Spoiler, newish gm confusion

[Baked710]

Hey there, about to run seasons of ghosts for my group VTT and i have a few issues id like to clear up.

Spoiler:

First one is the crossing of waters. I have a crafty group who love to challenge my new skills lol so the water part im a bit stuck on with how to go about it without them ending up near downtown.

The map shows the far Ceiba Rivier on the west and the lake in the middle of town with the Duyue river on the far east.
So is the ceiba river from the lake to the river intersection on the west and same with the duyue on the east? Does the dam effect both left and right sides of the dam? The trade office is way to the east so i want to figure a way to get my PC that direction before crossing.

How did you go about the Contacting of Northridge?

The other thing is, and i have not read the whole book yet as i have time before the start, but it says i should only mention the clinic from Granny HU if my players somehow managed to get through and liberate the barracks in downtown? that seems like that would never happen by the first meeting but its a significant battle with its own map so im wondering how that works of if they just do that battle later when they stumble or go to the clinic on their own?

thanks

[VampByDay]

What I did for my party.

Spoiler:

When the group met with Old Matsuki, he told them that he assumed Granny Hu had done the same, and (correctly) surmised that they were held up in the new trading house as that is the most secure building in northridge and away from the downtown where all the problems started. I also had him (or his kids, more accuratly) spy that the downtown was overrun by monsters before the fog got to thick.

Just make sure Old Matsuki gets a few licks in on Granny Hu as he's telling the PCs that they have to rescue Northridge, gotta start that rivalry up soon.