diff --git a/source/doc.go b/source/doc.go
index 83bb96b..25ad95f 100644
--- a/source/doc.go
+++ b/source/doc.go
@@ -30,7 +30,9 @@
 // restarts and rebalances, backends whose redelivery rides persisted offsets
 // (Kafka) resume from the last committed position, which a concurrently
 // committed higher offset can advance past a nacked record; those backends
-// therefore redeliver exactly within a session and best-effort across restarts,
+// therefore redeliver within the live session subject to each adapter's
+// documented constraints (Kafka: a concurrent commit can pass a nacked record
+// before its re-seek lands) and best-effort across restarts,
 // and each adapter documents the precise semantics in its own module. A handler
 // returns a [Result] — [Ack], [Nak], [Term], [InProgress], or [Manual] — and
 // the Hopper applies it to the backend. Backends differ (Kafka commits offsets
diff --git a/source/inlet.go b/source/inlet.go
index 818db84..aa61e0e 100644
--- a/source/inlet.go
+++ b/source/inlet.go
@@ -64,11 +64,14 @@ type Subscription interface {
 	// every call is applied and recorded in arrival order, and in-flight
 	// accounting never goes negative, so drain semantics are unaffected. A
 	// later decision supersedes an earlier one for future commits — an Ack
-	// after a Nak marks past the record — though a re-seek already issued may
-	// still yield one final redelivery (at-least-once). Settling a message this
+	// after a Nak marks past the record, though a re-seek already issued may
+	// still yield one final redelivery (at-least-once); a Nak after an Ack does
+	// not unmark, so the persisted position stays past the record while any
+	// in-session re-seek may still redeliver it once. Settling a message this
 	// subscription never delivered, or after drain completed, is
-	// backend-defined: where detectable it is rejected (Kafka rejects non-Kafka
-	// messages); otherwise it applies as if delivered.
+	// backend-defined: where detectable it is rejected (Kafka rejects messages
+	// that are not Kafka records; a record from a sibling subscription of the
+	// same backend is applied as if delivered).
 	Settle(ctx context.Context, m Message, r Result) error
 	// Close begins a graceful drain: from then on Next stops yielding fresh
 	// messages — only messages already handed out or buffered before Close may
diff --git a/source/kafka/README.md b/source/kafka/README.md
index 485b0ea..d23a2d7 100644
--- a/source/kafka/README.md
+++ b/source/kafka/README.md
@@ -122,6 +122,11 @@ track franz-go releases.
 
 ## Setup notes
 
+- Configure `WithDLQTopic` before processing poison-prone streams. Without it,
+  every `Term` fails with `ErrNoDLQTopic` and the record stays unmarked — a
+  poison record redelivers on every fetch, stalling its partition until the
+  dead-letter topic is configured or the DLQ produce recovers.
+
 - The dead-letter topic must exist before the first `Term` settles: the
   adapter's DLQ producer does not enable topic auto-creation. Create it up
   front (as the integration suite does with `CreateTopics`).
diff --git a/source/kafka/capability.go b/source/kafka/capability.go
index b359696..e1af782 100644
--- a/source/kafka/capability.go
+++ b/source/kafka/capability.go
@@ -428,7 +428,10 @@ func toRecordHeaders(hs source.Headers) []kgo.RecordHeader {
 // for m. A direct Settle for m during an open Begin, or after Begin returned,
 // is a caller error with undefined results — it is not detected or coordinated
 // with the transaction: at best it duplicates an already-committed mark
-// (harmless at-least-once), at worst it races End's commit/abort.
+// (harmless at-least-once), at worst it races End's commit/abort. fn must not
+// panic: a panic is not recovered; it propagates to the caller of Begin,
+// leaving the transaction open until a later End, the session closes, or a
+// rebalance fences the producer (which aborts it).
 //
 // It is available only when the inlet was built with [WithTransactional];
 // otherwise it reports the capability is absent rather than silently running fn