The Pit

Located in the village of Folly is a pit.

A pit with no bottom.

Legend says that there is gold in the pit, if you are bold enough to brave the depths.

People from all over the world come to Folly, in the hope that they might be able to rappel down the side of the pit, or find some sort of hidden path down.

All have failed.

Some people even died, attempting the climb into darkness.

And so, the climbs were abandoned. The people stopped coming, and Folly fell into disrepair. Nobody cared about the bottomless pit anymore. The ventures had become too pricey, and everyone stopped attempting the descent to the depths.

Until a man named Harold Straw decided to try his luck at the pit.

Harold "Harry" Straw was born to an incredibly wealthy family who had made their fortune investing in oil. They resided in an incredibly elaborate mansion, and lived very happily, just Mr. and Mrs. Straw, and their son Harry. Harry grew older and more capable, and soon his parents trusted him enough with their mansion and money to leave him alone for a while.

Mr. and Mrs. Straw left to explore the world. They enjoyed visiting unexplainable places and mysterious areas. Easter Island, the pyramids, the Bermuda Triangle, Stonehenge. All of these places fascinated them. After nearly two years of traveling, they were coming back home to their mansion and son, who at this time was 20 years old, and waited anxiously for their return. But as they were passing through a town, somebody mentioned Folly, and the terrible pit that was there.

Of course the Straws could not pass up the chance to see a hole with no bottom! So they drove to Folly, gazed upon the bottomless abyss, and were infected with something.

Insatiable curiosity.

It had seized upon the Straws, and so when they returned home, their focus was not on their son, but on the pit in Folly.

What was at the bottom? Was there even a bottom? Questions flew through their heads.

Such was their curiosity that they could not bear it any longer. The Straws pulled out every cent they owned and created their own mining and drilling company. Straw Incorporated was soon well underway. The first months were spent widening the hole in Folly. Then, when they could not make the hole any larger, they began to drill a massive ramp that wound around and around the pit, extending farther and farther downward. But soon the ramp ran out of room, otherwise it would run into the previous wraparound above it. And so construction and excavation ground to a halt as Straw Inc. went back to the drawing board to come up with new ideas.

They decided to attempt a method of scaffolding. Building wooden platforms that were drilled into the sides of the pit, all the way to the bottom. But once more, disaster struck.

Mrs. Straw grew very ill. So ill, in fact, that she stopped her daily visits to the pit. However, that did not stop Mr. Straw. He enjoyed visiting the work site, and took time out of every day to talk to the workers, despite the fact that his wife was growing more sick every day. But Mr. Straw could feel something was going to happen soon. Soon, they would be at the bottom, and this venture would not be for nought. So excited was he, that he took to sleeping at the work site.

No one knows exactly what happened. Some say it was a simple failure of the bolts. Others say that one of the ropes was not tied down properly. Whatever the cause may have been, it does not change the outcome. Eight years after the founding of Straw Inc. and the venture into the pit, Mr. Straw fell to his death as one of the scaffolding platforms broke from the edge of the hole and sent he and four workers plummeting into the dark depths. From then on, the wooden scaffolding platforms were deemed too dangerous and Straw Inc. had to think of a new plan.