Chapter 4 Walkthrough: How to Open Freddie’s Urn Lock in Sinking City 2

The occult ward blocking the door beside the Abandoned Office on the second floor of the Arkham Fish Market is the one lock in Chapter 4 that no gadget will touch. Leyden Jars do nothing to it, and neither does brute force. The barrier only reacts to a single hidden object tucked behind a wall painting one floor down.

Quick answer: Go to the painting beside the Cold Storage exit door on 1F, hit the head of the second figure from the right — the only one not holding an instrument — take Freddie’s Urn from the hole, then use it on the magic ward on 2F.

Why the ward needs Freddie’s Urn and nothing else

The seal on Ma Fishface’s Shop is held together by a melody, not a mechanism. Faye can only break it once she hears the tune, and the urn is what carries it. That is why players burn through their Leyden Jars here for nothing — those jars belong to the starfish growths guarding the Workshop and the Antikythera, a completely separate puzzle chain.

Two pieces of writing set this up. The Eulogy for Old Freddie sits on the bar on the pub’s second floor and identifies him as the singer everyone remembers. Down in the basement off Cold Storage, the Tide Runners note adds that those sailors were more than sailors. Neither goes into your inventory as an item, but together they point at the painting.

What you need	Where it is
Eulogy for Old Freddie	On the bar, second floor of the pub
Tide Runners note	Basement, just off Cold Storage
Freddie’s Urn	Behind the wall painting near the Cold Storage exit door (1F)
The ward itself	2F Market, between Ma Fishface’s Shop and the Abandoned Office

Getting Freddie’s Urn out of the painting

From the warded door, backtrack down to the first floor of the Fish Market and return to the gas pipe you shut off with the handwheel. This is the same route you used earlier in the chapter, so the path should already be open.

Walking through the Cold Storage doorway on the first floor of the Fish Market — The Cold Storage entrance on 1F — the painting sits near this doorway. Image: Frogwares

Next to that pipe, take the ramp leading up toward the Cold Storage exit door. A large painted fresco covers the wall right beside it, showing a group of figures riding a whale.

Look at what each figure is holding. Almost all of them are playing a musical instrument. The one that is not is Freddie, and he is the second man from the right.

Attack his face. A melee strike to the head works, and so does a single bullet. Hitting any other figure does nothing at all, so do not waste ammo working across the whole painting.

The plaster breaks open to expose a compartment behind the wall. Interact with the damaged section to collect Freddie’s Urn, described in your inventory as an ornate urn decorated with seashells.

Note: The urn arrives alongside Old Freddie’s Shanty, a lore entry containing the full text of “The Fisherman’s Love.” It is the same song Faye will need, and it is worth reading if you want the ward to make narrative sense.

Using the urn on the magic ward (2F)

Climb back to the second floor of the Market and walk to the Abandoned Office. The sealed door is the one marked Magic Ward on your map, sitting between the office and Ma Fishface’s Shop.

The sealed wooden door on the second floor of the Market with the objective marker active — The warded door on 2F, next to the Abandoned Office. Image: Frogwares

Interact with the barrier and open the Key Items menu. Select Freddie’s Urn rather than a Leyden Jar — the jars are listed in the same place and are easy to pick by mistake.

Faye picks up the melody held in the urn and sings it back. The ward dissolves and the door into Ma Fishface’s Shop unlocks on its own, so there is no further prompt to hunt for.

Common reasons the ward will not break

You are presenting a Leyden Jar. The jars have no effect on this barrier under any circumstances.
You hit the wrong figure in the painting. Only the man without an instrument, second from the right, opens the compartment.
You broke the plaster but never collected the item. The urn still needs a separate interact once the hole is exposed.

What comes immediately after the door opens

Stepping inside triggers a cutscene where Ma Fishface introduces herself. Once the conversation ends, the shop holds the second Leyden Jar for the chapter, and you should grab it before leaving through the far door. That jar feeds the starfish doors ahead, including the one at the Weighing Station that hides the grenade launcher.

Chapter 4 has no chapter select and no way back once you move on, so sweep the Fish Market map for anything still unmarked before you head toward the Broken Hold.