Korad: Pirates of Barle and the Something Awful

The results are in from last week's poll establishing the basics of culture and history in the breadbasket province of Barle. The pirate theme that proved such a voter-getter when describing its coastal cities once again rises to the top. The top eight entries in this checkbox poll wind up in our collective Barlean canon.

The Barleans descend from ocean-crossing seafarers. Their first wave founded Oldtown, the empire's oldest city. For this reason they evince a nautical infatuation; the romantic ideal is the suave pirate. Barleans created the the banking, accountancy, and currency systems used throughout the Empire. When the Koradi conquered Barle, the aristocracy fled to Blackflag, where they founded and still maintain its pirate fleet. Barlean citizens hope the day will come when the pirates will reverse this epic defeat and end Koradi domination. Twenty years ago, however, they suffered a catastrophic setback, due to the "something awful" in the Oldtown mine.

That leaves us with a question to resolve before we move on to our next region. Now that we've tied it into a province wide-collapse, we ought to fill in more detail on the thing in the mine.

Here's the original entry from the setting bible:

Oldtown reels from a blow to its mining industry, suffered when the biggest mine dug down to something awful twenty years ago and had to shut down to seal it in.

Commenters are asked to provide an account of the catastrophe, and exactly how it had a region-wide devastating effect. They may detail the Awful Something to whatever degree they wish. Take as much space as you like, but lead off with an 8 word or less phrase we can use for the poll.

One narrative per participant, please. Riffs on a narrative by other participants will be considered part of the canon only if the original contributor approves them. Do so with a later comment in the same thread.

The contribution window closes Monday evening, eastern time. Have it at, my hearties!