RQG B4 Girls, Guardians & Giants

## Summary

Bertie, Tjelvar, and Eddie find Hannibal's tomb. Now if they can only get into the place...

## Synopsis

Having found the flagstone that may lead them to Hannibal's Tomb, the group begins digging through the snow to discover which way they lead. They spend 4 hours digging out the Tomb from the side of the mountain. In doing so, they uncover the door. At the top of the door, at eye level, there is a carving of a man on his side, his upper torso, head, and face, on his side with "Here lies Hannibal. Champion of Carthage. Protector of Civilization. Heir to the Greatest Heroes of the Bygone Age. You who seek to be his heirs must prove yourselves worthy of this lineage." written in Ancient Greek beneath it. Below that there is a second carving in a tapestry style with nine naked male figures and animals above a slightly tilted hand outstretching from them stone work. The hand is in a position to shake hands.

Bertie translates the sentence for the group and then moves forward to shake the hand but it stopped by Tjelvar. As the two debate whether to simply jump in or prepare first, Eddie touches the hand and vanishes into thin air. Tjelvar decides that Eddie is either dead or in the tomb.... and then possibly dead, so they try and shout through the door. There is no answer. Bertie knocks on the door. There is still no answer. Tjelvar decides that the risk of Eddie damaging things inside is a big enough risk to try for himself. Tjelvar grabs the hand and vanishes. Bertie is left standing alone outside the tomb.

Bertie figures out that the man carved into the door is Hannibal in a heroic pose. He also realizes that the carving of men below seems familiar and that nine may not be the right number.

He decides that he is not going to glean anything else from investigating the door so he takes a deep breath, introduces himself, and shakes the hand.

Eddie finds himself in a large hall. The climate is almost tropical and the sea can be heard in the distance. Before him is a large, powerful, muscled Queen (Hippolyta, though this is unknown to Ed) sitting on a throne, being served by more women of similar physique. Eddie apologizes and turns around to strip his cold weather gear.

Eddie observes aloud that as he is now warm and he was most certainly not in a warm place before, he must be somewhere else and asks Queen Hippolyta where he is.

Hippolyta stands and Ed observes that she is wearing several magical items, the most impressive of which is a belt (the Girdle of Hippolyta). When Hippolyta answers him Ed both does not recognize the language and yet understands what she says.

When Ed tells her he is looking for the Tomb of someone that he cannot remember the name of, she informs him that he must be in the wrong place. Ed doesn't not know the way out, and bluntly tells her so.

Tjelvar wakes up in a massive orchard filled with golden apples. In the distance, Tjelvar can see someone (Atlas) standing next to a pillar that extends into the heavens, spreading and getting thicker as it ascends. Tjelvar approaches him and realizes the being is indeed a giant and that he is holding the pillar up from beneath. Tjelvar, unlike Ed, recognizes that this is Atlas and addresses him by his name.

Tjelvar asks Atlas if there is an exit, but Atlas does not know of one because he is not permitted to leave his position holding up the sky.

Bertie finds himself in a tunnel, sloping down, with Cerberus standing in front of him. Two of Cerberus' three heads are growling at him. Bertie, against all odds, manages to tame Cerberus with a suitable handle animal check and quite a lot of baby talk. He then plays fetch with Cerberus using the symbol of Artemis. Together, Bertie and Cerberus move down the tunnel.

Back in the Orchard, Tjelvar realizes that the Frieze on the door was actually an unfinished depiction of the twelve labours of Heracles. Tjelvar thus offers to prop the sky up while Atlas goes to get some golden apples. Atlas takes the offer up and Tjelvar purposefully holds the pillar a bit badly. When Atlas returns, he starts to talk about how he isn't sure he wants to switch back.

Ed, meanwhile, is unsuccessfully trying to remember Hannibal's name as Hippolyta gets more and more frustrated with him. Ed decides to try and detect evil but no one in the room shows as evil. He tries to introduce himself and so Queen Hippolyta offers her name back. Hippolyta and Ed try unsuccesfully gain information from each other before Ed gives up.

Bertie walks a little further before ending up back in his starting position. Bertie tries unsuccessfully to think of anything about the entrances to the underworld. Bertie does eventually find a flute however.

Tjelvar uses his purposefully bad grip to convince Atlas to show him how to hold it properly so that Atlas can have a break for longer. When Atlas takes the pillar back, Tjelvar "trips and falls" so that he comes out from under the pillar, thereby escaping. He does place one of the apples in Atlas' mouth before grabbing the other and vanishing.

Ed is still looking for a way out of the throne room, he is not successful.

Bertie decides to walk up the tunnel instead of down and upon reaching the cave entrance, vanishes.

Tjelvar and Bertie flicker back into existence in a stone hallway inside of the tomb, wearing their cold weather gear. They can't find Edward but do not seem very bothered by it. Tjelvar asks Bertie if he also received a Trial of Heracles and Bertie realizes he did.

Edward is now hunting for statues to shake their hands. He attempts to exit the room onto the balcony and instead flickers back into existence outside the door to Hannibal's tomb.

Tjelvar hears Eddie outside the tomb and thankfully Eddie hears him as well. Tjelvar attempts to tell Eddie how to pass the trial so Eddie touches the hand.

## Quotes

"The thought of the hell that evil-doers go to, warm me in this cold climate."
―**Ed**

**Bertie**: "Well that solves one problem, doesn’t it."
**Tjelvar**: "Either he’s dead, or he’s in the tomb right now. And then possibly dead... Right, well, if he is in there and he is alive, I hate to think the kind damage he’s doing right now, so here it goes."
―They find a carving with an outstretched hand; Ed reaches out to shake it and disappears.

**Tjelvar**: "The frieze!! On the door!"
**Edward**: "Yeah, it's dead cold."
―Tjelvar tries to help Ed figure out the riddle.

## Dice rolls and Mechanics

Everyone makes a strength check to dig out the tomb: Bertie gets 12, Ed gets 22, Tjelvar gets 5

Everyone makes two fort saves against the cold: Bertie gets 9, 12; Tjelvar gets 20, 9; Ed gets nat 20 and 21. Bertie takes 7 nonlethal damage. Tjelvar takes 2 nonlethal damage.

Bertie makes a knowledge history check on the temple: 14

Bertie makes a knowledge history check on the landscape: 17

Ed rolls a d12 upon touching the handle: 9

Ed makes a fort save against heat: 15

Tjelvar rolls a d12 upon touching the handle: 11

Bertie rolls a d12 upon touching the handle: 12

Bertie makes a handle animal check with pomp and pageantry: 17

Tjelvar makes a knowledge history check on the frieze: 24

Ed casts detect evil on the queen.

Bertie makes a knowledge history check: 4

Bertie makes a perception check: 10

Bertie makes another knowledge history check: 5

Tjelvar makes a diplomacy check on Atlas: 29

Bertie and Tjelvar make perception checks: Bertie gets a 6, Tjelvar gets a 20

Ed makes a perception check to hear Tjelvar: 18

Bertie and Tjelvar makes a knowledge history check: Bertie gets 13, Tjelvar gets 15