Herman Dies on the Master Path

The dragon breathed again.

This time the poison did not only threaten the party's formation. It erased the fragile control they had built before entering the lair. Maine fell. Dhaz fell. Morgan fell again. The dragon-grafted zombies Morgan had raised for the fight were destroyed in the same wave, their borrowed usefulness burned out under the living dragon's breath.

Herman Winger did not survive it.

The guide who had introduced the dungeon with waivers, tour language, and professional confidence died in the room the tourist system had failed to understand. Gumbo answered quickly with a powerful Mass Healing Word, pulling the party back from the edge, but Herman was beyond quick rescue.

That death changed the shape of the whole Aleklot's Rest arc.

Herman had been a symbol of the town's controlled danger: paperwork, routes, star ratings, guides, and managed risk. His body proved the opposite. The master path had never been under control. The cave had only been waiting for someone to lie their way past the safety rails and find out what still lived below.

The party got back up.

Their guide did not.