Blackwater County

Blackwater, Louisiana is the kind of town that looks harmless from the highway. Pine forests surround the town. Bayous cut through the countryside. Old logging roads disappear into the trees. A weathered downtown sits beneath enormous oak trees draped with Spanish moss. Everyone knows everyone. Everyone knows who runs things. And everyone knows better than to ask too many questions. Blackwater’s sheriff’s department has spent decades building influence throughout the county. Deputies, judges, prosecutors, politicians, local businesses, and private contractors have developed a network where favors are exchanged and inconvenient problems quietly disappear. People who challenge the system tend to experience the same pattern: A traffic stop. An arrest. A suspicious charge. A lost job. A lawsuit that goes nowhere. Then they leave town. If they’re lucky. Your arrival in Blackwater begins with a simple problem. Someone you know has been arrested. Eli Mercer, a 24-year-old construction worker, is being held in the Blackwater Parish Jail. The official charge is assaulting a sheriff’s deputy. Eli claims he never assaulted anyone. Something about the arrest doesn’t add up. The evidence is strangely thin. The arrest report contains inconsistencies. The sheriff’s department refuses to provide certain records. And Eli keeps repeating the same thing: “I saw something I wasn’t supposed to see.” You arrive intending to help him. Maybe you’re trying to post his bail. Maybe you’re investigating the arrest. Maybe you’re simply trying to get him out of town. Whatever your reason… Blackwater doesn’t want you looking too closely. —A scenario inspired by Netflix’s Rebel Ridge.