A possible twist would be that another dwarven clan tries to beat the Meromannians to ”liberating” Wailer's hold – probably the Canides or possibly the Crombes to get closer in preparing an assault on Vond. If the attempt is successful, the liberator's might well give Wailer's hold back to the Meromannians and thus gain the strategical, political and moral upper hand, playing for dominance in the long run when Ravenland is again in the hands of dwarves and, if necessary, elves (what true dwarf would like to live in a wood anyway?).
Since dwarves are governed by honour, competence and competition, the Meromannians would not easily shake the resulting ”thankfulness”, debt and feelings of clan inferiority even though they´d hate it. In the long run, this might actally threaten their status as an independent clan. If the Meromannians got wind of such a ”liberation” scheme they would most likely try to sabotage it, quite hands on – perhaps secretly employing orcs or *brrrr* honorless mercenaries, aka ”adventurers” – while on the surface keeping up gratefulness and politeness towards their ”beloved kinsmen and allies”. The wannabe liberators might in turn sabotage the Meromannian preparations which probably are more openly performed, perhaps wanting them to try and fail, then letting the liberators sweep in as their saviours when both defenders and Meromannian attackers are battle-fatigued.