Heading to Menerain

Sir Blanque - swordsman and handsome, dashing noble half mer-person

Marion - stabby stabby dagger specialist; Nihrain who currently carries the Runestaff

Destiny - Menastrai sorceress covertly raised on Melnibone

Bomilcar - Weeping Waste nomad from a chieftain's family

Menerain is the name of the ancient Menastrai capital, located in a region that is covered by great lakes in the time of the characters, 1,000 years in the future.  Destiny knows the history of this era as well as anybody, so is well aware that Menastree is destined to be conquered. And then the Dharzi will arrive. However, none of the historians seems to know the ultimate fate of Menerain.

The characters make use of the river system leading towards the lake region, which is smaller than they remember from the future. It does look as though the waters are rising, though - perhaps their new canal through the mountains is beginning to feed water into this area. 

There are a few hairy moments as they have to avoid groups of Melnibonean scouts send ahead by the main army to seize useful crossing points. At one point the party realizes a large stone bridge around a bend in the river is being fortified by troops under the command of Melnibonean officers; Destiny has been using air elementals as an early warning system. So the group takes their light boat out of the water entirely and makes a detour by carrying it around a hillock on the side still owned by the Menastrai; earth elementals help with the heavy lifting. 

On another occasion the river suddenly widens into a shallow ford. Fortunately the boat they borrowed from their grateful new friends is built to deal with this sort of thing, but the sweating party of troopers trying to move supply wagons across the ford is another thing. The party's luck was bound to run out eventually. There is no time for finesse, so Destiny orders water elementals to blast their boat through the group of surprised soldiers. A few men on the banks manage to loose some arrows, but the air elementals take care of those. 

This is the last obstacle, and the characters round a headland and are confronted with the beauty  of Menerain. Destiny sighs whimsically; it reminds her so much of Imrryr. Unlike the Melnibonean capital, though, this city is ensconced on a large island in the middle of the main lake, providing it with formidable natural defences. Floating above the city is the Citadel of Martek, so it looks as though their friend Zotaquaan has arrived to help. 

This is actually Rodney Matthews' famous image of Tanelorn, but it seems appropriate for Menerain.

And just in time, too, as the Melnibonean horde starts to arrive en masse to besiege the city. The characters barely get to the lake wharfs of the city before everything is shut down in anticipation of the pending attacks.

Zotaquaan appears and hurriedly introduces the four adventurers to the leaders of the city - Menastrai all. He cautions the group not to say much about the future, though, since it could be rather confusing. A council of war is convened, with the party as guests of honor. They are presented with the first of the two meteorites for which they are searching, as recompense for helping in the war. Destiny realizes that the thing is actually a tablet of some kind of alien stone, with glyphs etched into it in High Melnibonean, of all things. The locals are able to translate it, of course, but it seems like gibberish to them - phrases like "Lady of the Plants" and 'Gardens of Ynn". 

Destiny works it out. They encountered the Gardens of Ynn in the future, and Destiny knows about the destruction (or disappearance) of the Menastrai and the onset of the great Melnibonean wars with the Dharzi. She realizes that the Lady of the Plants must be a powerful earth spirit similar to the Dharzi Beast Lords, only greater - and that the Gardens of Ynn belong to her. This means that the second meteorite must be another tablet, and when you put them both together you have a unique summoning that will allow the Lady to create the Gardens of Ynn. So who or what sent the tablets? Marion smiles knowingly - she is carrying the Runestaff, after all.

There is more, though, incredible as this already seems. Marion suggests that they use the Entropy Configuration to save the Menastrai capital, and Zotaquaan nods wisely. "You won't know this," he says privately to the group during a recess, "But the Menasatri survive this war by moving their entire capital to a hidden area to the northeast, well beyond what will become Eshmir. I know this because I've been there."

Sir Blanque asks to have a look at the little carriage clock that carries so much potential. As he studies it, he begins to work out how to use it - he really does have an affinity for this sort of pseudo-science.

Ultimately, the group hatches a daring plan. Zotaquaan will use the Entropy Configuration to shift Menerain to its new location at the height of the Melnibonean assault. This will make it look to the invaders as though the city has been sorcerously destroyed. The four friends will take advantage of the confusion to head northwards to a region of hills that lies between Menerain and the city they know will become Anakheera - the location of the second main Menastrai city, and also the second Tablet of Ynn. The Menastrai dragons have already been sent here for safekeeping, since it is the citadel farthest from the Melnibonean advance. Sir Blanque starts when he hears this; he has had a dream showing him sealing dragons into a great cave using the Sword of the Dawn. 

There is nothing anyone can do about the third main city, which has already fallen to the forces of Melnibonean; even now, Menerain's streets are crowded with refugees from that part of their domains.

The players take these plans to the High Council of Menerain, and their ideas are accepted. The Menastrai know that they will not be able to withstand the superior sorcerous might of the Bright Empire at its height. Zotaquaan/Martek supervises as they load their treasury and library into his citadel for safekeeping, all nice and snug for the characters to find in the future, as they already know.

The characters leave by night in their little boat and head northwards. They have a grand view the next morning as the Melnibonean massed assault begins, including various elemental creatures and rafts attacking Menerain across the lake - it's just as well they left beforehand. There is an enormous shift in the whole area and a great bell tolls. Suddenly, the city is gone and the waters rush in to fill the gap. A tsunami of watery chaos spreads swiftly in all directions and the enemy is thrown into great turmoil. The waters sweep the characters swiftly northwards, with judicious use of air and water elementals keeping their little craft afloat.