Coaltown was founded and operated by the Clayfang Manufacturing, an industry specialist in anything dangerous and profitable. Managed by a young and ambitious William Clayfang, the small collection of mine-shaft-apartments and a few above ground stores.
Among its many desperate and over worked denizens was a red kobold named Gritt. The work was brutal, and forced them to learn to work hard, or die broken.
Months of toiling beneath the soil made the coal miners restless and desperate for a change. A union formed, and was brutally opposed by Mercenaries hired by the CM.
A strike team formed, looking to raid the Clayfang manor in Coaltown, and hold William for ransom to meet the union's demands. Among those fools was Gritt.
Upon breaching the manor, the 2 dozen unionizers struggled with and subdued the mercenary presence, and Gritt joined the 6 seeking to capture William.
Much to their misfortune, William was ready. Paired with a strange writhing worm like creature, William could manifest chaotic divine magic. The encounter was fatal for 4 of the 6 unionizers present, and William. The final plow brought down by Gritt using a rusted away pickaxe.
With its master dead, the writhing thing fled, burrowing into the earth.
With no one to ransom, and murder on their hands, the workers of Coaltown raided the store houses and fled. Now struct with guilt and confusion, Gritt took up the Clayfang name, as a reminder of what they had learned, and now seeks chances to save others from suffering, and perhaps learn more about the strange consuming presence that corrupted William.