This document was the personal journal of an early Forager. It is unknown it's exact date written, but given the condition of the journal, it has seen heavy use. Due to the writing, it appears this may be the work of several authors.
A rectangle of well cut thick, red plastic covers the front, a thick cut of black plastic the back, although the back cover is slightly translucent. Four holes pierce each cover through a stack of roughly 30 sheets of thick paper. Each hole is tied with electrical wire. It appears as the electrical wire has been singed, or burned at is knot points as the wire is melted into a shiny copper ball. Both sides of the cover adorn heavy scratches and dirt. The paper inside is in impressive condition considering the cover of the journal. It appears as if the cover once held writing on the front, although the plastic did not make a good medium, and the writing looks to have long been worn off.Please click read document to read what was written in the journal.
Vynoch Journal
Today I found a new specimen. It was located approximately 3 miles south of home near a large rock outcrop. It caught my eye immediately with their golden color, but I have not come across them before. Which is odd as I have been through this area many times. They must be rare, or maybe it's the temperature. My best guess would say it is currently around 70 degrees F. Much cooler this morning. 50 degrees. I still have not found a proper way to measure temperature here.
Reminder: Speak with Odom to see if he has come across a temperature gauge. or and a scale that still works. The scale would need to accurately measure small weights.
Specimen: Golden mushroom. Found 4. ~3 hours ago
Largest mushroom is approximately 5 inches tall. It extends from the base of my palm, to the tip of my pinky finger, although is smaller than my index finer. The smallest does not reach my pinky, I estimate it to be 3 inches in size.
Each mushroom has a cone shaped cap.
The stipe of each mushroom is wider that I would expect. Almost as wide as the cone.
This mushroom is very phallic shaped.
It has very small gills under the edge of the cap.
Stomach contents: 1 large cut of the previous found large brown mushroom. Boiled water at 7:20am
I will be measuring time with my battery clock.
Experiment #1 Start time 3pm
Small cut of new specimen cap. Estimate this to be 1/4th of the cap.
It taste of loose dirt.
T+15. No noticeable effects.
T+30. Still no effects
T+45. No change in mood, no noticeable change in physical or mental function
T+1:00. Still no change - Due to method of ingestion, I expect any ill effects to present in the next hour. I have prepared boiled water in advance.
T+1:30. No change, went for short walk around camp, still not change in physical or mental function
T+2:00. No change, I have decided to give it another hour, I will update if any change occurs. Upon hour 3, I will take another 1/4 of the cap 1/2 of the cap leaving 1/4th
T+3:00. I'm feeling much more comfortable making it to hour 3 with no ill-effects. I have decided to change my previous note to 1/2 cap. I have eaten it now. I will update if any effects take hold.
T+3:45. No ill effects still
T+4:30 Slightest bit of stomach abnormality. I am having difficulty discerning if this is due to hunger, or some effect of the mushroom. It is not uncomfortable. I am getting a bit sleepy due to the darkness outside.
T+5:00 Terminating experiment. No decidable effects. Will resume experiments tomorrow.
Gold Mushroom page1
Gold Mushroom page2
Experiment #2 Subject Gold Mushroom
I feel quite refreshed from the experiments yesterday and I am exited to learn about this mushroom. The results from yesterday leads me to believe I may have found another safe mushroom to consume here. Given the results, I am forgoing breakfast this morning and will attempt to eat the remainder 1/4th of the previous cap, and 2 additional full mushrooms. I will be drying the last over a small fire during the experiment.
1/4th cap, 2 entire gold mushrooms. Unsure of weight consumed, although these mushrooms are not too dense. They were equally about 5 inches in height
Experiment start time 6am
T+15. Still tastes of dirt, This would have to be an acquired taste. I wonder if it could be prepared another way to mask this taste.
T+30. No noticeable effects
T+45. Slight stomach discomfort. This does not feel like hunger discomfort, but I am quite hungry.
T+1:00. Stomach discomfort has worsened, I am getting a little worried as if this is caused by ingesting the mushroom, these effects are coming on much faster that I would have expected.
T+1:30. I have laid down on my cot at this point, stomach pain is growing and moving around is very uncomfortable. Slight nausea feeling is setting in
T+2:00. I fear I have made a great mistake. I am struggling to keep a constant state of thought, and it is much harder to keep track of time. I attempted to rid myself of nausea by succumbing to the feeling, but could not will myself to throw up.
T+~2:30 This mushroom is certainly not ideal for regular consumption. Cognitive function is blurry, and I am visually seeing things that are not there. I no longer have a sense of time. I find myself staring at the wall for what seems like hours, for only minutes to past. Stomach pain is now muted.
T+~3:00 I am managing to keep on track of journal entries, but I fear this will not continue, effects are intensifying and I am hearing things now. Hallucinations are wildly beautiful, hues of greens and blues. I am feeling incredibly tired, and may try to sleep off the effects.
These notes are written after the experiment was performed. Shortly after my last entry, I completely lost sense of self, time, and reality itself. I have no clear recollection of what time I finally fell asleep. I will best summarize what I can, although I feel there are no real words to describe the event's themselves. I am currently writing this the next day as I wake. It is currently 7am, and I feel much refreshed and motivated.
I best suspect this happened around ~3:20 or so, I vaguely remember looking at the clock and laying down trying to sleep. That's when my whole world shattered. My vision quite literally looked like it shattered into a million pieces, and I could look into each one. I know I am a man of science, and not being able to accurately depict my experience in words frustrates me beyond belief. I felt like I was in a void, each one of these shattered pieces, I could look into and it would show my life in entirety from start to finish, I could pear in; for what felt like an entire lifetime. I could relive my experiences, however unable to change any decisions. As if I was forced into my own body, but had no control over it. I continued searching though these shattered pieces of myself for what felt like hundreds of life times. Eventually I found myself back in this void. I eventually accepted I was this void. I did not exist in the worlds I've known. Maybe I died and this is where I ended up. Once again, I cannot properly express this experience in words. At some point floating through this vast void I heard a voice calling my name, it sounded like it was galaxies away. I urged myself towards it. I could not tell if I was moving, or this voice was coming towards me. It must have been thousands of years, but the voice kept getting louder and louder. Once I saw something out of the void, it came on me so fast I felt like I blacked out. My entire existence thrust back at me, all my memories, all my experiences, my body, my being. I was whole again. That's when I woke up. I woke up feeling, refreshed and new. As if I had died, and was reborn.
I'm going to take some time to reflect on this experience. I will have to find more of these gold mushrooms if I want to experiment more. I left the last one smoldering on the fire as I passed out. It's a worthless crisp of ash now. I will admit, I'm in not rush to try this again. But I am curious, to say the least.
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