The promise of a warm meal and strong drink was music to Anders' ears. After not having anything to eat or drink in nearly a week made him lose roughly 15 pounds. The painful growls in his stomach confirmed that he couldn't refuse the offer even if he wanted. Anders greedily takes up a glass and downs it one gulp. The bittersweet taste wetting his tongue and lips. He exhales heavily and says to Arc. "Well as long as you don't mind me being here. Also i'm not downplaying anything. Your friend here, Feathers, deserves more credit than me. Anyway it went sorta like this..."
5 Days Ago...
Nothing ever goes as planned. Even the simplest task, the most minute pleasure. Anders had discovered through his own personal investigation, of a drug that would allow mundane folk a chance to glimpse the other side. But there's more to it than that. When an Awakened would imbibe this miracle drug, it would endow them with even greater magical power. This piqued Anders' curiosity. He set off to find the dealers of this new substance. Coming across the right club took little to no time at all. However, there was a complication, the dealers only sold to non-mages. They feared what might happen if a magician might partake and promptly banned selling it to the Awakened. Anders wasn't so easily discouraged.
Through clever wordplay and a bit of guile, Anders managed to convince one guards that he wasn't magical. He dropped some nuyen, smiled real friendly like, and viola he had some Stardust in hand! Taking the drug was a very bad idea. It was difficult to say what effect it exactly had on him, but it wasn't good. The Stardust didn't make him stronger, it just made him think he was stronger. He became grandiose and delusional. Believing himself to be one of Odin's chosen destined for Valhalla. Anders went berserk in the middle of the club. Firing off a few rounds from his Savalette Guardian at some random thugs that he thought looked funny. Lucky for him he just had gel rounds loaded.
After a brief tumble with club guards and dealers, they subdued Anders and threw him inside the basement. The only reason they didn't kill him was because they were interested what effect the drug had on mages. So to make sure he stayed alive, he intentionally acted crazier and crazier. Spouting nonsense at them in norwegian or babbling hocus-pocus mumbo-jumbo. But this was only a temporary fix. He wanted to escape but he hadn't the means to do so. Instead he stayed there imprisoned at their mercy. At any moment they could kill him.
Time was difficult to keep track of. There was no clock, and only minimal provisions. They kept him along with a few others they managed to round up down there. Eventually an older man was brought down with the rest of them. Seeing as he was too aged to survive the harsh treatment, Anders dropped some subtle clues on what to do and how to act. The old man quickly picked up on what Anders meant and behaved the same as he did. Intentionally starved in sub-human living conditions. The dealers were determined to break their will and bring them to heel, or kill the two if that proved impossible.
It took a while, but the two mages managed to collaborate an escape plan. Together they worked some mojo and promptly busted out. Taking out a few of the slimeballs with them and recovering their confiscated gear. As they were cutting loose, Feathers dropped a call to the police about some people being kept in cages underneath a club. Which was smart of the old timer because it helped cover their escape. Even though Anders had been locked up longer, Feathers was having a hard time standing up. The young conjurer offered to help walk him home in exchange for a favor later in case he needed the help.
