I want you to picture this; you arrive at the location of an old fort, planning to do trade with the locals currently living it it. However, upon approaching the fortress you find that the entrance is inaccessible. The bridge is retracted giving, you no way to get inside. You call out to someone, hoping to catch the attention of the dwarves inside. But your cry is meet with silence. The only sounds are those of the ocean waves crashing against the shore line, and the deep moans of zombie lesser kraken roaming in the distance.
So it appears your journey has been for nothing, and that you have no choice but to turn back towards the mountainhome from which you came. But before you can leave, one of the other merchants calls you over to the left side of the fortress. A chunk of the wall has been torn off, allowing access to inner area. But the path to the wall is stained with dried blood, and a corpse lies right in front of it. Undaunted, you proceed inside anyways. Upon entering, you are greeted by the site of several skeletons piled up against the wall. Many appear to have been lying there for years, lazily tossed into the corner and forgotten by the residents. The glittering gold pathways of the fort are stained with layers of blood, and many more corpses are strewn throughout the area.
You once again cry out to get the attention of the residents. You hear a noise come from the dinning hall. Eager to do business as quickly as possible, you run towards the door. However, upon opening the door you find only a large number of kobold corpses crushed into the floor. You are then knocked to the ground by a massive zombie whale, and surely would have perished were it not for the swift action of the caravan guards. Still in shock from the attack, you wander around the fort a bit longer before collapsing in a grassy patch near the collapsed wall.
At this point, would you;
a.) Leave, assuming that the fort has been abandoned and that only death awaits you.
OR
b.) Sit there for weeks, waiting for someone to come conduct trade with you.
The Outpost Liaison opted to do the later, even though it is clear that nobody is going to come meet him. There isn't a living soul left in Old Townbrush. New Townbrush lies hundreds of feet beneath the surface, and any knowledge of the outside world is unknown to them. The only reason to stay is sheer stupidity. And if you are wondering why I bothered typing that all up, it's because it is far more interesting than what is going on in New Townbrush. The last year has consisted of nothing but training and brewing. It's pretty easy to keep 4 Dwarves alive inside an isolated area.
One thing I did notice is that the new Outpost Liaison is identified as a Fish Dissector. I'm guessing this is because the old Outpost Liaison is not only still alive, but living inside New Tonwbrush. The poor bastard was locked in the fort over a year ago. I figured he would have gone insane by now, but apparently not. I also noticed that the merchants did not catch the same deadly disease that threatened to destroy Townbrush, so perhaps it is no longer an issue. Though I'm still not risking exposure until I can safely test this with migrants.