Expedition Log Idendallith, “Paddledriddle” Inod Akgosubbul, Expedition Leader

1st Opal, 531

Snow lays heavy on the ground as we arrive at the site of Paddledriddle. Once we strike the earth and begin to dig out our new home, surface weather will matter little, but for now it is decidedly inconvenient. We may yet be able to forage some foodstuffs to supplement our supplies, but the delay in setting out has left us all in low spirits, so most important is locating brewing ingredients.

My first duty as leader is to choose our dig site, but the snow complicates this as well. Our surveyors chose this region due to its proximity to water, the second most important liquid for dwarves, but the local brook has frozen over and is covered by snow. Without careful investigation, we could be in for a nasty surprise when setting up our holdings.

Taking a leap of faith and trusting in the surveying maps, we dug in squarely in the middle of the land allotted to us. We will still have to dig with care around small surface ponds and the like, but our immediate expansion should be safe. Water, while a pain when digging, does provide us with moist soil in which to grow the beloved plump helmets. Our chief miner, Stinthäd Matònul, is clearing clay loam as I write this log. Meanwhile, I tasked Urvad Mûthkataban with felling some trees, and chief planter Vabôk Iklistreg is leading the rest in gathering any useful plants. I may have Urist Gusgashïteb, our stonecrafter, and Rîsen Kivishnicat, the mason, assist with the digging, though, as we need space and they’re both handy with stone tools.

8th Opal

Our guesswork was off, and while tunneling out some extra space for farming, we hit an ice wall. I told the lads that we’ll need to mine up enough material to wall that off before spring thaw arrives. The blessing and the curse of rich, loamy soil, that we’ve not run into good building rock yet.

It may be risky, but I’ve told Vabok to start planting in the chamber by the ice wall. There’s still enough space for a good-sized field, and we need to get the seeds in the ground. I’ll also have the others not mining get on with setting up various production workshops. We’ll need beds before long!