Electric Bastionland - Feau, the lockholder

This is a playthrough of the tabletop roleplaying game “Electric Bastionland” by Chris McDowall. You can find his work on his blog Bastionland.

STRength: 10
DEXterity: 12
CHArisma: 10
HP: 3
£: 2
Failed Career (d100): 36

You are a lockholder. Canal locks collect tolls, but no one really knows who they belong to. You owned a lock for a while.
Your name is Feau. You owe the company "Severin Sisters - Underground Cruises" 10,000 New Pounds. In addition to your normal uniform, you possess a poor-quality imitation of a naval uniform. You also have an unused pistol (1d6) and a fancy uniform.
You were a member of the lock association "The Very-Strong-Group." You can rip out another person's heart if you deal critical damage with an unarmed attack.
What went wrong? After you concocted a scheme to blow up your lock for insurance fraud, you were suspended from duty. However, you kept the bomb (1d10 explosion).

Alright. You are Feau, you were once a kind of highwaywoman, and now you have a cart, a bomb, and a pile of debt. Now you sit here in Bastion—the only city that really matters. A treasure is your last glimmer of hope.

Chapter 1: Amberwood
Thousands flock here daily. Part film set, part amusement park. The real power lies in the chewing gum factory. You sit on a bench in a film set that depicts various districts of the city in the past, present, and future. You're bored and a little desperate. You’re not even quite sure what you're doing here. Your tailor gave you a tip that you could find the coat of the "Nine-Piece Suit" here. A legendary piece from a great tailor who had eight sons and a daughter. When he fell ill, they decided to make him a suit for his burial and strove to create the perfect piece. Although they worked independently, the garments fit together perfectly. After trying on the suit, the tailor was so full of life that he outlived each of his children, burying each one in the suit piece they had crafted for him.

Your tailor (d100=97, d4=4), Fera, assured you that you could get 1,000£ for just one part of the suit. If you were to acquire all nine parts, it would be an invaluable treasure. Exactly what could get you out of your dire situation. (d6=6) Fera was a podiatrist. Her specialty was reading the soles of her clients' feet to determine their abilities, lineage, homeland, and cause of death. (Sparks: 2d20=11,12) The last time she took your measurements for your naval uniform, she offered you her services. You were amazed when she read from your foot that you had spent your youth in the Paper District, and she was spot on when she noted that you liked the thick walls of your lock so much because the walls in your youth were always far too thin.

(d100=3, d4=1) A friendly smiling employee of the film set park approaches you as you light your cigarette. "Kariana" reads her name tag, and a scar along with her military-stiff posture tells you she must have served in the district trench wars. A recurring conflict between some of Bastion's seemingly countless districts. No one really knew what the conflict was about. When you asked the participants, you always got new slogans, reports of negotiations, and evasions. Usually, too many parties were involved in the fighting for anyone to say who fired the first shot, who had the best chances of winning, or what would happen if one of the factions did win. Most of the time, everything fizzled out or the recruits simply went missing due to the overwhelming bureaucracy. The overworked draft boards often led to recruits dying of old age in the waiting room of recruitment offices before they even had the chance to be blown to pieces by a stray grenade in no man's land. Bastion was indeed a contradictory place.

"Madam, smoking is strictly prohibited here!" Kariana says with an almost strained smile. "We wouldn’t want to accidentally set the set on fire. Here, you can extinguish your cigarette in my portable ashtray, and then I must ask you to rejoin the tour group. Unfortunately, wandering alone is also strictly prohibited!" Her overly friendly tone annoys you quite a bit, but a glance at the baton on her hip reminds you it’s better to listen to her. (CHA roll: d20=9<CHA10, success) You return her smile, extinguish the cigarette, and she accompanies you back to the others. "Can you tell me if perhaps a valuable coat has been seen around here recently?" you ask Kariana. 

(CHA roll: d20=6<CHA10, success) "Hmm, I haven’t heard of any particular coat, but there’s a nearly perfect imitation of ‘Alaine Cervantes’ Forum of Fine Attire’ here in the replica of Bastion," one of the legendary tailor shops in Bastion." "Aha," you murmur, "and are there coats there?" "But of course! You will find all kinds of imitations there. Very lifelike," Kariana replies. "But aren’t imitations of clothing simply clothing themselves?" asks one of the tourists, who had been listening curiously. "No, no. That would be entirely against the spirit of our film set. We only want to depict the past, present, and future of Bastion. The clothes are cheap props made of such poor material that a wrong touch would make them crumble in your hand. They only look valuable."

Kariana began raving about her workplace and as she led the group through (themes d8,d4=5,2) an academic vault full of artifacts, she told the origin story and function of each object, which were displayed elaborately and lit for effect. (d100=93) "These here are the wings of the underground oddball (d4=2) Scram. You can fly with them, but only very clumsily. Scram (themes d8,d4=6,2) escaped his district in the year (d1000) 769, which was in a state of uncontrollable population growth due to a contagious disease. The wings allowed him to jump from the ever-growing district walls and land in the (themes d8,d4=4,1) Union District. Unfortunately, he flew right into a worker’s uprising and died. Fortunately, reports and photographs were preserved, which allowed us to recreate his makeshift flying device. And before you ask: No, these are just replicas, and of course, they cannot be used to fly."

You sigh in disappointment. "Are we still going to pass by this tailor forum?" you ask the tour guide. "But of course, my lady. We should reach the tailor district in about 2 hours; then we will have completed one-sixteenth of our tour." A weary groan goes through the tour group. A child begins to cry. (DEX roll: d20=12=DEX12, success) You notice a map at the exit that depicts the film set. You discreetly pocket it.

As Kariana leads you to the next set (themes d8,d4=8,4), a future vision where passive-aggressiveness dominates everyday life, you and your group of exhausted tourists are bombarded by advertising slogans: "Sure, do what you want... Or you can try our burgers at Willy's!" "No offense, but you should hit the gym," or "You can manage it alone... It’s not like we could have insured you anyway."
You’re slowly getting fed up with this tour. Whoever thought of planning this tour without breaks for food or bathroom needs must have been a cunning sadist. You seize a moment of inattention to take a look at the stolen map. (DEX roll: d20=2<12, success). You spot a gray line connecting the "Passive Aggressiveness Set" to the tailor district. The legend indicates that gray stands for staff tunnels. You secretly sneak through the maintenance door hidden behind a sign that reads "Must be really nice always getting your way." You find yourself in a surprisingly clean, concrete, and neon-lit maintenance tunnel. It leads straight but makes a slight bend, so you can only see 10 meters ahead. You move along the tunnel.