#87 - Road to the aqueduct

 Before the escaped prisoners scattered into the hills at the end of the previous session, one of them pulled Perra aside and explained how they had managed to flee the plantation. Pointing to the horizon in the northeast, he described a landmark visible from nearly anywhere in the region: the tallest mountain at the very edge of the Spinewater Skyhold. Just west of that peak lies a small valley leading to another cluster of mountains. Beyond those mountains, he explained, sits a large reservoir built by Virex and the Yuan-ti to serve as the permanent water supply for the plantation. Water is carried across the valley by an aqueduct that feeds into the reservoir.

The prisoners had not known about the structure at first. But after a recent earthquake, several of them were forced to perform repair work on the aqueduct. Once they realized what it was, they seized the opportunity. Slipping across the reservoir at night, they used the aqueduct itself as a narrow bridge across the valley and escaped through the wilderness beyond the walls.

Meanwhile, Tsk had remained behind on the Skyhold of Cairn Oruna to assist the slaves freed from Virex’s temple there. With that task completed, the high priest of the temple of Bahamut arranged to teleport him to Perra’s location, reuniting the druid with the rest of the party.

Armed with the knowledge of the aqueduct’s location, the party set out toward the northeast, hoping to use it as a covert route into the Spinewater plantation.

The journey was not quiet for long. Along the way they encountered a mounted Yuan-ti patrol: two Pit Masters and two Nightmare Speakers, each riding an armored triceratops. Leading them was a high-ranking Yuan-ti Pureblood cleric.

The battle that followed was fierce and costly. Recognizing the threat posed by the cleric, the party focused their attacks on her first. Once she fell, the momentum shifted steadily in their favor. Still, the triceratops proved terrifying opponents, goring Perra and Samm multiple times and leaving several members of the party badly wounded before the fight was finally brought under control.

With the Yuan-ti riders defeated, the party managed to calm the trained dinosaurs rather than killing them, eventually bringing the massive beasts under their control.

After a short rest to tend their wounds, the party mounted the triceratops and continued their journey northeast. Before long they reached a point where the ancient aqueduct could be seen stretching across the valley ahead—the same structure the escaped prisoners had used to slip beyond the walls of Spinewater.

Their path into the plantation now lies within reach.