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Welcome back! How was your nap? Oh, the floor was hard? Too bad; we gots us some vermin to slay!

Apparently, a lot of the residents of this fortress are goblins. Those of you who have played Fortress Mode will probably find that odd.

We bid adieu to our hospitable hosts and continue onward to glory!

Luckily, the rivers appear to thaw during the day (someone needs to teach Toady about specific heat, methinks), so we can refill our waterskin.

In another stroke of luck, it turns out we are right at the transition between a brook and a river.

In Dwarf Fortress, brooks and rivers have a very important distinction - you have to swim across a river (or find a bridge), but you can simply walk across a brook. Since we need to get to the other side, this is good news, indeed.

We're low on food, so I enable tracking. Hopefully we'll find some signs of easy prey.

Currently, the only tracks visible are our own.

Of course, I don't need to use the tracking at all, since we come across an eagle, just chillin' in a field.

It doesn't seem to notice us creeping up on it...

...which means I get to show off one of Dwarf Fortress' most famous features - its ridiculously overcomplicated combat system.

First, you have to select if you want to strike, wrestle or defend against your target. Since it hasn't noticed me, let's hit the fucker.

Next, you choose what part of the body to hit. The game tells you how difficult it is to pull the strike off, as well as how well you can make contact if you succeed.

Yes, you can even aim for stupid shit like the second toe on the right foot. Just roll with it.

Since an eagle isn't all that big, let's just aim for the upper body.

This page shows you all the fun things you can actually do to your victim's body parts, as well as select modifiers for the attack.