Darius Watches the Puddle Form

The cave entrance had barely become real before it found Darius.

A puddle started forming near the entrance, and Darius went still in front of it. Not ordinary distraction. Not simple curiosity. The water held him for a moment like something reflective had reached through the surface and caught a part of him the rest of the group could not see.

He fought it off.

The effort mattered enough to require a Constitution save, and when he came back to himself, the moment did not explain itself. Herman Winger noticed just enough to become practical rather than comforting. If Darius was entering the dungeon, he needed verbal waiver confirmation. Tourist danger still required paperwork, even when the dungeon started whispering through puddles before the first real room.

Darius confirmed.

The group moved on.

But the unresolved hook stayed behind them and under them: Darius has some kind of reaction to reflective water, magical puddles, or whatever waits beneath Aleklot's Rest. The cave had not attacked him. It had recognized him, tempted him, or shown him something too quickly for anyone else to name.

The dungeon's first mystery was not a monster.

It was a reflection that almost kept Darius looking.