-watching. Lizard Moon was a great series, you've got a real knack for storytelling and I'm stoked to see how this disaster unfolds xD

[@KrossFire330]

Dude your artwork is so good!

[@williambarnes5023]

The most important part of reanimator biomes is: Atom smash all corpses and parts. Have a dump zone over a cliff into a walled-off enclosed pit, have dwarves trigger a pressure plate walking to it, and have the bottom contain a raising bridge linked to it to utterly destroy anything thrown in there. You have to have a dozen or so dwarves on nothing but corpse and refuse hauling to make sure someone's available immediately whenever a corpse is made, such as your failed mood clothier, to dump the body down the chute.

[@Morghuul]

Niiiiice :D I love the fort symbol! Haunted biomes are always a great source of... Fun!

[@dr0nubi742]

Ahh, you gotta love that smell of fetid slime in the early morning! A new chapter of dwarven history begins here at this place. I sure did strike the like button!

[@xzardas541]

Haunted thundra, FUN place indeed. Especialy when goblin siege arises. PS: Krug if you ever butcher some animals, and you know what happens, this may be perfect track kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3ezcql3l9qXa5I Also one of better ways to keep morale high is to place only masterwork furnitures, this keep my countless forts for going into tantrum spiral.

[@jacobhouseman7448]

The illustrations in this one are awesome. I love how spooky everything is!

[@ARUCARDFTEPES]

I don't think the area is as far from home as you think, if you consider the world map to be spherical instead of flat then the NE-most portion is pretty close to the SW-most part, right?

[@infoman567]

The image of flash Frozen dwarves is pretty fun

[@parerune]

I just want to say that this video is the only reason I have started playing dwarf fortress

[@SecretFoxfire]

LOVE that color scheme! Did you set dirt/mud to be red? :-D

[@robdawg1017]

Why didn’t the two dead dwarfs turn to zombies?

[@kruggsmash]

You know, i'm not too too sure. In fact, I don't think the bodies actually came out of the ice. I think maybe the bodies were destroyed or something?

[@Shifterwizard]

@@kruggsmash ...Does that mean that whenever anyone climbs into or out of the fort, they pass by two zombified corpses of the founders, frozen solid and immovable in the ice, staring out at them? The dead eyes perhaps following their every move?

[@Chernogorath]

Krugg please, I needed sleep, it'a 5am.

[@mike-e3028]

Had a throwback to Honeystoker last night when i started a new fortress "The Hidden Fortress" and spawned right beside a beehive! enjoy your cursed/unique starting land starts.

[@mendelovitch]

Will dwarves ever learn to swim? It is so easy. Just flap your arms around in the right way.

[@Bronasaxon]

Ahhh perfect for October!

[@MirrorHall_Clay]

Finding out the place is "The Blizzard of Suckers" after noticing the embark wasn't in the intended area is... well, it's comedic, to say the least

[@hamlington8936]

This series is what brought me into Dwarf Fortress proper. Before this, I only knew of it as that one "really old school looking game that is incredibly complex and an eyesore", but due to your impeccable storytelling and awesome narrating, I genuinely gave it a shot. After that, I basically got hooked on it and play it semi-regularly. It has fast become one of my all-time favorite pass-time games for whenever I get craving for a relaxing and joyful time! Thanks a lot, man! Always a pleasure watching you!

[@shayneoneill1506]

"Mother, I'm going to join a caravan establishing a new fortress on the frontier" "Im proud of you son, a Pioneer like your father! What is the name of this fortress?" "Skullhorror. Its in that place where the dead return to life again!" "Oh........."

[@philippbaumann9113]

23:10 "I thought us being on an Island very far away from civilisation would prevent migrant waves. But, seemingly not." Britians, 2016, before voting for Brexit.

[@orsondorange5413]

You took time to get to know the starting five now I’m too invested.

[@mudkiptyler]

Dunk that zombie into the magma to dispose of him.

[@cuddles7487]

GIVE ME MOR3!!!!!! LOL JK but I love your dwarf fortress videos! Keep it up

[@johnnyfranki3]

I'm a simple man. I see a short fort and I click.

[@maximdebusschere1678]

I loved it and want more this is my new favorite KZbin

[@harmen2456]

Why would anyone even consider to set up shop in this horrible, desolate deathtrap of a "We've found gold". Ah. Well then, that explains it.

[@voidcat6876]

4th time watching this series..... LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@jacobfreeman5444]

Coming back to this series makes me ask a question. How was a hole in a literally cursed tundra one of the most successful fortresses to date? I mean, I know it was in no small part because of the same undead that were such a threat that made them so successful but still...

[@kingm3202]

Skull horror is my favorite series Krugg has ever done. I love coming back to it everyso often :D

[@chris86simon]

As someone whos only knowledge about this game is from Quill18, why no masterwork mod so you can build beds from stone? Also it seems by the title of the 5th video, ulike Quill, actually finishes his fortresses. Cant wait!

[@oofmcoofy6769]

Kruggsmash: *And here we have a beautiful base with lots of rooms for masons, crafters, armies and living rooms* Me: *...how do i make a woodworker? This damn ostrich is gonna come inside and haul ass if i dont get a woodworker to make doors*

[@mosesbrown4126]

The longest and hardest part of this video to make had to have been the recitation of the fort name. I mean, Krugg's said a lot of ridiculous names, but I bet that one took some time to get right.