Hm. I still haven’t told you about Jerry my friend, have I?
Well we need to make that right. See, Jerry has been a part of this story from the very beginning. Like NPC extras often do, he came to be as a result of sheer improvisation after Kapik used Eddie’s tag Few Good Cops during the first episode and Jerry the receptionist was born: a shy, scrawny wannabe cop who was still waiting for his shot to be a detective one day. Or at least a patrolman. Honestly, anything that gets him a badge and an ounce of self-respect he clearly lacks. I didn’t really mention him earlier here but trust me when I tell you, Jerry made at least a short (and usually embarrassing) cameo in every episode we’ve played so far.
And even though Jerry hasn't always been the sharpest (strongest, bravest…) tool in the shed, he has one quality otherwise unheard of in the Cryfield Police precinct: he has a good heart.
But nothing lasts forever, does it?
Performing as MC: Pavel
You do remember APA though, right? Cryfield’s detectives Archer, Porter & Atherton? Those selfish, arrogant, corrupt-to-the-bone-5 tumors feeding off of the justice system? And perhaps you might even recall a strange object that our Crew found in their desk during E02: Killing Her Softly: a gun with its serial number shaven off and a sticker saying: FRIDGEBOUND. The players actually got so intrigued by that nonsensical phrase that they postponed the grand finale of Nights of Payne Town’s Personal Vein: Broken Glass just to learn more about it.
In this episode, they finally discover what it was all about. And now, so will you.
That night began in a bar. Freeda and Nathan promised Jerry to take him out to watch football since Archer, Porter and Atherton don’t invite him to precinct socials. The moment they laid eyes on him it became clear he’s not in a good shape.
“Jesus, what’s up with you Jerry?” Nathan sat down next to him. “You look like you literally rose from the dead. And barely.”
“You sure you don’t want to get a good night’s sleep instead of watching the game?” Freeda asked.
Jerry shook his head, finished a glass of beer and added it to three empties that had already met the same fate. “It’s alright. I need this,” he assured them, although the bags under his red eyes told a different story. “I got promoted to a patrolman two weeks ago and… Well, the job’s a bit more stressful than I thought it would be. Isn’t Eddie coming?”
“Nah, he’s stuck at work. So you're a beat cop? That’s awesome news!” Nathan cheered. “First step to making detective!"
“If being a beat cop makes him look like this, would he even survive another promotion?” Freeda uttered .
“That’s the dream though,” Jerry winked. Or attempted it at least, but even if he could pull it off sober, the alcohol didn’t do him any favors. “My dad was a cop. A great one. I ever told you that? He’s the reason I joined the academy here. Why I came to the City… Huh… Now that I mention it, it’s been a while since I gave him call…”
Nathan encouraged him to do so now. But before he could, the phone rang on its own.
Jerry picked the call up, listened for a while, growing steadily paler as he did so.
Then he ran out of the bar.
Nathan and Freeda promptly followed suit, all ten blocks that Jerry ran as if his life depended on it, until they reached a crime scene pulled straight from a nightmare. The crossroad was drowning in a flood of red and blue lights coming from numerous police cars gathered in front of an inconspicuous shop called Charlie’s Liquor, but wait – one of them doesn’t have the lights on. It’s the one right in front of the entrance. The windshield is cracked, engine is smoking and the bodywork is covered with bullet holes.
Two dead officers are lying next to it.
And three more lie inside the shop.
APA is already at the scene. It seems like every police officer in the City is here in fact, and that’s actually close to truth: reinforcements were called from all over the City because – as the Crew is about to find out – as of now, APA and Jerry are pretty much the only remaining uniformed policemen of Cryfield’s precinct.
“You gotta be kiddin’ me,” Porter grabs panting Jerry by the collar and smashes him against a police van. “Where the fuck have you been you idiot? Holy shit, you’re drunk? Seriously?”
“Hey! Give him a break!” Nathan pushes Porter away. “It’s his night off!”
“Yeah. Which looks to be the only reason he’s standing here,” Porter spits, “instead of lying over there along with his brothers!"
What happened at Charlie’s Liquor that night was a bloodbath. Based on what APA was able to piece together, a group of three armed intruders got inside the shop through the back, killed the owner and looted the shop…
[Terka: Wait. They robbed this sorry ass excuse for a shop and killed five cops for the cash in the register? I’m not buying that. Can Nathan create some distraction for me, Pida? I’ll take a look inside.]
…well, Terka is right. Turns out, Charlie’s Liquor was a front – and the back room behind the counter was actually full of drugs. Freeda was apprehended by Atherton before she could properly peak inside, but she learnt that however much the intruders may have taken, there’s still plenty left. Still, before she could learn what kind of drug it was in the orange tinted bags, Atherton angrily dragged her out of the crime scene.
The only thing she saw was a candy wrapping inexplicably laying on the threshold of the room.
Meanwhile, the police council had reached its decision. Five of Cryfield’s finest are dead and whole City Police Department wants their killers' blood. Every precinct will offer reinforcements to wall Cryfield off with roadblocks and river patrols while Archer, Porter, Atherton and Jerry have until morning to hunt those cop killers down.
[Pida: So we’re locked in Cryfield AND on a time limit? That’s such a cool setting. You came up with that yourself?]
[Pavel: Um… Yeah. Totally. After watching 21 Bridges, which is... Well, it’s pretty much exactly this.]
But unexpectedly, APA and Jerry get volunteer reinforcements on the case: Nathan and Freeda.
Yeah, sure, they don’t exactly see eye to eye. Specifically, APA has once threatened to do some terrifying things if the Crew doesn’t let Martha Ellis’ case go during Killing Her Softly, but enemy of your enemy, you know how it goes. Even if Archer, Porter and Atherton are despicable human beings, Nathan and Freeda can still understand their hurt after losing five members of their family. And most importantly: they cannot let Jerry meet the same fate. Jerry, who is currently shaking and weeping at the sight of the bodies of his friends and colleagues torn to shreds in a pool of empty bullet casings.
But also, one more thing just started making a bit more sense just now.
You see, earlier this day, Eddie’s secretary brought an envelope to Cryfield Echo’s Newsroom. She told Nathan that Eddie is sending this "something" that he found in his mail without explanation, adding he’s too busy to go into it, but apparently it might be worthy of the Crew's attention.
The envelope contained a few screenshots from security camera image showing a man behind a counter in a shop handing over a packet to some boy.
And as the Crew now understands: that shop is Charlie’s Liquor, the man behind the counter is its now-dead owner, the packet is almost certainly the drugs from the backroom and the boy? A sticker on the pictures hints that his name might be MICCO LUPPA.
“So let me get this straight,” Archer scoffs. “You guys wanna team up?”
“Yeah, I'm not exactly thrilled about it either,” Freeda admitts. “But you know the powers we have. We might prove useful. It’s not like you have an army to catch these guys. Plus, we might have some information to help you with this case.”
She hands them over the envelope. Archer, Porter and Atherton exchange that look they always do, the one that makes the Crew think they can actually use telepathy. “You just got that? Anonymously?” Atherton reiterates.
“Just like that,” Nathan nods. “Listen guys, you may not like us and trust me, the feeling’s mutual. But just let us tag along and watch over Jerry. That’s all we’re asking for.”
One more telepathy look and: “Fair enough,” APA decides. “But you better hope you’re cut out for this. Who knows what’s gonna go down tonight.”
Terka and Pida decide their best shot is to split up early on: Freeda will go with APA and watch over Jerry while Nathan will head to the Newsroom and search the archive for Micco Luppa. That makes Pavel the MC shine with glee since that’s exactly how he designed this case: it can easily be solved by just sticking to APA as they mow through the City in their bloody revenge hunt – but that strange anonymous message can actually get them far ahead if the pursue it.
Which they did. It just turns out, Nathan and Freeda (or Pida and Terka perhaps) are not exactly the best detectives in the group.
As Nathan finds out in Echo’s archives, Micco Luppa is an orphaned street kid who are dime a dozen in this City. But two very strange news popped up about him few weeks ago, right after that security footage was taken. First one speaks about him as of a “BOY WONDER” who’d been drafted into City’s most prestigious soccer team. But when Nathan (with off-screen help of Rupert, a part-time soccer trainer after all) tracks down Micco’s former coach in a non-stop establishment, the drunk man tells him that Micco couldn’t hit a barn door with a football if his life depended on it. Which, for kids from Micco’s neighborhood, it often does.
“That news must have been some bollocks mistake, young man,” the coach burbs in Nathan’s face. “That headhunter it mentions? No people like that go to our trainings. What we play can be barely considered a sport. Hell I still don’t know what offside is. That’s not what this is about. It’s about keeping those lads busy, from doing something they might regret later on.”
The second piece of news states that Micco Luppa is dead.
He was reportedly murdered in a drug feud, possibly connected to PED substances which were supposed to be behind his miraculous hiring. The club uttered a short message of remorse for the press and the whole thing was soon forgotten. Too soon and too abruptly even.
As if the Mist swooped in and covered its tracks.
Later that night, Freeda uses the heavy rain and her Water Mirror tag to find Micco’s half-demolished orphanage outside of Cryfield, now a squat for homeless children. They discover Micco’s stash there: a little money, some spare clothes, pile of sports magazines; and a few pieces of candy wrapped in a plastic foil.
Pavel the MC is secretly smiling, because he knows where this leads. All the girls need to do now is to check Micco Luppa’s file at Cryfield’s police station to see that his case was reviewed by one Maria Lopez, an agent from Internal Affairs. And if they follow that thread, they’ll soon learn what had truly happened in Charlie’s Liquor earlier tonight.
But the girls don’t. It simply doesn’t occur to them.
…damn.
Alright. Fair enough. They’ll still get to the bottom of this eventually. Just… in a less favorable manner I'd wager.
Meanwhile, Freeda helps APA and Jerry track down the copkillers. The tracks lead them to an individual called Moe: a prominent figure in Cryfield’s seedy underbelly. If you have 30 kilos of drugs on your hands and the whole district is closing in on you, you're gonna want to sell it, ASAP. And in that case, Moe and his used-to-be dry dock, now a drug den on the river bank is the person and the place to go to.
“Just to be sure,” Freeda asks APA as they are sneaking towards the gate, “we’re doing this the proper way, right? We’re not going in there guns blazing?”
“Let me tell you something from my personal experience, hippie,” Porter says. “In this profession, the one who shoots first usually wins.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Can’t I? You think you know what it’s like to be a cop in this City? To wear that badge? We might as well carry a huge red target on our back.” Porter nods towards the gate. “We know this guy. And we know his type. We try to do this the nice way, they’ll use that to slip right through our fingers. Better safe than sorry.”
And they go in guns blazing.
Some of Moe’s men are fighting back, but they don’t stand a chance against the well choreographed trio. APA goes through the gangsters like a hot knife through a packet of margarine. Jerry on the other hand would nearly kick a bucket if it wasn’t for Freeda. Moe himself uses the chaos to run for the docks where his getaway boat awaits, but Freeda and Jerry follow suit: Freeda freezes the wet dock under his feet to make him slip and Jerry makes his first official arrest.
He should be looking proud. But isn’t. Just more and more terrified.
APA’s interrogation methods are exactly what the Crew would expect. Soon the bloody and terrified Moe explains that a group of three Russians barged into his drug den a mere hour ago. They had made upon a deal a few days back, but tonight something went wrong: instead of cocaine they found candy and instead of 30 kilos, they found a whole safe room full of it – and now, five dead cops later, the whole City is on their tail. Moe bought the product from them (for a considerably lower price, given the circumstances) because he had heard some rumors about a new drug on the street called Candy and saw the opportunity to barge in to the market. But before he had a chance to check this wonderous product out, APA showed up and seized everything.
Two things came out of this: first, in all the chaos, Nathan managed to snatch one of the pieces of Candy which now rests in his jacket’s pocket. And second, Moe promised them to share where the Russians headed next – if APA lets him go.
“No need for that, Moe,” Porter grins. “We know exactly where they’re going. Fellas? Take him to the station!”
As APA explains the Crew on the way, the money from Moe will still have traces of cocaine dust all over them, making it an easy to track by police dogs. They’ll need to launder the money and it just happens that APA knows exactly the guy who offers these kinds of services in Cryfield: a notorious man nicknamed the Frenchman.
When they get to the Frenchman’s apartment, the man himself is nowhere to be found. The three Russians are here however: with bags of money laid out on the table, arguing in front of a locked wall safe the size of an XXL fridge.
Another firefight ensues, even more dangerous this time. The Russians – brothers in fact, as becomes apparent from their looks – are certainly putting up a fight and APA has clearly met her match. Never the less, it still seems they are still fighting to escape the scene rather than to kill APA and the Crew. The youngest of brothers makes a run for the table, trying to grab a pile of notebooks lying there, but Freeda stops him with a rope dart. Shortly after Nathan pins the oldest brother to the ground with his sword, straight through the heart, killing him instantly.
He shouldn’t have done that.
Second brother goes for the kill, but with Jerry’s help, Nathan tackles him to the ground. The youngest brother breaks free and jumps out of the window to the roof, but he doesn't get far. Freeda chases him down and freezes his legs in ice.
“You’re with the cops?!” the youngest brother shouts at her when he realizes he can’t break free. “Well go ahead then. Finish your job!”
“I’m here to make sure you face justice,” Freeda shakes her head.
“Bullshit! You’re here to kill us. It was all a set-up!”
“What in the hell are you even talking about? You killed five patrolmen tonight!”
“Those were no patrolmen! The owner, he looked at his watch!” youngest brother cried out. “When we got to the store, he looked at his watch and said: ‘You’re dead meat’. And five minutes later, the cops show up. We had no choice…!”
That was the last thing he said before Porter’s bullet pierced his brain.
“FUCK!” Freeda screams. “What the hell was that?! He was surrendering!”
t“Didn’t look like i from here,” Porter shrugs his shoulders, watching from the window. “You’re welcome, hippie. I just saved your life.”
None of the Russians made it out of the Frenchman’s apartment alive. Just as the night was nearing its end, the dreaded cop-killers finally faced justice and Cryfield could sleep safe once more.
…but that doesn’t sound exactly right, does it?
Neither it did to Nathan and Freeda, but at this point, they were both exhausted from the manhunt and their players were out of ideas. There was something here they’ve missed but they just couldn’t figure out what it was.
But of course, Pavel the MC was ready to show them.
First, Atherton drove them to the police station and put them in a cell – “A formality, really. I’ll be right back for you once we wrap things up” – and surprisingly enough, came for them again in about an hour. Still handcuffed – “We need to make it look good for the cameras. One of you has just killed a man after all.” – he led them out of the cell, but wait a minute. He didn't take them to the interrogation room. Instead he put them in his car.
“Where are we going?” Nathan asks nervously.
“You’ll see soon enough,” Atherton ensured him.
The building he took them to was an abandoned squat at the edge of Cryfield. The lower floors were full of homeless people hiding from the rain. The upper floors were completely empty. That is except for Porter, Archer and Jerry, waiting for them in an empty, run-down room at the end of a long hallway.
“Alright Jerry.” The Crew could hear Archer’s voice well before they could see them. “Go ahead. Open it up.”
There’s nothing inside the room except for one particular object: a fridge. It is bound with chains and a massive padlock, which Archer has just opened, and when Jerry nervously grabs the handle with both hands and opens it, a long, distorted moan comes from within. The inside of the fridge is a black, writhing mass of goo, outlined by shapes of human bodies: boney arms stretching and grabbing air and silhouettes of faces of individuals long, long forgotten.
[Pida: Holy shit. Fridgebound! I completely forgot about that!]
It is here where following the footsteps of Internal Affair agent Maria Lopez would have taken the Crew. Because she had actually almost figured it out. She knew something smelled fishy about Micco Luppa’s murder, but she never found enough proof to make a case about it.
That’s because all the proof ended up inside this fridge right here.
“It’s the best thing we’ve happened to discover since our first day on the force,” Archer explains as he tosses Frenchman’s notebooks inside. The fridge swallows them like a starved beast. “There’s just one hitch: only a person feeling honest remorse can open it. Which is where our Jerry here comes in handy.”
“Wait!” Jerry cries out. “You can’t be serious! Why them?! They haven’t done anything, it’s not their fault!”
“That it isn’t,” Atherton agrees. “But they already know way too much. And if they don’t now, they might later.”
It’s probably at this moment – far, far too late to be any good to them – when the players finally figure it out.
The drug stash in Charlie’s Liquor has belonged to APA all along. And those five cops dead by the Russian’s hands? They were there to pick up the merchandize. APA didn’t know about Moe and the Frenchman because they were criminals. They knew about them, because they were their associates.
“And none of this would ever have to happen, if it wasn’t for your dumb ass, Jerry,” Porter spits on his shoes. “If you didn't send them that bloody camera footage!”
Indeed. Those pictures weren’t meant for the Crew originally: Jerry wanted to give them to Maria Lopez after APA had killed Micco Luppa for trying out their product – whatever issue they took with that – and threatened to pin the boy’s murder on him, ending his career and probably putting him in jail. He knew that APA had disposed of all the evidence of their crime, but Jerry managed to salvage this one piece of evidence that could lead agent Lopez to Charlie’s Liquor and discover their whole operation.
If only APA wasn’t faster. And agent Lopez didn’t end up in the Fridge herself.
And so Jerry anonymously sent it to the last person in Cryfield he thought he could trust: to Eddie and the Cryfield Echo.
“Which is why,” Porter grinned, “you have the honor to go first.” And with those words he grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the Fridge.
[Pida: “I can’t believe we thought even for a second they might be somewhat good guys in this story.”]
[Terka. “Yeah. Let’s fuck them up. Freeda is going to Stop. Holding. Back.”]
The thing about being a water bending Rift?
Human bodies are about 60 % water.
Freeda clenches her fists and Archer, Porter and Atherton freeze in a spasm. Their veins pop up, fluids bubbling under their skin. Droplets of blood start running from their noses, ears and eyes. Their limbs twist as Freeda slowly gains control of them.
“Now give me one – single – reason why I shouldn’t have you all march right inside that monstrosity,” she grunts.
APA has no convincing arguments. Nothing but begging for mercy.
But then Jerry jumps in fron of the Fridge, grabs the handle and closes it shut.
“Because it wouldn’t be right,” he says.
You see my friend, what Terka and Pida didn’t know was that for the entire episode, Pavel the MC was tracking their interactions with Jerry. Every status they gave him, every line of dialogue they spoke to him, he wrote it all down and evaluated the effect this would have on Jerry. It was this, rather than anything else they did in this episode, that would decide how it ends. And fortunately for them, they have stood by him and encouraged him every single step of the way.
And that is why there was something different about this Jerry: the one defending those despicable sons of bitches that Archer, Porter and Atherton definitely were. Instead of his blue police cap, a lavishing hat with a peacock feather made of golden mist rested on his head. And instead of a pistol, he was holding a spectral rapier.
[Pida: Wait… Was that an awakening? Have we just awaken a Mythos inside of him?]
[Terka: A fricking D’Artagnan?!]
“I know they well deserve it,” Jerry urged them. “But if we do this… If I do this… I’ll never be the man my father wanted me to be. Please, I’m asking you… We need to do this right.”
Freeda was truly ready to throw all three of those assholes into oblivion. But I guess Terka’s a sucker for a moving speech.
Doing things right is notoriously harder than doing them the easy way. But amazingly, it all worked out. APA has been meticulously burying evidence and witnesses during the entire case – the Russians, Moe’s people, all of the Candy and Frenchman’s notebooks – but after a joined effort, the Crew managed to put together enough back-up evidence to bring the whole thing to court. Nathan's family connections definitely didn't hurt. Jerry’s inside knowledge of the fact, that APA has been in charge of every case concerning the owner of Charlie’s Liquor (from which he always walked away scot-free) helped to make the case that they ran the drug stash together. The only thing they needed to solidify that was a proof of their earnings from the deals, but without Frenchman’s books or the man himself…
[Terka: “Oh my god. I’ve just realized it. He’s been in that goddamn safe the whole time, wasn't he?!]
True indeed. Oldest of the Russian brothers put him in there after they had learned he’s working with the police. When the Crew got him out (thanks to Freeda’s acquaintance Goldie from Carnival of Machines), he barely had any air left.
But his testimony was that final nail in the coffin that eventually put APA behind bars.
And so, somehow, that horrible night had an actual happy ending.
Cryfield’s Police was rid of its rotten core and although restoration wouldn’t be easy, the groundwork was there in the shape of Jerry the D’Artagnan as the first detective on the new force, ready to show Cryfield what justice should really be about.
And yes, my friend, I'm sure you still have questions. Like what actually was that new Candy drug after all? What about that strange Micco Luppa's soccer stardom episode? And most importantly:
What happened to that god forsaken Fridge?
Don't worry, my friend.
We will have plenty of time to talk about all of that. Just some another time.
[This homebrew episode's plot has been massively inspired by / shamelessly stolen from the movie 21 Bridges along with pieces of City of Mist original content.]
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