bolotnik, I looked at your save and screenshot. Unfortunately, it's too late for you to drink the water now, :( but if you have saves, at least you won't have to start from the beginning.
Where the guard won't let you pass, you need to get there no later than day 147, and you'll get the attack skill of 4 when you enter the Stronghold (move east, then north).
Regarding the save: you needed to go along the secret path south of the lake, which the road passes north of.
You need to look carefully everywhere, because in some places the path is masked with resources or something else lying in the way.
Now I'm going to finish two maps (one is just beautiful, there will be a lot of space, and the second is a cruel torment for players, no one has done anything like it in custom maps yet).
