Info
Written by Mctoran.
| Object 44: Strange Pills |
| Class: Neutral | Manufactured by the B.N.T.G. and sold on the black market. | Relieving stress and pain, but is often abused to tamper with memories. |
| ↓Object 43 | ↑Object 45 |
Description
A sample of Strange Pills recovered from a raid.
Object 44, AKA "Strange Pills", are a highly valued drug on the black market of The Backrooms. They are consumed to relieve pain and stress, inducing a calming sensation in the user. However, it is also highly addictive and abusable, leading to dangerous consequences if not produced or consumed properly.
Strange Pills appear as translucent capsules filled with a gelatinous substance and colorful beads.
Properties
Strange Pills relieve physical pain and emotional stress, pacifying the user with effects similar to alcohol or marijuana. This includes fuzziness, lowered heart rate, delayed reflexes, and general desensitization. However, there is a side effect in which one may relive happy memories, or even be implanted with false ones.
This substance is extremely addictive. Typically after the first or second use, the effects of withdrawal will take place after a few days without using Strange Pills. Symptoms of withdrawal are general tiredness, stress, irritability, increased blood pressure, and fainting.
Most deaths that are caused by Strange Pills addiction result from ingesting increasingly deadly doses of the drug. Consuming too many Strange Pills will result in total removal of all memories, rendering the user only able to walk, breathe, and eat. They may also potentially transform into a Forgotten.
It has also been observed that many who succumb to an addiction to Strange Pills will eventually travel to level 404, after which they are never seen again.
Usage
Strange Pills are strictly intended for medical usage only. Despite this, many have abused them for their memory-altering side effects and become addicted. The rising demand for Strange Pills for non-medical purposes has skyrocketed their value on the black market.
Currently, the B.N.T.G. seems to be heavily considering the construction of a rehabilitation center for those addicted to Strange Pills.
Discovery
The Sacred Flower of Gudang.
In ancient times, The Lost were known to revere a certain medicinal flower which they held sacred in their culture. It was associated with "Gudang", their Goddess of Art. It supposedly held mild hallucinogenic/psychoactive properties that enhanced their creativity, with little to no negative side effects.
Following the collapse of The Lost, all evidence of this flower's existence had vanished, leading many to believe it was entirely fabricated. However, an archaeological expedition in Level 51 conducted by the B.N.T.G. uncovered fossilized remains of the flower. A team of researchers studied the fossils' properties, reverse-engineering them to extract and synthesize their chemical compounds. When it was found that these chemicals bore properties strikingly similar to those which The Lost ascribed to the flower, the B.N.T.G. began mass-producing them as a drug.
Logs
In the following logs, researcher Gavriel White details her experiences with the use of Strange Pills, having been administered a prescription to the drug while recovering from an injury. This was used as an opportunity to study and document the effects of Strange Pills and their long-term use.
Day 1: First day on the drug. I feel fine enough. My ankle still hurts like hell, but definitely a lot less than if I wasn't taking these pills.
Day 3: I've been reminiscing about my childhood, thinking about all the good times I had. My family, my friends, those beach parties every summer. There's a pleasant warmth in my heart.
Day 5: Strangely, I'm finding it harder to recall negative experiences. The entity encounters, the endless wandering, the betrayals by my friends, the arguments of my parents…they're all becoming distant, blurry impressions. Soon, they'll probably be completely forgotten, replaced with something happier instead…
Day 7: River and Overseer B told me that since I've fully recovered from my injury, the experiment is over now. And then they cut off my supply of pills.
What. The Fuck.
They can't just do this to me! I was on the verge of a breakthrough, I could feel it! I need to keep going, I need to dive deeper. I need to remember, I need to forget.I found some more pills in the evidence locker that were recovered from a raid. They should me last long enough, for now…
Day 10: The prescribed dosage isn't strong enough for me anymore, so I've doubled it. But that bliss I felt in the beginning is absent now. All I feel instead is fatigue and brainfog. But I can't stop.
Day 15: I don't know what to do anymore. I can't live with these pills, but I can't live without them either. I'm losing my grip on reality. Everything is overwhelming, like the walls are closing in. My brain feels like it's on the brink of exploding, like razor-sharp polygons are piercing every neuron. I always feel on the verge of something terrible about to happen, but the release never comes. There is only eternal, ever-present dread and apprehension looming over me. Even typing this has become difficult. My eyes keep glazing over, my fingers keep slipping and typing words wrong. But without the pills, I can't think straight, I can't be productive. I'm trying to keep it together, but it's becoming harder and harder to act normal.
Day 18: River and Kat might be on to me, because they've been giving me weird looks for the past few days. It's no secret that I'm starting to look like absolute shit in the mirror. But I still can't stop.
In my dreams, I see the most beautiful woman, towering over me with hair that shines like the ocean I grew up with and smooth porcelain skin like the kitchen tile from my childhood home. She beckons me like a marble siren amidst a sea of memory, singing melodies of sweet nothings. She wants me to join her in heaven with all the other lost souls just like me. Thinking about it makes me homesick.
Day 20: I can't take this anymore. I can't get her out of my mind. It's all that I think about during the day, and all that I see behind my eyelids in my futile attempts to sleep. Maybe…maybe if I find her, my suffering will finally end. I don't know what else to do. It's my last hope to find an end to this torment…
[DATA CORRUPTED]
she is the most beautiful thing i've ever seen.
Following her final log entry, Gavriel was reported missing by M.E.G. personnel, and her whereabouts remained unknown for approximately 24 hours. She reportedly resurfaced after exiting Level 404, sobbing uncontrollably. She was taken into M.E.G. custody and held for observation. Gavriel exhibited signs of shock and trauma, but also grief — repeatedly lamenting the loss of "her love" and being separated from "her". The next day, Gavriel's emotional state had improved, but she had become catatonic, only singing to herself in bed. She was found dead the morning after, and an autopsy ruled the official cause of death to be an overdose and subsequent withdrawal of Strange Pills.