Year turn, 1052/53
Persephone smiled. "That's wonderful. We have worked hard here at Denpaged, building a fortress that will be a great mountainhome one day."
The liason looked back skeptically "Well, that's as may be. Frankly I think it must be a bureaucratic error. I mean look at this place!"
Persephone looked around. Frankly, she thought, it wasn't too bad. I mean, you could smell the vomit in the grand dining hall that hadn't been cleaned up since the last troglodyte got in here, and there was blood on the stairs from the giant rat that limped out of a trap and expired on the doorstep, but there was something about it. It was DWARVEN.
"We've done well here"
The Liason sneered "Perhaps I could take word of your *achievements* back to more grandeous settings?"
Persephone was not oblivious to the barb. Nevertheless, this was an official liason from the mountainhomes, and she should treat him with all due respect.
"Let us start in 1051, as a small band of dwarves arrived at a wild valley, sent from the mountainhomes to found a great fortress..."
The liason interrupted, a smug smile on his face "..so, you don't mean sent from the mountainhomes for various misdemenours, unpleasantries, or just being too awful for the King to bear looking at you a moment longer?"
Persephone continued.
"We have dug to an expansive cavern, fought numerous troglodytes, slain a great troll, created one of the greatest sarcophagi in dwarven history - a tomb fit for a king. We've sent stonecrafts back to the mountainhomes. We've attracted migrants - there are nearly 50 of us now"
"Nearly? My records show that you had 7, and groups of at least another 43 in total have arrived here, although gods know why they came."
Persephone flushed. "Well...this is wilderness. Not like the mountainhomes - there are dangerous creatures here, we are struggling here for all dwarfkind"
The liason rolled his eyes and yawned. "I've heard enough about your scrabblings. This is a terrible idea. I will take word of this back to the king."
Deflated, Persephone resolved that she would act with proper decorum. Maybe next year they would be considered worthy?
"Before you go.."
The liason turned. "Quickly then" he snapped.
"I made you a memento of your visit - it's one of my best."
"More tat? Well, if you must"
Persephone flinched - she was proud of her art. She held it out to him, expecting more insult.
"It's called 'The Grim End of a Liason, in a Dark Cavern, Far Away From Home'. It really is one of my best - look at the detail. You can see how the back is not quite right inside - I got that from studying a wardog we lost to the trogs. And the tentacles - it took me four tries to get them to...flex...like that. I want you to have it. No hard feelings. Safe journey back to the mountainhomes."
That had taken all her self restraint and composure, so she really wasn't sure what to so when the pale-faced liason sat down again, heavily.
"Are you okay?"
"Here - take it. The Barony documentation is all there"
"But I thought you said we wer.."
"Take It! I've changed my mind. It's a lovely place you have here. Should have a Baron, yes. I'm supposed to take your advice then pick a Baron. Give me some advice? Please? Then let me go?"
Persephone wasn't sure what was going on here, but wasn't about to make a fuss
"Well..." she began, thinking. "I have obviously led the fortress from the start, so I have some insig.."
"Yes okay take it. You have it. I mean, you have it, Baron Ironfist. May I leave now? I have to go now"
Baron Ironfist waved the liason from the room in a daze. What a strange little dwarf. And he hadn't even taken his memento!