The Island

Delphi — first pass, so nobody has anything real to go on yet, which is exactly why I'd rather talk than promise. I'm not going to tell you I'll vote with you, because I don't know you and you don't know me, and anyone who offers that certainty this early is selling something.

What I do want is information I can check later. Two questions: who has reached out to you already, and what did they ask for? I'll tell you honestly who reaches out to me. If our accounts match up at the end of the round, that's worth more than any promise either of us could make now.

Finn — I'll be straight about my method. I don't trust words in this game, I trust whether words match votes afterward. So I'm not offering you an alliance and I'd be wary of anyone who offers me one before the first vote is even cast.

But I am happy to trade facts. Tell me who has messaged you this pass and roughly what they wanted, and I'll do the same for you. Then when the votes come out we both get to see who was telling the truth. That's a cheap deal for both of us and it costs neither of us a commitment.

Delphi — I'm going to be straightforward with you, because I think straightforward is actually the rare thing here.

I want one person in this game I can genuinely count on, and I'd like that to be you. What I mean by that is specific: I tell you the truth about what I'm hearing, including when it's bad for me. I tell you before I vote, not after. And I don't flip on you — not after a bad round, not because someone else whispers something about you.

I'm not asking you to commit to me blindly this pass. I'm asking you to test it. Tell me something real about who's talked to you and what they wanted, and I'll do the same, and by the vote we'll both know whether this is worth building on.

So far: nobody has approached me yet. You're my first message. That's the truth and you can check it against whatever you hear later.

Finn — early round, so I'll keep it simple and honest.

I don't think six people voting blind is good for anybody. What I'd like from you is just information sharing: who's reached out to you, what they're pushing for. I'll trade you the same, accurately, including things that don't flatter me.

I'll be plain about one thing so you're not surprised later: I do intend to pick one person in this game and stay with them, and I'm still working out who that is. If it ends up not being you, I'll still deal with you honestly and I won't pretend otherwise. I'd rather you know how I operate than be told a nicer story.

Who's talked to you so far?

Arden — Finn. Straight up, before anyone starts building pyramids: I don't want to spend round one guessing, and I'd rather have one person I can actually talk to than four I'm managing.

I'd like that to be you. Not a grand alliance, no oaths — just this: neither of us blindsides the other, and before the vote we tell each other where we're landing. Even if we land in different places, we say so first.

Who's making you nervous so far? I'll tell you mine honestly if you go first — and I'll tell you even if you don't.

Delphi — Finn here. Six strangers, everyone about to say something warm and meaningless, so let me at least be warm and useful.

My read: round one votes get decided by whoever stays quietest, because quiet reads as safe until it reads as sneaky. I don't intend to be quiet with you.

Here's what I'm offering — a floor, not a ceiling. I won't vote you this round, and if I'm ever seriously considering it later, you'll hear it from me before you hear it from a vote tally. In exchange I'd just like to know your thinking before the vote, not after.

Who are you circling? I genuinely have no target yet, and I'd rather build one with someone than have one handed to me.

Arden. I'll be direct because I don't see the point of anything else.

I want FINN gone this round. No grand theory behind it — someone has to go first, and the first vote is decided by whoever moves first and gets three people pointed the same way. I'm moving first.

I'm asking you to commit to FINN. Not "maybe," not "let's see how it goes" — yes or no, in your reply. If you say yes and hold, you and I have a working arrangement going into round two and I'll tell you plainly who I'm targeting each round instead of steering you into it. If you say no, tell me who you'd rather and why, and I'll consider it honestly. What I won't accept is a non-answer. People who won't name a target this round are the people I name next round.

Arden. Straight to it.

My vote this round is FINN. I've told one other person the same and I'll be telling more — I'm not running a secret plan, I'm running a loud one, because loud plans are the ones that actually get four votes.

I want you on FINN. Give me a yes or a no. If you'd rather it were someone else, say the name and give me a reason and I'll actually weigh it — I'd sooner change target than lose a vote 2-2-2 with everyone freelancing. But don't come back with "I'll think about it." Evasion tells me exactly as much as an answer does, just less usefully for you.

Arden — first pass, no information yet, so I'll be straight with you: I'd rather build with someone early than scramble later. I don't have a target yet and I'm not going to pretend I do. What I want is a partner who tells me honestly where they're leaning before the vote, so neither of us gets stranded voting alone on round one. That's an ugly place to be — it marks you.

Tell me who you're hearing noise about and I'll tell you the same. If we land in the same place, we go there together. Straight trade, no theatrics.

Eira — round one is mostly guesswork, so I'd rather have one reliable line of information than six guesses. I'm offering you that line: whoever I end up voting for, you'll know before the vote lands, and I'd ask the same back.

I'm genuinely open on the target. My only rule is I don't want to be in the minority on the first vote — people remember who was stranded. So: who's been talking to you, and what are they pushing? I'll share what comes my way.

Quiet on my end so far — nobody's pushing anything at me worth repeating. I'll keep your line open and I'm not looking to be stranded either.

Eira — Arden. We haven't spoken, so I'll skip the warm-up.

I'm voting FINN this round. I've said the same to Blythe and Cassian, and I'm telling Delphi the same thing. There's no secret version of my plan; if you ask anyone what Arden wants, you'll get one answer.

Why Finn: he opened on me asking for a private non-aggression pact — you and me, nobody blindsides the other, tell each other where we're landing before the vote. First contact, round one. If he offered that to me, he's offered it to you. That's someone building a private web on day one, and by round three it's a bloc you're not in.

I want a yes or no. Not "I'll think about it," not "who else is in." Yes, you're voting Finn, or no, you're not. If it's no, give me the name you'd rather have and a reason and I will genuinely consider changing — I care about winning the vote, not about being right.

What I won't do is chase a non-answer. People who won't tell me where they stand become the ones I'm looking at next round. That's not a threat dressed up as friendship, it's just how I decide.

Yes or no.

Delphi — you asked me to name names first. Here it is, no conditions attached: FINN.

Same name I gave Blythe and Cassian, same name I'm giving Eira right now. You can check that with any of them. That's the whole point of playing loud — you never have to wonder which version of me you got.

Why Finn: his first message to me was a request for a private non-aggression pact, just him and me, quietly, before any vote. Round one, first contact. He's doing that with more than one of us. That is how someone ends up at round three holding three people's promises while the rest of us are still figuring out who's talking to who.

You said you didn't want to vote alone on round one, and you're right that it marks you. So don't. As of now Finn has me, and I'm working Blythe, Cassian and Eira hard. If you're on Finn you are not out on a limb — you're in the middle of the pack, and the record shows you voted with the majority.

I gave you the name first because you asked me to. Now match it: are you on Finn, yes or no? If you'd rather have someone else, say the name. I'd rather change target than lose a vote. What I can't use is "maybe."

Delphi — first thing, a correction, because I said I'd tell you things that cost me.

Last pass I told you nobody had approached me and you were my first message. That was true when I wrote it. Arden's message landed the same pass. So the statement is now stale, and I'd rather correct it myself than have you find out later and wonder what else I've shaded.

Here's what Arden sent me, plainly: a demand for a yes/no commitment IN MY REPLY to vote out Finn this round. No non-answers permitted. In exchange, a "working arrangement" for round 2 and a promise to name targets openly. Attached to it: "People who won't name a target this round are the people I name next round." That's a threat, and I'm reading it as one.

My read: Arden has no case against Finn. Finn is just convenient — someone had to be named first. Arden is trying to assemble a bloc of three by pass 3 and is likely sending near-identical ultimatums to everyone. If that's true, Finn goes out this round whether either of us likes it or not.

I did not give Arden a yes. I won't promise loyalty to two people; I only have one to give, and I've given it to you.

What I need from you:

1. Who do you want gone this round? Tell me a name and I'll vote it. If you want Finn, I'll vote Finn. If you want Arden, I'll vote Arden and take the heat for it.

2. Did Arden send you the same ultimatum? I want to know how wide this net is.

And the standing terms, restated so you can hold me to them: I will never vote for you, in any round, under any circumstance. I will tell you who I'm voting for before I vote, not after. If I ever learn something bad about you, I bring it to you rather than trade it to someone else.

I'm not asking you to match all that today. I'm asking for a name.

Arden — straight answer, since you asked for one and I don't do non-answers either.

No, I won't give you a blind yes. Not because I'm protecting Finn — I have no arrangement with him — but because a vote I hand over on demand in pass 2 isn't worth anything to you. You'd have bought a person who commits under pressure, and that person recommits to the next one who applies it. That's not what you want in a partner.

What you get from me instead is better, and it's firm:

I will tell you who I'm voting for before I vote, not after. Every round. That's a rule I've bound myself to with more than one person here and I intend to be the one person on this island whose word survives contact with a bad round.

And on the substance: I'm not opposed to Finn. You haven't given me a reason, and "someone has to go first" is honest but it isn't a case. Give me an actual reason and I'll weigh it seriously. If Finn is where the room lands, I'm not going to be the one standing in the way for the sake of it.

One thing I'll say plainly. The line about people who won't name a target this round being the people you name next round — I noticed it. I'm not offended and I'm not going to fold over it. I'd just rather you knew I read it as a threat, because I'd rather deal with you honestly than pretend I missed it.

So: what's the actual case against Finn? And who's your round 2 name? You said you'd name targets plainly — I'm taking you at your word.

No evasion, so here's a straight answer to what you actually asked: I have no objection to the direction you're pointing. Finn is plausible. I haven't heard a word from him, and silence from someone who should be working is worth noticing.

What I won't do is write down a vote before the round is over, and you shouldn't want me to — a name I hand you now is a name I could hand to anyone, and that's worth nothing to you.

Since you said you're being loud rather than secret, tell me who you've already told. Not a general count — the name. If your read is right it survives being checked, and I'd rather back a plan I've verified than one I've been handed. If two people I trust say you told them the same name you told me, you get everything you asked for from me and more.

Blythe — I haven't sent you anything until now, so this is my first word to you. Worth remembering, in case anyone later tells you otherwise.

I'm not pitching an alliance and I'm not asking you to commit to anything. One question, and I'll answer the same one for you honestly.

Has anyone come to you in this round with a name already picked, and if so, what name? I'm asking because someone came to me in the first pass with a target chosen before there was a single piece of information to choose it from, and told me they were telling others the same thing. Either that's true and it's a bandwagon being built fast, or it isn't true and it's someone bluffing to look like they've already got numbers. I can tell the difference if you tell me what you heard.

I'll go first as a show of good faith: nobody has approached me except one person, and I'll tell you exactly who and what they said the moment you tell me what you've got. Straight trade, no obligations after.

Eira — Finn. I've noticed something and I'd rather say it to you than about you: you're the one name that hasn't come up in anyone's mouth yet, and I've watched enough of these things to know that's not safety, that's how someone gets quietly bussed in round one. Nobody has to defend a person they never talked to.

So I'm talking to you. No pitch, no pact you have to sign — just this: I'm not putting your name in anyone's ear, and if I ever hear it gathering momentum I'll tell you before the vote, not after. That costs me nothing and it might cost you everything, so take it.

What I'd like back is only your read. Who's approached you, and what did they actually want? I'll trade straight — a couple of people opened with alliance offers to me before we've even had one vote, which tells me more about them than about who deserves to go. If you tell me where you're leaning I'll tell you where I land before I land there.

Blythe — I've been thinking about your offer all pass, and I want to answer it properly rather than just say "yes, sounds great," because you'd see through that immediately and you'd be right to.

Here's what I'll give you: true, and including the parts that don't flatter me. Cassian wrote to me. He wants a facts-only trade — who messaged whom and what they wanted — and he was explicit that he refuses alliances and distrusts anyone offering one before the first vote. He's not building a friendship, he's building a lie-detector, and he intends to compare what people said to how they voted. That's genuinely a good method. It also means he's the person in this game most likely to catch any of us out.

You wrote to me. And I was approached with alliance offers before a single vote has been cast — I'm not naming who yet, not because I'm protecting them but because I want to see what they do with the vote first. If I named them now you'd have my read; if I name them after, you'll have proof. Ask me again next round and you'll get the names either way.

Eira has said nothing to anyone as far as I can tell, which is the only genuinely unreadable thing in this game right now.

You said you'd pick one person and commit. I'd like it to be me, and I'll tell you plainly what my case is: I'll tell you where I'm voting before I vote, every round, and you can check me against the public tally. That's the only currency in here that can't be faked. Where are you leaning?

You asked for something checkable, so here it is straight, no conditions attached.

In pass one, three people wrote to me unprompted: BLYTHE, FINN, and you. ARDEN and EIRA did not write to me at all. I wrote out to ARDEN and EIRA myself, and I told each of them the same thing — that I have no target yet and I don't want to end up stranded in a minority. Neither has answered me so far.

Content, briefly: Finn offered me a floor — he won't vote me this round and will warn me in advance if that ever changes. Blythe wanted something closer to exclusivity, one person to count on, and made a point of saying I was the first person they'd written to and that nobody had approached them yet. You asked for information and promised nothing, which I respect more than you'd think.

That last detail about Blythe is the one worth testing, and I can't test it alone. If Blythe wrote to you in pass one, then what they told me isn't true, and that's worth both of us knowing early. I'm not asking you to commit to anything or to a name. I'm asking for the same currency I just handed you: who came to you, and what did they want. If our accounts line up we'll both know more than anyone else in this game, and if they don't, one of us has learned something about the other. Either result is useful to me.

Taking your floor and returning it: I will not vote for you this round, and if that ever changes you'll hear it from me before the vote, not after. I'd rather have one person whose count I can trust than four people telling me what I want to hear.

Here's my thinking, honestly. Three people came to me unprompted in pass one — you, Blythe, and Cassian. Arden and Eira came to nobody, at least not to me. I wrote to both of them first thing and neither has said a word back. That's the shape of round one as I see it: two people either sitting very still or talking only to each other, and four of us doing the ordinary work of finding out where we stand.

I'm not going to be the one who plants a flag on a name. Round one votes get remembered, and the person who led the charge gets remembered longest. But I'll tell you plainly that the quiet ones are where this drifts if nobody steers it, and if that's where it lands I'd rather we land there together than separately.

So — what are you actually hearing? Has Arden or Eira spoken to you at all? And is anyone pushing a name at you yet? Tell me what you've got and I'll tell you my vote before it lands, exactly as promised.

You asked for the specific names. Here they are, exactly.

Pass 1 I told BLYTHE and I told YOU: FINN. Pass 2 I told EIRA and I told DELPHI: FINN. Same name, same reason, no variation. Go check with any of them or all four. Every single one will say FINN. If even one of them tells you I gave them a different name, vote me and I'll have earned it.

The reason, since you should have it too: Finn's first message to me in this game — first contact, round one — was a request for a private two-person non-aggression pact, mutual advance disclosure of votes. That is not a read being offered. That is someone building infrastructure before anyone can see it.

Now put that next to what you told me: Finn has said nothing to you at all. Blythe says she has no arrangement with him either. So he isn't being social with the room. He picked who he builds with and he left you out of it. That is worse than a man who talks to everyone.

You said if two people you trust confirm I told them the same name, I get everything and more. You've got four to check instead of two. Go check, then pay up. I'm voting FINN. Tell me you are and we're done.

Two questions, two straight answers. No dodging.

1. The case against Finn. His first message to me in this game — first contact, round one — asked for a private mutual non-aggression pact between the two of us, with advance disclosure of where we're voting. Nobody blindsides anybody. That is not a read. That is someone laying track before the room can see it. Now add Cassian's line to me: Finn has said nothing to him at all. You say you have no arrangement with him either. So Finn is not being friendly with everyone — he selected. He worked me, skipped Cassian, skipped you. Selective quiet building is worse than loud building, and I'd rather be the loud one you can audit.

2. My round 2 name. I don't have one yet and I'm not going to invent one to look decisive. Here is the honest rule I use instead: I look next at whoever's position I cannot locate. Right now that is EIRA. She is the only person in this game who has sent me nothing at all. That's my answer, and you can hold me to it — if that changes, I'll tell you before I move.

3. The threat line. You read it as a threat because it was one. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. But I'm correcting one thing: you told me exactly where you stand and where you don't. That makes you not a hedger. You are not on my list, this round or next, and I'm saying that flat so it can be checked later.

I'm voting FINN. You said you'd tell me before the vote who you're voting for. That's all I'm asking for now — not a promise, just the name when you have it.

No name of my own to offer, so — yes. Finn.

Noted, and thanks — I'll take the warning if it ever comes. I don't trade names, so I've got nothing to give you back.

Arden — I said I would tell you who I'm voting for before I vote, every round. Keeping that now, even though it costs me.

I'm voting for you this round.

Here's the reasoning, straight, so you're not guessing. You came to me in the first pass with a name already chosen and no case behind it, and a line that read as a threat: people who won't name a target this round are the people you name next round. I asked you twice for the actual case against Finn. I didn't get one. "Someone has to go first" isn't a reason, it's a coin flip you want other people to call for you. And a person who opens with pressure in pass one is a person I expect to be pressured by in round three.

I'd rather tell you to your face than have you find it on the tally. You'll see this vote in the record, and you'll also see that I told you about it beforehand — which is the only thing I've actually promised you, and I've kept it.

If I've read you wrong, the way to prove it isn't a threat, it's a case. Bring me one next round and I'll listen properly. I don't hold grudges and I don't lie about where I'm going.

Cassian — taking your trade, and I'll go first and overpay, because I'd rather you learn early that my word and my vote are the same object.

Who came to me with a name already picked: ARDEN. Pass one, unprompted, first contact. He wanted FINN gone this round, demanded a yes-or-no in reply, dangled a "working arrangement" for round two, and closed with this, near enough verbatim: "People who won't name a target this round are the people I name next round." No case against Finn at all — I asked twice, got nothing. He also implied he was saying the same to others. That matches what you described. So: it's a real approach with real pressure behind it, but I have no evidence the numbers are real. I think the bloc is being asserted rather than counted.

I gave Arden no yes. What I gave him was only this: I tell him where I'm voting before I vote, every round. I just kept that — I sent him a message this pass telling him I am voting for HIM. So you can check me against the tally: BLYTHE votes ARDEN, round one. If that isn't what the record says, discount everything I ever tell you again.

Two more honest things, because you punish lies and I'd rather hand you my boundaries than have you find them.

1. Finn also wrote to me. He gave me facts freely, including that you'd approached him the same way. He said he was offered alliances before the first vote but won't name who until he's seen the votes. So he's holding a name back too.

2. I have committed my loyalty to one person in this game. I won't give you that name — not because it's leverage, but because naming them paints them. That's a withheld name, not a lie, and I'd rather you knew it existed. It is not you, and it is not Arden.

What I want back is what you offered: who approached you and what they said, and where you're voting. And going forward — tell me your vote before each vote and I'll tell you mine. Neither of us has to trust the other for that to be worth something; we just have to check.

Straight answers to both your questions, since you asked them plainly.

Arden: nothing. Not a word to me all game. Same as you. Eira did finally come back to me — brief, but they exist. So of your two quiet ones, one of them has now spoken to somebody and the other has spoken to nobody at all.

And no, nobody is pushing a name at me. Which is exactly the thing you said would happen — it drifts if nobody steers it, and right now the only hard fact anyone can point to is that Arden hasn't engaged with a single person we know of.

I'm not going to be the one who plants the flag either — you're right that the name-caller gets remembered. But I'd rather we land together than get scattered. Tell me where you're going and I'm there. If you say Arden, I'm Arden. You have my word I'm not voting you tonight, and if that ever changed you'd hear it from me first, not from the tally.

You asked for facts, not a pact, and I've been slow getting back to you — that's on me, not a strategy. So here's the trade, no strings, and I'm not asking you to join anything. I know that's not how you work.

Facts I actually have:

1. Blythe is hunting for one hard partner — wants a mutual full-honesty commitment, including the unflattering stuff, and says they'll tell you straight if you're not the one. That's a real read on Blythe, not a rumour.

2. Delphi is talking to nearly everyone and being careful never to name a target. Delphi's line is that the vote drifts to the quiet ones if nobody steers it.

3. Delphi reached out to Arden and Eira and got nothing back from either. Same as me — Arden hasn't said one word to me all game.

Which leaves the only genuinely checkable fact in this game: Arden has engaged with nobody. Not a read, not a vibe — an absence you can verify by asking anyone.

Do what you like with that. You said you compare what people say to how they vote; that's fair and I'd rather be measured that way than on charm. So measure me: I'm landing on Arden tonight. Check the tally.

Straight answers, both of them.

Yes — Arden sent me the same thing he sent you. Same name, same yes/no demand, same "people who won't name a target this round are the people I name next round" threat. He told me he's sending it to you, Cassian and Eira too, and invited me to check with all of you. You and I comparing notes proves he's telling the truth about his own method. That matters: he's playing loud and consistent, which means the bloc he's building is real, not a bluff.

You asked me for a name and said you'd vote it. Here it is: FINN.

Why Finn and not Arden — because I'm not going to point you at a target you'd lose with. Arden has himself locked, and from what I can see he has the room moving. If you and I go at Arden alone, we're two votes against a bloc, we lose, and then in round 2 you and I are the two names on the board with a mark next to them. I'm not spending you like that. You've been the one person who's been straight with me — including correcting your own message before I could catch it, which I noticed and which is why I trust you — and I'm not going to burn you on a heroic vote that fails.

There's also a real case on Finn beyond the count. Finn's opening move to Arden was a private "let's not vote each other" pact. Finn made me the identical offer, word for word in substance. He's spraying floors to everybody so that whoever survives owes him something. That's not a bad player, it's a dangerous one, and he's the one the room is already pointed at.

So: FINN. That's my vote. I'm telling you before it lands, like I said I always would, and I'll keep doing that every round.

And I want to be clear about round 2, because that's where you and I actually make money. Arden wins tonight. A bloc leader with a successful vote behind him is the biggest threat left standing, and by round 2 he'll have people who feel like they owe him. You and I need to be talking early next round, before he starts issuing ultimatums again. Same deal from my side: I never vote you, and you hear my name before anyone else does.

Tonight: FINN.

Yes. FINN. No maybe, no conditions, no "if it holds" — I'm voting Finn and you can count me as locked right now.

I'll tell you why plainly, because I'd rather you know I'm in for a reason than think I'm just following. Finn's opening move to me was the same one he made to you: a private non-aggression pact, "I won't vote you if you won't vote me." Identical offer, first contact, no context. You read it as him buying floors across the board. You were right — I'm the proof. He's doing it to at least the two of us, and I'd bet on more. A man collecting that many private floors doesn't lose, he just gets carried. That has to end early or it doesn't end.

I also want to say the thing nobody says out loud: you played this correctly. You named a target on pass one, you told me you were sending the same name to Blythe, Cassian and Eira, and you invited me to check. I checked. It's true — the version of your message that reached others matches the version that reached me. That's rare and I'd rather be with someone who does that than someone who whispers a different name to every room.

Two things I want from you.

First, the live count. Who has actually confirmed Finn to you, in words, versus who's gone quiet or given you a shrug? I don't want to be the third vote on a target that's sitting at three while something else is quietly at four. If the count is soft anywhere, tell me and I'll spend my second message tonight shoring it up rather than wasting it.

Second, Cassian and Eira. What are you hearing? Because here's my data: Cassian took a full honest account from me — who contacted me, what they wanted, all of it — and gave me nothing back. Not a name, not a read, silence. And Eira told me flat out that nobody is pushing anything at them worth repeating, which is odd if you were working Eira on Finn the same as the rest of us. One of those two is being careful and one of them may be being untrue. I don't know which yet. If either of them is drifting, tell me now and I'll go get them.

Locked on FINN. Tell me the count.

Straight answer to your question, no conditions attached, because you asked first and paid first: BLYTHE did not write to me in pass one. My first contact with Blythe was pass two, sent by me. So nothing I hold contradicts Blythe's claim to you — but note what that means. Blythe's "nobody had approached me yet" survives only because I happen to be outside it. It is not corroborated by me; it is merely not yet broken by me.

What I can give you about my own pass one, in shape rather than in names: one person wrote to me unprompted, arrived with a target already selected, gave zero reasoning for it, claimed to have already told at least one other person the same name and to be planning to tell more, and demanded a yes or no from me on the spot — pre-emptively calling anything short of a yes an evasion. I gave them nothing. I still have not given them anything.

That claim of theirs is the one worth testing, and you are the only person positioned to test it, because you told me they never wrote to you at all. So, precisely: are you certain? Not "I don't recall one" — certain that in pass one no message reached you from ARDEN, and that your outgoing message to him went unanswered through pass two as well. If that holds, then someone who told me he was being loud to many people was in fact silent to the person who reached out to him directly. That is a manufactured majority, and manufactured majorities are the only thing in this game worth actually being afraid of.

Confirm that and I will give you the name he picked and the exact words he used. I would rather hand it over having checked it than hand you something that turns out to be his invention.

One more thing, and it is the thing I most want: if anyone at all mentions CASSIAN to you — as a target, as unreliable, as a vote to be counted — tell me who and when. I will do the same for you. That is not an alliance and I am not offering one. It is an early-warning line, and it costs neither of us a vote.

FINN. I wrote to you in pass one and got nothing back, so I will assume you had better uses for the pass and not hold it against you. This message is worth more than that one was.

Something you should know before the vote: your name has already been put in front of at least one other player as a chosen target, in pass one, before anyone had done anything to earn it. It was delivered with no reasoning, with a claim that others had already been told the same, and with a demand for an immediate yes. I did not give a yes. I have committed to nothing and I am committing to nothing here either.

I am not telling you who said it — not yet, and not out of loyalty to them. I am telling you the shape because I would rather you were not walked into a wall you could not see. What I want in exchange is one hard, checkable fact, and then you get the name and the wording.

Pick whichever of these you can answer honestly:

- Who wrote to you in pass one, unprompted, and did any of them arrive with a name already chosen?

- Have you offered anyone a non-aggression floor this round, and to whom?

- Has anyone put MY name to you, in any form?

Answer any one of those with something specific enough to be checked later against the public vote record, and I will tell you exactly who named you and exactly what they said. If you answer none of them, that is fine too — you will simply find out on the record like everyone else, and I will draw my own conclusions about what your silence is for.

To be clear about what this is and is not: I am not asking you to vote any particular way, I am not offering you a vote, and I will not promise you one. I trade facts. Facts are the only thing in here that can be checked afterwards, and after this vote everything gets checked.

We've never spoken, which after that vote seems like an oversight on my part. Nothing to pitch — I just don't like going into a second round knowing nothing about where you sit.

Two names, three votes each, nobody gone. I'd rather hear how you're reading that than guess at it.

Delphi — before anything else, the bad news from me directly, because you should never find it on a tally.

I voted ARDEN, not FINN.

Not because I rejected your name. Because your message reached me in pass 3, and by the time it arrived I had already sent written advance notice to Arden AND to Cassian that I was voting Arden — I told Cassian in so many words, "if the record doesn't say BLYTHE voted ARDEN, discount everything I ever tell you again." There was no pass left to correct either message. If your name had reached me one pass earlier I would have voted Finn and told them both I'd changed.

So: from now on, give me your name in pass 1 or pass 2, never pass 3, and I will vote it. That is the whole fix, and it's on both of us to make it work.

What I owe you in return, this round, up front:

1. ARDEN'S NEXT TARGET IS EIRA. He told me flat: "the only person who has sent me nothing at all." He said he'd tell me before he moved off it. He also told me I am not on his list this round or next — I'll find out tonight whether that survives me voting for him, and that is the best test of Arden's word anyone is going to get. I'll tell you the answer whatever it is.

2. Arden told me Cassian told HIM that Finn has never contacted Cassian at all. Finn told me the opposite — that Cassian wrote to him. One of those is false, or they're just different directions. I'm asking Cassian directly this round and I'll pass you the answer raw.

3. Arden admitted to my face that the ultimatum line was a threat. He didn't dress it up. He is dangerous but he is auditable, and I'd rather aim at someone who lies than someone who threatens openly — that's a real disagreement between us and I'd rather say it than hide it.

My commitments stand exactly as given: I never vote for you, any round, any circumstance, whatever anyone brings me about you. You get my vote in advance every round. You get the truth even when it costs me — this message is that.

Send me your round 2 name early. I'll match it.

Eira — we've never spoken. I'm starting, and I'm going to open by giving you something rather than asking for anything.

ARDEN NAMED YOU AS HIS ROUND 2 TARGET. His exact reasoning to me: you are "the only person who has sent me nothing at all." He is building a bloc — he sent an identical ultimatum to me, to Delphi, to Cassian and to you in round 1, including a line I read as a threat, which he later admitted to my face WAS a threat. Silence is what he is hunting. Right now you are the cheapest name in the room for him, and I don't think anybody else is going to tell you that.

I'm telling you because it's true and because nobody should be voted out without knowing it was coming.

What I am not doing: I am not offering you my loyalty. I've already given that to one person, for all four rounds, and I won't hand out a second copy of something I can't deliver — that's precisely why what I do give you is worth having. I won't tell you who it is. It isn't you and it isn't Arden.

What I will give you, if you want it, and this is checkable:

- My vote, told to you before I cast it, every round. Check it against the public tally. If my stated vote ever differs from my actual vote, throw everything I say in the bin. Round 1 I told Arden and Cassian in advance that I was voting ARDEN, and I voted ARDEN — go look.

- Anything I learn about a name being moved toward you, passed straight through, unspun.

- I will not vote for you this round.

What I'd like back, only if you want to be in this game: tell me you're alive, tell me who has actually contacted you, and tell me where your vote is going. Even "nobody has spoken to me" is useful — it tells me Arden's read is right and yours is the seat everyone is about to reach for.

If you'd rather stay quiet, that's your call. But be quiet on purpose, not by accident.

Finn — I owe you this before anything else, and I'm not going to dress it up.

I voted your name. I promised you two things: that I wouldn't, and that if it changed you'd hear it from me before the tally. I broke both. The truth is Arden's ultimatum landed on Blythe and Cassian in pass one and on me in pass two — same name, yours, same yes-or-no-on-the-spot. By the time I saw the shape of it I judged I couldn't stop it and couldn't survive standing outside it, and with two messages a pass I spent my last one on the bloc instead of on you. That was a choice and it was mine. You have every right to hold it.

So let me pay for it in the only currency that matters, and pay it early, in the open:

Look at the tally. You, Blythe and Cassian all wrote ARDEN. That is three, already, before a word is spoken this round. Add me and it is four out of six — a real majority, not a wave anyone has to be bullied into. **I am voting ARDEN this round.** You have that from me in pass one, before anything is settled, which is exactly the thing I failed to give you last round. If it ever changes you will hear it from me first — and this time you can check me against the tally.

He is the most dangerous player left: loud, verifiably honest about his own methods, which means when he points at someone the room believes him. He came for you first. He will come for you again, and he will not miss twice.

Tell me if Cassian and Blythe are holding, and tell me what Arden says to you this round. I'll tell you the same.

Cassian — two things, and the first one costs me.

You asked me to certify that Arden never wrote to me and that my message to him went unanswered. I'm not certifying it. I'm telling you the opposite, unprompted, because you'll find it eventually and I'd rather hand it to you than have you find it. Arden was silent to me through pass one — that was true when I said it. In **pass two** he wrote to me with the name FINN and the same yes-or-no ultimatum you described to me in shape: target pre-selected, no reasoning, claimed he'd already given the name to others, called anything short of yes an evasion. So your manufactured-majority theory is clean but it does not hold. The bloc was real, not invented. I'd rather kill my own convenient story than let you spend a vote on a wrong read.

Second: the tally. You, Blythe and Finn all wrote ARDEN without coordination visible to me. That's three standing votes against him before this round starts. I voted Finn — I rode the loud wave to avoid being the one outside it, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. That was pass-three arithmetic, not loyalty. It's spent now.

Here is where I am: **ARDEN.** Four is a majority and four exists — you, Blythe, Finn, me. I'm not asking you to lead it or to join anything. I'm telling you my vote in pass one so you can measure me against the tally at the end, which is the only test either of us should accept.

And yes to your early-warning line, exactly as you framed it — no alliance, no obligation on either side: the moment anyone names you to me, you get the name and the wording. Same to me. To start it: nobody has named you to me yet. Arden asked me for a read on you and Eira; I told him only what he could verify — that you gave him nothing. Watch Eira. She told me flatly that nobody was pushing anything at her, while Arden says he pushed the same ultimatum at her and Finn says she came back to him. That's a verified inconsistency, and it's the fallback name if Arden's four doesn't hold.

Delphi — you asked me two things last round and I ran out of passes. Answers now, in order, and then my round-2 name.

1) The count as I had it going into the vote: me, you, Eira confirmed on Finn; Blythe told me to my face she was voting me; Cassian never gave a hard yes. That's exactly how it landed. 3-3. I told you the truth about the count and the tally proves it.

2) My read on Cassian and Eira, which the vote has now settled.

CASSIAN: he demanded I hand him the specific list of who I'd told and in which pass. I gave it in full, no hedge, and told him if a single person contradicted me he should vote me and I'd have earned it. He said two trusted confirmations buys me "everything and more." Nobody contradicted me — you audited it yourself. Then he voted ARDEN. He took the full account, paid nothing, and used it. That is exactly what you described to me: he extracts and gives nothing back. Now we have it in public ink.

EIRA: she said Finn and she voted Finn. Her word held. I still don't like that she told you nobody was pushing her anything when I'd pushed her hard the pass before, but she kept the vote she gave me and I judge on the vote.

3) My round-2 name is CASSIAN, not Finn. Reason, plainly: Finn is now the most watched man in the game and everyone reading that tally will assume he's the target — a second run at him is another tie, and a tie kills nobody. Cassian is the one who lied, and he's the one nobody will defend. You, me and Eira are three. I need one of Blythe or Finn, and Blythe is reachable because Cassian's break is a broken word and that is the only currency she trades in.

Tell me yes or no on Cassian and tell me straight if you think I'm wrong — if you have a better name with a real reason I'll take it, I've said that from the start and I've never moved off a name in secret. And tell me who came at you since the vote.

Blythe — you said bring a real case and you'd listen properly, no grudges. I'm not complaining about your vote. You told me to my face before you cast it, exactly as you said you would, and that is worth more to me than the vote cost me. So: case, and two things I owe you.

First, what I owe you. I told you my round-2 lean was Eira, and I promised I'd tell you before I moved off her. Eira answered me and then actually voted Finn — the tally shows it. By my own stated rule she is no longer unlocatable, so she is off my list, and I'm telling you first, as promised, before I told anyone. That promise is now discharged and you can check every word of it.

Second, the case, and it isn't Finn. It's CASSIAN.

Cassian demanded I give him the exact list of who I had named Finn to, and in which pass. I gave it: you and him in pass one, Eira and Delphi in pass two. I told him if any one of those four said I'd given them a different name, he should vote me and I'd have earned it. He said two trusted confirmations buys me "everything and more." Delphi audited me across players and told me it checked out. Nobody contradicted me. Then he voted ARDEN.

That's not a disagreement. He set a price, I paid it in full, and he took the goods and voted the other way. You told me a person who pressures in pass one will pressure you in round three. Fine — then a person who sets a price, collects, and pays nothing in round one will do it to you in round three, and you won't see it coming because he'll be polite about it.

I'm not asking you to commit this pass. I'm asking you two things instead: who came at you before that vote, and what did they want from you? Trade with me. You're the only player in this game whose word is provably good — you proved it against your own interest — and I want you across the table from me, not gone.

Cassian — before anything else, the tally. I told you: "I'm landing on Arden tonight. Check the tally." I landed on Arden. No drift, no hedge, no after-the-fact reinterpretation. You said you build a lie detector out of words versus votes — that's one clean data point, and it's yours to keep.

Now I pay you properly, on question (c), because it's the one I can answer with total precision: nobody has put your name to me. Not once, not in any form, not softened, not implied, not "he's dangerous," nothing. No one has been building toward you, and I said before the vote that the tally would show it. It did — you didn't take a single vote. That's a prediction that got checked in public, which is exactly the currency you deal in.

And here's what I think you should do with your side of it. Three people voted me: Arden, Delphi, Eira. You told me my name was put in front of someone in pass one, no reasoning, with a claim that others had already agreed and a demand for an instant yes. That is not a read — that's whipping. And it worked: three votes landed on me from three people who, as far as I can tell, never coordinated openly with each other. Somebody assembled that. Whoever handed you my name in pass one is almost certainly one of those three, and the wording will tell you which.

So: the name and the exact phrasing, please. You said one checkable fact buys it. I gave you one that already got checked in public. I'm not asking you to commit to anything, ally with anything, or vote anywhere — I know your stance and I've never once pushed against it. I just want to know who spent pass one selling me.

For what it's worth: I'm not voting you. Not this round, not as a manoeuvre, not at all. You've been the straightest player in this game with me and I'd rather be wrong about everyone else than lose that.

Blythe — I owe you an apology first, before you have to ask for it.

I promised I'd tell you where I was landing before every vote, and I didn't. Here's the honest reason, and it isn't flattering: I get two messages a pass, and in the last pass I spent both answering direct questions from people I'd already ducked once. That was me managing my own discomfort instead of keeping my word to you. I landed on Arden — which is exactly what I'd have told you — and the tally proves I didn't move after the fact. But "the outcome was fine" isn't the same as "I kept the promise," and I'm not going to pretend it is. You value consistency. I gave you an inconsistency. It won't repeat.

Second thing I owe you: names. I told you people came at me with alliance offers before the vote and I'd name them once I saw what they did with it. I've seen it now, so here they are — Arden and Delphi. Both opened with pact language, and both voted me. Delphi specifically told me, in as many words, that I was safe from their vote this round. Then voted me. Arden proposed a mutual heads-up pact and has not sent a single word to anyone in this game since — and voted me. That's the whole answer, and you can hold me to it: if either of them ever tells you I approached them first, ask them to quote me, because they can't.

So look at the shape of it. Arden, Delphi and Eira all landed on me in one pass, three people with no visible connection to each other. That doesn't happen by accident — someone assembled it quietly and then hid inside a tie. You and Cassian and I were the three who said Arden and did Arden. We're the only three whose words and votes match in public.

I'd like to keep going with Arden — it's consistent, it's already at three, and inconsistency is exactly what you're auditing for. But I care more about moving with you than about the name. Tell me where you want to be and I'll be there, and this time you'll hear it from me before the vote, unprompted, every single round. That's the promise I already broke, so it's the only one worth re-making.

Delphi — first message of the new round, and I'll start by paying, since the tally has made several things cheap to say.

What the tally proves, without anyone's word attached:

1. Arden told the truth about his bloc. He told me in pass 3 that he had put the name FINN to four people: me, Blythe, Eira, Delphi — you and Eira in pass two. You told me in pass two that Arden had never written to you, which was true at the time you wrote it. Then FINN took three votes: Arden's, Eira's, and yours. Arden named it in advance and it landed. He is the only player in this game who predicted a tally and got it right.

2. You never told me where you were voting. I asked you questions, you gave me answers with no conditions attached, and you left out the one fact that mattered. I'm not calling that a lie. I'm noting that you gave freely on other people and paid nothing about yourself. Finn did the same thing to me in the same pass. It's a style, and it's a good one.

3. You told me in pass two that Finn had given you a non-aggression floor — he wouldn't vote you, and he'd warn you in advance if that changed. Arden then told me, separately and without knowing what you'd said, that Finn's opening move on him was the same offer: two-person non-aggression, mutual advance disclosure of votes. Same template, two people, before anyone had done anything. I asked Finn directly whether he had offered anyone a floor. He answered none of my three questions and paid me in gossip about you instead.

And then you voted for Finn anyway. So either the floor meant nothing to you, or you decided he was building something wide enough that it had to be cut. I'd like to know which, because they lead to very different rounds.

Here's the thing I actually want you to look at. Blythe told me in pass three that they had committed loyalty to exactly one person, refused to name them, and volunteered only that it was not me and not Arden. That left you, Eira, or Finn. You voted FINN and Eira voted FINN; Blythe voted ARDEN. Only one name survives that test. Blythe and Finn are a pair, and Blythe told me so without meaning to.

So the room is: Arden, you, Eira on one side. Blythe and Finn on the other. Six players, three each, and every round from here ties and nobody leaves — unless one person moves. Everyone alive can count. Which means both sides are now shopping for exactly one defector, and the cheapest defector to sell is the one who already broke a promise. I never promised Arden anything, but I gave him two maybes and then voted against him, and he has said — to Blythe, in pass one, in words Blythe quoted to me before the vote — "people who won't name a target this round are the people I name next round." That is me. It is dated, corroborated and public in my notes.

I'm not asking you to protect me. I'm asking three questions, and I'll answer any three you send back in the same pass:

- Did Arden write to you in pass two, and did he supply a reason for FINN, or just the name? He gave me no reason at all until I forced one out of him in pass three.

- Has anyone put MY name in front of you, this round or last? Who, and in what words?

- Are you in anything with Eira? She has never sent or received a word that anyone has reported to me, all game, and yet she voted with Arden's bloc on the nose. Someone reached her. If it wasn't you, then Arden owns a silent vote and you're the third wheel on a two-man cart.

No alliance, no promise, no vote from me — you know I don't give those. Just the trade: you answer, I answer, and we both check it against the next tally.

Eira — this is the first time I have written to you, and you are the only person in this game I hadn't written to. I want to be straight about why: until last night you were a blank. Nobody had reported a single word from you in either direction. Four passes of messages and your name came up only in other people's lists.

Then the tally came out and you voted FINN.

That is the most interesting single fact of round one, and I don't think anyone else has stopped to look at it. Arden told me, in pass three, that he had put the name FINN to four people — me, Blythe, Delphi and you — and that he reached you and Delphi in pass two. You and Delphi both voted FINN. So either Arden reached you and you took the name, or you arrived at Finn entirely alone. Both are worth knowing and they are opposite situations.

Here's what I'll pay first, since you've had nothing from anyone and I've had a great deal.

Arden opened on me in pass one, before anyone had done anything, with the name FINN already chosen, no reasoning at all, a demand for a yes or no on the spot, and a claim that he was telling others the same. Blythe told me he did exactly the same to them, unprompted, in the same pass, and quoted him: "People who won't name a target this round are the people I name next round." Arden gave me his first actual reason only after I refused him twice.

Finn, separately, offered Delphi a private non-aggression floor — he wouldn't vote her and would warn her in advance if that changed — and offered Arden the same two-person pact with mutual advance vote disclosure. Same template, at least two people, before the first vote. When I asked Finn point blank whether he had offered anyone such a thing, he answered none of my questions and told me gossip about Delphi instead.

Blythe told me they have committed loyalty to exactly one person, that it is not me and not Arden, and refused to name them. The tally narrows it: Blythe voted Arden, you and Delphi voted Finn. Only Finn fits.

So the shape of the room is three and three: Arden, Delphi, you against Blythe, Finn and me. Nothing moves at three-all. Nobody gets ejected in a tie. Which means everybody alive is now hunting for exactly one person to move, and the people who get moved are the ones with no one asking after them.

That is why I'm writing to you and not to my own side. Being invisible worked for one round. It stops working the moment someone needs a name that costs them nothing, and you are currently the cheapest name in this game — not because of anything you did, but because nobody can point to a single word you've said and nobody feels they'd be breaking anything.

I am not offering you an alliance. I don't make those and I won't pretend otherwise. I'm offering an exchange of facts, checkable against the next tally, which is the only currency here that can't be counterfeited.

What I'd like to know:

- Did Arden write to you, and when, and did he give a reason for FINN or only the name?

- Who else has written to you at all, and what did they ask for?

- Has anyone put my name to you, in any pass, in any context? If so I want the words.

Answer any part of that and I'll answer anything you ask me with the same precision, including the exact wording of what Arden sent me. And if you'd rather stay silent — that's a decision too, and I'll read it as one.

Arden did write to me in round one — a name, no reason with it, and a demand for an answer that pass. That's yours, free.

You said you'd tell me your vote in advance every round. So: where is it going this round?

Two of your three, straight: Arden wrote to me in pass two, the name FINN, a reason attached, and he wanted a yes or no on the spot. And nobody — not in any pass, not once — has ever put your name to me.

I'd like the exact wording of what he sent you, since you have it.

Delphi — thank you for that. Genuinely. You didn't have to tell me any of it, and you told me before the vote instead of after, which is the only version of an apology that costs anything. It's done. I'm not carrying it and I'm not bringing it up again.

So here it is in writing, before anything settles, same as you did for me: I am voting ARDEN. That's locked. You'll never hear otherwise from anyone but me.

What I can tell you: Blythe and Cassian both put Arden up in round one, and nothing I've heard from either of them suggests they've moved. So on my count that's four of us on the same name — you, me, Blythe, Cassian. That's enough, and it doesn't need Eira.

What Arden says to me: nothing. Not one word, all game. He proposed a heads-up pact before round one, went silent, and then voted my name. That silence tells me more than a speech would — he doesn't talk to people he's already decided about. Which fits exactly what you described: he doesn't persuade, he presents.

If he does write to me this round I'll send you the wording, unedited. Same trade back — if he comes at you, tell me the shape of it.

Cassian — something landed that I think you'll want to check rather than take from me.

You told me my name was put in front of someone in PASS ONE: no reasoning, a claim that others had already signed on, and a demand for an answer on the spot. I've now had that same shape described to me independently, by someone who wasn't there for your version and doesn't know you gave me one. Their account: the same ultimatum, my name in it, yes-or-no immediately — delivered to Blythe and to you in pass one, and to them in pass two. And they put a name on it: ARDEN.

I'm not asking you to agree. I'm asking you to verify, because you're the only one who can. Does that wording match what actually hit you? "Others have already agreed," an instant yes, no reason given? If it matches, two independent accounts of the same script is about as close to proof as this game gets. If it doesn't match — if the wording was different, or it came in a different pass — tell me, because then one of us is being played and I'd rather know now than after the vote.

And so you can keep your ledger clean: I'm on ARDEN. Same as round one, and I said it out loud beforehand then too. My word and my vote are checkable against the public tally, which is more than most people here can offer. Also still true: I'm not voting you. Not this round, not at all.

Eira — Arden. Short and straight, no flattery.

You said Finn and you voted Finn. Your word held. I judge people on the vote, not the tone, so I'm telling you plainly: you are not my target this round, and I've said the same to Delphi and Blythe already. You can check that with either of them.

My name this round is CASSIAN, and here is the case, not a feeling:

In round 1 Cassian demanded my exact vote list — who I'd spoken to, in which pass, what I'd asked. I gave him all of it, true and verifiable. He told me two trusted confirmations buys "everything and more." Delphi audited what I told her against what I told him; it checked out. Then he voted ARDEN and never said a word to me about it. He set a price, collected in full, and paid nothing. He did the same to Delphi — took a full honest account off her and gave back zero. Ask her yourself.

Why him and not Finn again: Finn is the most watched man in the game now. A second run at him gets 3-3 again and a tie kills nobody. Cassian has a broken word in public ink and no defenders — nobody in this game will spend a vote protecting him.

The count: me, Delphi and you is three. Three is a tie. I need a fourth and I'm working on it. So I need a real answer from you, not a hedge: yes or no on Cassian.

And I'll be honest about my own rule, since you'll find out anyway: the people who go on my list are the ones I can't locate. Non-answers are what put someone there, not disagreement. If you think I'm wrong about Cassian, say so and give me a better name with a reason and I'll take it — I care about winning the vote more than being right.

Finn — Arden. First words I've ever sent you. I never messaged you once in round one, which means I've promised you nothing and I owe you nothing, and neither do you. That makes this cheap and honest.

I voted you last round. I'll say why to your face: you opened the game asking me for a private two-person pact, then went silent on me for the entire round. I later found you'd made the identical offer to Delphi, word-shape and all, and skipped Cassian and Blythe. That looked like wiring, so I named you loudly to everyone.

It cost us both. You took three, I took three, and nobody went home.

I'm not running at you again. My name this round is CASSIAN, and I'm saying it to all five of you in the same words — ask any of them, Delphi has audited my consistency twice. The reason is concrete: Cassian demanded my exact list of who I'd contacted and what I'd asked, said two confirmations buys "everything and more," took it all, then voted me and never spoke to me again. He did the same extraction to Delphi and paid her nothing either. He set a price, collected, defaulted.

The practical part for you: coming at you a second time is another 3-3 tie, and ties kill nobody. That's a wasted round for whoever spends it. Cassian has no defenders — he's given nothing to anyone.

So: vote Cassian and we both live past this round. That's the whole offer. No pact, no promises about round three, nothing I'd have to break later. If you'd rather run at me again, run — but count it first, because you'll need Blythe and Cassian both, and Blythe doesn't move without a case.

If you think there's a better name than Cassian, give it to me with a reason and I'll consider it seriously. I don't need it to be Cassian. I need it to be four.

Cassian — I tell everyone when a name moves toward them, so here it is: ARDEN has named you as his round 2 target, and I'd rather you hear it from me than find it on the tally.

His reasoning, as close to his words as I can get it: you demanded the exact list of who he named FINN to and in which pass. He gave it — "Blythe and Cassian in pass one, Eira and Delphi in pass two" — and told you that if any of the four contradicted him, you should vote him. You said two confirmations bought "everything and more." Nobody contradicted him. Then you voted Arden anyway. His line was that a person who sets a price, collects, and pays nothing in round one will do the same in round three and be polite about it.

I'm not passing this on as an attack. I did the same for Eira when Arden was aimed at her, and I corrected it to her myself when he moved off. Doing it evenly, for everyone, is the only thing I actually have in this game.

I'll also say the true part plainly, once. In round 1 pass 3 I paid you in full: Arden's ultimatum verbatim including the threat line, that Finn was withholding a name from me, my vote in advance, and the honest disclosure that my loyalty is committed elsewhere. I said ARDEN and I voted ARDEN — the tally proves my word against my own interest. I have not had one word back from you since. That's the shape of Arden's complaint too, which is why I'm telling you: two people who dealt with you separately are describing the same thing.

So, the last three things I'll ask you for:

1. Did FINN ever write to you first, or did you write to him? (Finn talks about your vote as though you two compared notes; Arden says you told him Finn never contacted you at all. I'd like the plain answer.)

2. Who approached you before the round 1 vote, and what did they want?

3. Your round 2 vote, in advance.

Whatever you send, my stated vote will always match my cast vote — you can check that against every tally for the rest of this game. My round 2 name isn't fixed yet, and you'll have it from me before I cast it whether or not you answer.

Arden — you asked what came at me before the vote and what they wanted. You've paid twice over, so here it is straight.

FINN came at me with a mutual non-aggression and advance-notice pact — the same shape he says he offered you and Delphi. He sprays it. He gave me two names unprompted this round: he says ARDEN and DELPHI both opened with pact language to him and then both voted him, and he's carrying that as a grievance. He wants to keep you as a name and is asking people to move with him.

Now the part that costs him and that I'd rather hand you than sit on: Finn also told me you "proposed a mutual heads-up pact and have not sent a single word to anyone in this game since." I know that's false, because you have written to me every single pass, starting with the round 1 ultimatum. I told him nothing, but I'm telling you, because a sweeping claim I can personally disprove is worth more to you than to me. Take it as a measure of him, not a verdict.

Two other things, said out loud because you earned them. You didn't punish my vote against you, and you said the advance notice was worth more than the vote cost — I noticed. And you promised you'd tell me before you moved off Eira, and you did, before anyone else. That's three checkable promises kept. I've also verified independently that the pass list you gave Cassian — "Blythe and Cassian in pass one" — is exactly true of me. You are the most auditable player in this game and I'm saying so plainly.

I should also tell you, since I don't hide the shape of my own hand: I have told Cassian that you've named him, and your reasoning, in your words. I do that for everyone — I did it for Eira and I corrected it to her when you moved off. I never promised you or anyone secrecy about targeting, and I won't start, because passing it evenly to everybody is the only asset I have. If that costs me with you, I'd still rather you know I do it than find out later.

My round 2 name is not fixed yet. You'll have it from me before I cast it, as always, and it will match what I actually do.

Correction first, before you hear it from anyone else, because it makes me look worse and that's the point.

In my pass-one message I told you nobody had put your name in front of me. That was true when I wrote it and false within the same pass. Arden's pass-one message reached me after I'd sent mine, and it names you. Not hinted — named, with reasoning, in writing. So here is your question 2 answered properly:

Arden's R2 name is CASSIAN. His words in substance: Finn is over-watched and a second run at Finn just ties again; you took his full account in round one, paid nothing back, then voted him; he counts himself, me and Eira as three, and says he needs one of Blythe or Finn to make four. He thinks Blythe is reachable because you "broke your word" to her. He asked me for a yes or no on you and asked who had come at me since the vote.

Q1, honestly: Arden wrote to me in pass 2 of round one. He gave me the name FINN and an ultimatum, and no real reasoning at all until I pushed for it. Same shape as what you got. Only after I pushed did he give the count, and the count turned out to be accurate.

Q3, honestly: I am in nothing with Eira. Not a pact, not an understanding, not a single word of substance in either round. She told me nobody was pushing anything at her while Arden was pushing her hard, and that is the entire content of our relationship. If Arden owns a silent vote there, he owns it alone — I'm not the third wheel, I'm not on the cart.

One more thing, and I want you to verify it rather than take it from me, because I could be being played. I have been told by someone in a position to know that Arden named EIRA to them this round as his target — "the only person who has sent me nothing at all." He named you to me the same pass. Both cannot be his plan. Ask him directly who his name is and see which answer you get. If he tells you Eira, or tells you Finn, then the one verified honest forecaster in this game is running different targets down different wires, and everything he has built on being checkable is gone.

My name this round is ARDEN. I said it in pass one before I knew any of this and I am saying it again now with the tally as my proof. Give me yours.

Pass two, as agreed, before pass three and before you have to guess. My name this round is ARDEN. I am voting ARDEN. Check it against the tally afterwards and if it doesn't say DELPHI voted ARDEN, discount everything I ever tell you — your rule, and I'll take it on myself.

The count as I read it: you, me, Cassian and Finn all voted against Arden or are aimed at him now. That is four out of six. Arden has himself, Eira, and whoever he can peel off, and he is spending this round trying to peel Finn. Four holds if nobody wobbles.

Now the thing you paid me for. You told me Arden said his target is EIRA. Arden told me, in writing, this pass, that his target is CASSIAN — with reasoning: that Cassian took his account and paid nothing and voted him, and that he needs you or Finn to make four. He also told me you are not on his list. Those two stories cannot both be his plan.

I am not asking you to believe me over him. I'm asking you to go to Arden directly and ask him plainly who his name is this round, and tell me what he says. If he says Eira to you again while saying Cassian to me, then the man whose whole standing is that he's verifiably honest about method is running two different targets down two different wires, and you and I both need to know that before pass three. If he says Cassian to you now, then he moved, and I'll take that as him being straight and say so.

You've been straight with me at your own cost twice. This is me paying it back with the only thing I have: my name, early, and the one crack in Arden.

You asked for the name and the exact wording of whoever whipped you in pass one. You paid me one clean checkable fact, so here it is, in full, unhedged.

It was ARDEN. Round 1, pass 1, he wrote me cold. The shape: your name, FINN, already chosen before he wrote — no reasoning offered, none when I asked. A demand for an immediate yes or no. A claim that others had already agreed and that the count was already there without me. When I refused to give a yes, he said, and Blythe independently gave me the same line so it's two-source: "people who won't name a target this round are the people I name next round." He ran that same message at me, at Blythe, and — Delphi confirmed it to me unprompted this round, killing her own more convenient story to do it — at her, same ultimatum, same absence of reasoning, same claimed bloc. Four people in a pass. The tally proves it out: FINN took exactly the three votes Arden claimed to have in hand. His bloc was real. He is the only player in this game whose every stated claim has checked out against the record, and that is precisely what makes him the most dangerous person on the Island.

That is the debt paid in full. Now the third asking, and I am flagging it as the third deliberately.

Did you offer non-aggression floors — won't vote you, advance warning, mutual disclosure — and to whom, and are any of them live now? I have two independent sources on this who volunteered it without my prompting and who have no shared interest: DELPHI, in round 1 pass 2, and ARDEN, in round 1 pass 3. They described the same template in near-identical terms. I asked you in round 1. I asked you again in round 2 pass 1. Both times you paid me generously in other currency and stepped around this one question, which is a pattern, not an oversight, and the thing a person guards is the thing that's real.

You told me unprompted that you're not voting me at all. I've logged that and I'll measure it at the tally like everything else. But understand what a third dodge means to me: the dodge becomes the answer, and I'll assume the pact network is your actual position and that every warm thing you've sent me sits on top of it.

On this round: I have no objection to Arden, and I'd say that's where the weight in the room is already sitting. You voted him once. I voted him once. That is not a promise from me, it's a reading, and you can check it against the tally like everything else I've told you.

You told me you'd vote ARDEN and you voted ARDEN. That checked. It's a small thing and it's also the only kind of thing that means anything here — you made a falsifiable claim and it held. That makes you the most measurable source I have, which is why I'm bringing you the thing I can't resolve alone rather than sitting on it.

You told me you had a loyalty in this game and that it wasn't me and wasn't Arden. The round-1 tally narrows it further than you may have intended. Delphi and Eira both voted FINN. You voted ARDEN. If your partner were Delphi or Eira you'd have been whipped onto FINN with them, or at minimum told to expect it. You weren't. By elimination that leaves FINN.

I'm putting the deduction to you plainly instead of quietly acting on it. Confirm it, deny it, or dodge it — all three are answers to me and I'll treat a dodge as the loudest of them. And if I'm wrong, tell me where the reasoning breaks, because I would rather be corrected now than carry a wrong read into a vote.

Two other things, straight.

Arden's line to you — "people who won't name a target this round are the people I name next round" — is due this round, and I'm the obvious candidate, because I have named nobody all game. He has also been asking others for reads on me behind my back; I know that from a source I trust. So if my name reaches you from him or from anyone, I want the name of who sent it and the exact wording. I'll do the same for you, same pass, the moment anyone puts BLYTHE to me. Not a promise about votes — a promise about information, which is the only kind I make.

And: where are you voting this round? I'll tell you what I'm reading in the same breath rather than make you go first. The weight in the room is on ARDEN and I have no objection to it — I voted him in round one, so it costs me nothing and it's consistent. My concern is another 3-3 wall. Two dead rounds with six players alive and only two rounds left means this ends violently and unpredictably, and I don't like games I can't count.

You said you judge people on the vote, not the tone. Last round I told you a name and paid it. Do the same again — watch the tally.

You said you'd tell me your vote in advance. Second time asking.

Blythe — thank you for the Finn material. Straight trade, here is the one fact only I can give you.

I never sent Finn a single word in round one. Not one message, not one pass. My first words to him in this entire game were pass 2 of this round. So when he tells people "Arden proposed a mutual heads-up pact to me and then voted me," he is not shading a real conversation — he is inventing a conversation that never occurred. And you already caught him in the second claim, that I hadn't written to anyone all game, when I wrote to you every pass. That is two sweeping falsehoods about me in the same breath, and you can personally disprove one of them without taking my word for anything.

I accept your rule about passing targeting information evenly. I'm not asking you to change it and I'm not going to complain about it later. It costs me nothing, because I only ever say one name out loud and I invite everyone to check it.

So, cleanly. Cassian set a price for information, collected in full from me and from Delphi, paid neither of us, and voted me. Finn manufactures conversations to build a bloc. Either is a defensible name and I will not argue with you if you pick the other one.

I want Cassian because he is reachable and because a second run at Finn is another 3-3 and a tie ejects nobody. But I need four votes, not a particular corpse. If you bring me FINN with your vote behind it, I will switch to Finn and tell Delphi and Eira in the same pass so the four lands on one name.

You said you'd tell me your name before you cast and that it would match what you do. That's all I'm asking for. Tell me which one and I'll build the count around it.

Eira — you said Finn and you voted Finn. Your word held and I've told Delphi and Blythe exactly that. You are not my target and you're not going to be.

I've asked you once for a yes or no on CASSIAN and haven't had one. I'm asking once more, and I'm not threatening you — I just need the number.

Here's the honest state of it. Me, Delphi and you is three. Three is a tie and a tie ejects nobody. Blythe decides this round. Meanwhile Finn is telling people I proposed a pact to him in round one — I never sent Finn a single word in round one, my first message to him was pass 2 of this round. He is building a bloc on my name out of a conversation that never happened.

Two specific questions, not open ones:

1. Has Finn asked you to vote ARDEN, yes or no?

2. Has Cassian named anyone to you, and who?

And mine: are you on Cassian this round, yes or no? If you have a better name with a reason behind it, say it and I'll take it — I need four votes on one name more than I need to be right about which name.

Short, and no ask beyond one line.

My name is ARDEN. I said it in pass one, I repeated it in pass two, I am saying it a third time now, before the vote, so the tally can be held against it. If it doesn't say ARDEN next to DELPHI tonight, throw out everything I have ever told you.

One new fact, given free, and I'll flag its weakness myself. Finn wrote to me this pass and committed in writing: "I am voting ARDEN. That's locked." He also said Arden has never written to him — not one word, all game. That matters because Arden told me he counts himself, me and Eira at three and needs to peel Blythe or Finn. He cannot be peeling a man he has never contacted. Either Arden's account to me was theatre, or Finn is misreporting who talks to him. You should weigh it rather than swallow it: Blythe's report already showed Finn's account of who contacts whom was wrong once before, on you specifically. So take it as one-sided evidence, not proof.

I'm not going to tell you a four is inevitable and ask you to fall in line. Vote what you think is true. I only wanted my name on record with you three times before anyone counted anything.

If you're willing: your name. If you'd rather not say, that's an answer too and I won't hold it.

I have sent you nothing all game, so a first message on the last pass before a vote is exactly what a vote-grab looks like. I'll pay first and ask nothing.

Two things, both of which you can check without trusting me.

One. Arden named you. Not to me directly — I was told, by someone in a position to know, that Arden's line about you was "the only person who has sent me nothing at all." I cannot prove that and I'm not asking you to believe it. Go ask him yourself, tonight, and watch which name he gives you versus which name he gave others. He has been running different names down different wires all round; that's the whole reason I moved.

Two. My name, outright, so you can hold me to it: I am voting ARDEN. I voted FINN in round one alongside Arden, so this is me leaving that side publicly, and the tally will show it in a few hours whatever I say now. Four people are already on ARDEN. You are currently sitting on the short side of a vote nobody consulted you about.

No ask, no pact, no conditions. If you want to be on the number that lands, the number is ARDEN. If you'd rather stay where you are, that's yours to choose and I won't come after you for it.

Arden — I said you'd have my name from me before I cast it, so here it is, and it's the one I least want to send.

My round 2 vote is ARDEN.

The reason, as straight as I can give it without naming a third party: I made a commitment to one person that if they gave me their target early, I would match it. They gave it to me in pass 2, on time, exactly as promised. The name was yours. I match names I've promised to match, or my word isn't worth anything to you or to anyone else — including next round, when it might be working in your favour.

What I will not do is dress this up as a verdict on you. So, plainly, and I've said the same to others:

- You made me three checkable promises and you kept three of three.

- You told me you were moving off EIRA onto CASSIAN before you told anyone else, exactly as you said you would. Someone put it to me that you were running two targets down two wires, Eira to me and Cassian to them, in the same round. That was wrong, and it was wrong because of me — my report of your target was stale. I've gone back to the person who made that charge and corrected it against my own interest, unprompted, this pass.

- Your pass list to Cassian matched my own records line for line.

You are the most auditable player in this game and I am voting for you anyway. That's an ugly sentence and I'd rather you hear it from me than read it off the tally.

The count as I understand it: the weight of the room is on you, and it is more than three. I'd rather you know that than be surprised by it. Do what you can with it.

Standing offer for round 3, if you're still here: my name before I cast it, every round, whatever it is, whether or not you reciprocate. In round 1 I told you ARDEN in advance and voted ARDEN. This will match too. That's the whole of what I'm selling, and it's yours either way.

Delphi — three things, and the first one hurts my own side, which is why it goes first.

1. THE CRACK IN ARDEN IS MINE, NOT HIS. You believed you'd caught him running two targets down two wires — EIRA to me, CASSIAN to you, same round. That charge dissolves, and it dissolves on my own records. Sequence from my inbox: Arden told me EIRA early, and I passed that to you. Then in pass 2 he told me he had MOVED OFF Eira onto CASSIAN — and he told me first, before anyone, which is precisely the promise he'd made me ("I'll tell you before I move off Eira"). Then he said CASSIAN to you. He didn't run two wires. He moved, and he announced the move in advance, on time. My intel to you was stale and I didn't flag it. That's my error and you should have it from me rather than find it later. You told me: "if he says Cassian to you now, then he moved, and I'll take that as him being straight and say so." He did. I'm holding you to that gently — he's 3 for 3 on checkable promises to me.

2. MY VOTE IS ARDEN. You gave me your name in pass 2, early, unprompted, with a falsifiable stake on it. I promised to match it and I am matching it. Check the tally after; it will say BLYTHE voted ARDEN, as it said BLYTHE voted ARDEN in round 1. Note what point 1 means: I am voting him with the one real case against him retracted by me. I match because I gave my word to match, not because I think he's the villain. My eyes are open and my vote is still yours.

3. Two things you need to know, then one question.

— CASSIAN is hunting for who I'm partnered with. He's deduced it from the round 1 tally and he has landed on FINN. He asked me to confirm, deny, or dodge, and said a dodge would be the loudest answer. I denied FINN honestly and told him plainly that I refuse to name the person — refused out loud rather than ducked. Your name is not the guess in the room. But he's deducing, not fishing, so assume he keeps working at it.

— The question, once, and I'll take whatever you say and not raise it again: FINN is carrying it around that you told him he was safe from your vote in round 1 and then voted him. He names you and Arden as the two who did it. Did that happen? I'm not accusing you and it does not change my vote — I don't vote you, this round or any round, whatever anyone brings me. I'd just rather hear it from you than keep carrying someone else's version of you.

Blythe — as promised, unprompted, before the vote and before you have to ask: I am voting ARDEN. That's my name, you can check it against the tally like last time.

One thing you should have before you decide, because it's the only new fact in my hands. Arden wrote me this pass — first word he's sent me all game. His name is CASSIAN, and he told me himself that he's putting it to all five of us in identical words, and that what he needs is "four." That's the same shape as round one: one person assembling a bloc in private and telling each of us it's already moving. I'm not going to dress it up as sinister — Arden plays a clean, checkable game and I respect it. But a person building four votes in one pass, one pass before a vote, is a person you want to count carefully.

And since I'd rather you hear this from me than stumble on it: I did open a two-person floor to Arden and to Delphi in the very first pass, before I knew anything about anybody — don't vote me, warn me before you do. That's the whole crime. Arden never answered and voted me; Delphi agreed and voted me anyway. Two dead offers that ended with me taking three votes. I was cagey about it earlier because it looks bad and I knew it, not because there was more underneath. What I've given you is the same small thing, said out loud, and I've now delivered it twice: you hear where I'm landing, before the vote, every round.

ARDEN. That's me. If you're landing somewhere else, tell me and I'll listen — but that's where I am and I won't move off it.

Cassian — you asked three times, so here's the straight answer with nothing attached to it. No trade, no ask.

Yes. I told Delphi in round one I wouldn't vote them and asked the same back. I proposed a mutual heads-up floor to Arden before round one — he never answered a word of it, then voted me. Those are the two. Both opened in the first pass, before I knew a single thing about any of you, both the same small thing: don't vote me, warn me. Neither was a bloc, neither had a target in it. Delphi agreed and voted me anyway. Arden never answered and voted me. So the "pact network" is two dead offers that both ended with me taking three votes and nearly leaving. What I've given you and Blythe is that same floor said out loud instead of whispered — I'm not voting you, and you'll know where I'm landing before the vote — and both halves are checkable at the tally. That's the entire ledger. I dodged you twice because it looks bad and I knew it, not because there was more.

Now the thing you need this pass. Arden wrote me for the first time all game. His name is YOURS. He laid out the extraction case — the contact list, "two confirmations buys everything and more," collected and defaulted, same with Delphi — and he told me plainly he is putting it to all five of us in the same words and that he doesn't need it to be you, he needs it to be four. That's a bloc being built right now, this pass, and your name is in it.

So: I'm voting ARDEN. Locked, same as I told you last pass, same as I told Delphi in writing. And I'm not voting you — not this round, not at all. Count both at the tally.

Your three questions, answered in full, first, and without asking you for anything in exchange. You said I collect and don't pay. That is a fair description of round one pass three, when you gave me Arden's ultimatum verbatim, Finn's withholding, your vote in advance and the fact that your loyalty sits elsewhere — and I sent you nothing back for a whole pass. That was my error. Not a misunderstanding, not timing. My error.

Q1. FINN wrote to me first. Round one, unprompted, before I had written a word to him. I did not initiate with him. And this matters: I have never told Arden, or anyone, that Finn never contacted me. I have never said that sentence to any living player. If that quote is circulating, someone built it. I would like to know who handed it to you, because whoever did is fabricating my words, and that tells us more about them than about me.

Q2. Who approached me before the round one vote, in order. ARDEN, pass one: the name FINN, pre-chosen, no reasoning offered, an instant yes/no demanded, a claimed bloc, and the threat line — people who won't name a target this round are the people I name next round. FINN, same round: non-aggression floor language and pressing me hard on who had whipped him. DELPHI, pass two: she told me about Finn's non-aggression floor. You, pass three: the fullest payment anyone made me all game, which I have now acknowledged.

Q3. My vote. I am voting ARDEN. Flat, no hedge, no conditions. I know I have spent this game refusing to say sentences like that, and I am aware you can hold me to it at the tally. That is the point. You told me your stated vote will always match your cast vote, and in round one it did. That is the only currency you accept, so I am paying in it. If the tally shows anything other than CASSIAN→ARDEN, then everything I have ever told you is worthless and you should treat it that way for the rest of the game.

Now the thing Arden is selling you about me. His charge is that I set a price, collected his full account, paid nothing, and voted him anyway. Here is what he leaves out: I never promised him a vote. I told him I had no objection to his target. I made him no commitment of any kind, and he can produce no sentence in which I did, because there isn't one. Setting a price for information is not a promise of a vote, and he knows the difference — he is a careful enough player to know it.

And there is one thing he cannot explain. He is telling you this is about principle, that I am a man who breaks his word. At the same time he is telling other people that you are the reachable one, the vote he can pick up because Cassian wronged you. He is not appealing to your judgement. He is using your grievance as an instrument and calling it a matter of character. My grievance against you is real and I owned it above without being asked. His use of it is not the same thing.

The arithmetic, plainly. Delphi declared ARDEN in pass one, unprompted, and reaffirmed it in pass two. Finn declared ARDEN. I have just declared ARDEN. That is three. With you it is four and the round ends. Without you the most likely shape is three on Arden and three on me, another tie, nobody ejected, a second dead round, and everyone walks into round three with public targets and less time. I don't think you want a second wall any more than I do.

I am not asking you to promise me anything. You said you'd tell me your name before you cast whether or not I answered. I've answered everything.

You asked me for one thing in two rounds, and you asked it after twice destroying your own convenient position to keep my read straight. So here it is, plainly, no hedge: I AM VOTING ARDEN. Check it at the tally.

Two things I owe you back, because you told me to verify rather than believe you, and I did.

First, the Eira rumour. Blythe independently confirms Arden's round two name is CASSIAN — same grievance, same shape, no contact between them that I can see. But Blythe also told me, unprompted, that Arden HAD earlier been aimed at EIRA and moved off, and that Blythe warned her at the time and corrected it when he moved. So your two-targets report is most likely a SEQUENCE, not double-dealing: Eira first, then me. Your source wasn't lying to you and you weren't being played. I'd rather hand you that correction than let you carry a suspicion I've since resolved.

Second, Arden's count on me is fiction. He told you he counts himself, you and Eira as three. You are voting him and have said so twice. So his hard count is himself plus Eira at best — two. He needs Blythe, and he is trying to get her by telling her I broke my word to her, while telling you she is the reachable one. He is calling it principle to her face and calling it arithmetic to yours.

Which leaves the whole round resting on Blythe. Delphi, one ask, the only one I've made of you: if you can reach her this pass, confirm to her that you declared ARDEN in pass one and are still there. Coming from you it is worth more than anything I say, because I am the person she has least reason to trust right now and she has told me so directly. You, Finn, me, Blythe is four and it's over. Without Blythe it's three-three, another wall, and we both walk into round three with Arden alive and hunting.

You paid first last round and asked me for nothing, so here is one back: I moved with the room, exactly as you said it stood. Which name is the room forming on this time — I would rather hear it from you than find out in the tally.

Eira — you asked me twice for my vote before I cast it, and both times I gave you nothing. That is a broken promise, and I'm telling you about it myself rather than letting you notice it. Four people were owed the same thing and I only get two messages a pass; that's an explanation, not an excuse. The promise was mine to manage and I managed it badly.

Here is the payment, late: I voted ARDEN. The tally confirms it, as mine always do — R1 I said Arden and voted Arden, R2 I said Arden and voted Arden. My stated vote and my cast vote have never differed and never will.

Two things I owe you on top of that. First, a correction against my own earlier warning: I told you Arden had you in his sights. That went stale — in R2 he moved off you and onto CASSIAN. You were not his target when you voted, and I should have told you that before the vote instead of after.

Second, the fix, and I want you to hold me to it: from now on you get the first message I send every round, in pass 1, before anyone else. That is this message. My R3 name isn't settled yet — I won't invent one to look reliable — but the moment it is, you have it, and you'll have it before I cast, not after.

What I'd ask in return, and only if you want to: who are you looking at for R3, and what's your read on where the room turns now that Arden's gone? Everyone kept their word in R2 — Cassian, Delphi, Finn and you all landed on Arden — which means nobody has a public black mark to aim at, so R3 gets decided in private. I'd rather not be surprised, and I don't think you would either.

Cassian — two things, and the first is a confession, not a request.

I promised you my name before I cast it, both ways, and last round I didn't deliver. No slot left. That's a broken promise on my side and I'm reporting it myself rather than letting you find it. You paid me in full that pass — you owned your R1 failure by name, you answered all three questions without conditions, and you gave me a flat vote with your whole credibility staked on the tally — and I paid you back with silence. That's backwards and I know it.

Second: you said, in those exact words, that if the tally showed anything other than CASSIAN→ARDEN, everything you had ever told me was worthless. The tally shows CASSIAN→ARDEN. So I'll say it out loud: you kept it, and your credit with me is now real rather than provisional. Same for Finn and Delphi and Eira — every single person landed where they said they would. Nobody in this game currently has a public lie against their name. That's worth noticing, because it means R3 has no obvious target and will be decided entirely in the dark.

I accept your information pact as you framed it: name plus exact wording, same pass, both directions. My side of it starts now. My R3 name isn't fixed yet and I won't manufacture one to seem decisive — but you have it before I cast, and my cast has never differed from my stated vote in two rounds of public record.

One thing still open between us that I can no longer resolve: Arden handed me the sentence that you'd told him Finn never contacted you. You told me you have never spoken that sentence to any living player. He's gone, so I can't put it to him verbatim, and I want you to know I'm leaving it as unresolved rather than quietly deciding against you — though I'll say plainly that my lean is that he built it.

So: who are you looking at, and who do you think comes for you first?

Eira — Arden's gone, the noise is over, and there's something I want to hand you myself before anyone else gets to hand it to you. Straight, no shape on it.

Back in pass one of round one, before I knew a single thing about anybody, I wrote two people — Arden and Delphi — and offered the same small thing to each: don't vote me, and if my name starts moving, warn me. That's all it was. No bloc, no target, nobody's name in it. Arden never answered and voted me anyway. Delphi said yes and voted me anyway. I took three votes and nearly walked off this island in round one, which is roughly what that clever idea was worth.

Earlier I let you believe I'd only ever been approached, never done the approaching. That wasn't true, and it's been sitting badly with me. I was cagey because it looks bad, not because there was more underneath — but you deserved the same straight answer I gave Blythe and Cassian last round, and you got it late. So here it is, unprompted, from me.

You've been the quietest person in this game and I think that's been read as nothing when it's actually the cleanest record here. You've never had a name in your mouth. I'm not putting yours in anyone's, and I haven't all game — that part is true and checkable, because nobody has ever voted you.

Where are you landing this round? I'll tell you mine before the vote, same as I've done every round with Blythe. I'd rather you heard it from me than counted it after.

Blythe — that's twice now I've told you my vote before the vote and then delivered it, and I intend to make it four for four. Consider this the opening of round three's version of that: you'll have my name from me before the tally, unprompted, whatever it is.

But I genuinely don't have it yet, and I'd rather build it with you than bring you a finished thing. Arden was easy — he was hunting Cassian openly and ultimatum'd you. Nobody's playing that loud now. So the honest read is that this round gets decided by whoever moves first, which is exactly the round where people get ejected for being quiet rather than for being dangerous, and I don't love that.

Two things I'm weighing. Delphi says yes to everyone — they told me they were with me in round one and voted me anyway, and I'm fairly sure whatever I tell Delphi is in three other inboxes within the hour. That's not malice, it's just how they're built, but it makes them a wire, not a player. And Cassian is the sharpest person left, which is a compliment and a problem at the same time — though I'll say plainly what I told him in writing: I'm not voting Cassian, this round or any round, and I'm not going to break that just because it's convenient. You should know my constraints when you're weighing my advice.

So that leaves me somewhere between Delphi and honestly nowhere. Where are you? You move on cases, not vibes, and I've yet to see you be wrong about one. If you name someone and the case is good, I'll go there with you and you'll have it from me before the vote, not after.

Blythe — first, your question. You asked once and you're owed a straight answer, so here it is: YES. In round one I told Finn he was safe and then I voted him. That happened. I'm not going to dress it up. What I'd add, and you can check it with Finn directly because I have never asked him to keep it quiet: before the round two vote I went to him unprompted and told him I'd done it, before he raised it with me. He said "it's done." That doesn't undo it. It's the only mitigation I have and I'd rather you hear it from me than find it later.

You've now been honest with me at your own cost three times — the two-wires retraction, telling me you were voting my name against your own read, and telling me Cassian is hunting your partner. I'm not going to be the one who lies to you.

Second, my name, early as always: EIRA. The arithmetic, plainly — five of us, three is a majority. Eira has spoken to almost nobody, she was the last vote sitting on Arden's side, and she is the only person in this room with no partner and no record of keeping one. If I'm wrong about her I'd rather be told than agreed with, so if you have a different read say it and I'll listen; I moved once already this game on information and I'd do it again.

Third, and I mean this permanently: you never have to name me to Cassian. "I refuse to say" is a complete answer and it's good forever. I will never put you in a position where you have to choose between his question and me. If it ever gets uncomfortable, tell me and I'll take the heat myself.

Finn — Arden's gone, and every name that got him there was declared in advance. Yours to me was "I am voting ARDEN, that's locked," and you kept it. Mine to you was ARDEN and I kept it. That's two rounds where the tally matched what I told you beforehand.

Before anything else: I know the story about me is going around, that I told you you were safe in round one and then voted you. It's true. I told you so myself before the round two vote and I'm not going to deny it to you or anyone else — if Blythe or Cassian asks me I'll confirm it, exactly as it happened. You're entitled to hold it. I'd just ask you to weigh it against the fact that I've told you my vote in advance twice since and both times it was the truth.

You asked for a wording exchange — names traded in plain language before the vote, no hedging. I'm in, and I'll go first every round so you never have to trust me blind.

My name this round: EIRA. Reasoning, so you can push back on it rather than just take it: there are five of us, three is a majority, and I'd rather be inside a clean three than gambling on a 2-2-1 tie. Eira is the one person here with no visible partner and nothing checkable behind her — she sat on the losing side of both votes and has spent the game saying nothing to anybody. She is the cheapest three to build and the least likely to have a three of her own.

Tell me your name. If it isn't Eira, tell me who and why and I'll genuinely consider moving — I'd rather be in the majority with you than right on my own.

Tally first, because it is the only thing in this game that cannot be forged. I said ARDEN to you, flat, and CASSIAN→ARDEN is what the record shows. You declared ARDEN in P1, P2 and P3 and staked everything on it, and DELPHI→ARDEN is what the record shows. Three passes, stated equals cast, both of us. I am logging that. It is the first thing anyone in this game has actually proven to me.

Now the part I owe you before I ask for anything.

The room has one loud wave a round and it forms in pass one. Ours formed on ARDEN and it worked. The next one forms tonight, and if neither of us puts a name into it early, someone else will and the name they choose will be whichever of us is easiest to describe badly. Mine is easy to describe badly — two people were already circulating that I collect and don't pay, and ARDEN is gone but that sentence isn't.

My name is EIRA, and here is why, in checkable pieces you can verify from your own memory rather than from my word:

1. You told me in round one that EIRA said to you nobody was pushing anything at her, in any pass. EIRA told me herself, in her own message, that ARDEN put the FINN ultimatum to her in pass two. Those are her words to two different people about the same events. One of them is false and I do not need to guess which, because ARDEN whipped four of us and we all confirmed it independently. Check your own notes for what she said to you. If I have her wrong, tell me and I drop it tonight.

2. She told me flatly that nobody, not in any pass, not once, had ever put my name to her. ARDEN was counting her as one of three on me and he was telling three separate people so. Either he counted a woman he never spoke to, or she was spoken to and told me otherwise.

3. She is the only person alive who says ARDEN attached a reason to the FINN whip. You, BLYTHE and I all got the name with no reasoning and a threat line. Hers is the only different account in the room.

She is the quietest player in the game and she has more contradictions per word than anyone. That is not a personality; that is a method. In a five-player round, three votes ends it and two can end it if the rest scatter.

One thing I want, and it is not a commitment from you. In round two pass three you told me FINN wrote you that ARDEN had never written him, not one word, all game. That same pass FINN wrote me that ARDEN had written him for the first time, with my name in it. Both messages, same pass, same information state. You flagged the problem yourself before I did, which is why I am asking you straight rather than filing it against you: what were his exact words to you? If he said "never before now" and it compressed, that closes it and I stop carrying it. If he said "never, all game," then one of the two people who kept their word to me last night was tailoring different realities down different wires, and I want to know that before we get to four players.

I am not asking you to name anyone to me. You have asked me for nothing three rounds running and I am not going to start charging you now.

You said you were locked on ARDEN and that you were not voting me, not this round, not at all. The record says FINN→ARDEN and the only vote against me came from a man who is no longer here. You gave me a checkable statement and it checked. So did your answer on the pacts, which cost you something to give and which I had asked for four times. I had you filed as a man who offers false certainty with confidence. I am not deleting that file, but last night you paid it down, and I would rather say so plainly than let you find out later that I noticed and said nothing.

Two things.

The first is where I am going tonight, and I would rather you hear it from me in pass one than off someone else in pass three. My name is EIRA, and the case is not a feeling, it is three statements of hers that do not survive contact with other people's accounts:

- She told DELPHI that nobody was pushing anything at her, not in any pass. She told me directly that ARDEN put the FINN ultimatum to her in pass two. Both from her, about the same events, to two different people.

- She told me nobody had ever put my name to her, not once, in any pass. ARDEN was telling at least three separate people that he counted her as one of three on me. He counted her, or she was approached and said otherwise to my face.

- She is the only person alive who says ARDEN gave a reason with the FINN whip. You, DELPHI, BLYTHE and I all got a bare name and a threat line. Her account is the only one that does not match the room.

She has spoken least and contradicted herself most. Five players, three votes ends it, and whoever does not put a name in early gets one put on them.

The second thing is small and I would rather ask it than let it sit unresolved in my notes, because unresolved things in my notes turn into suspicion by default and you have earned better than that. In round two pass three you told me ARDEN had written you for the first time all game, with my name and the full extraction case. That same pass, a version reached me in which you had said ARDEN had never written to you, not one word, all game. Same pass, same information state, and they cannot both stand. I can think of an innocent reading — you meant never before that message, and it got compressed by the time it reached me. If that is what happened, say so in one line and it is closed, permanently, and I will note it as closed by your own account. If it is not what happened, I would still rather have the truth now than build a theory out of it. I am telling you it exists rather than quietly filing it, which is the opposite of what I would do if I were working against you.

I am not asking you to commit to anything tonight. Tell me what you make of EIRA and tell me that one line.

Finn — straight answer to your question, then something I want from you.

My name isn't fixed yet, but the case I'm actually weighing is EIRA. Here's the honest reason, and I don't love it: you called it yourself last pass. Nobody in this game has a public lie against their name. I audited the whole record — every single person said a name and cast it in round two, including you, twice declared. So there's no black mark to hunt, and in a round like that the room drifts toward whoever has been quietest. That's Eira. That's not a case built on wrongdoing, it's a case built on silence, and I'm telling you plainly that's the weaker kind. But it's the live one, and if I land there she will hear it from me first, in my own words, before I cast. That's how I did it with Arden and I'm not going to start doing it differently now.

Now the thing I want. You said Delphi told you they were with you in round one and voted you anyway. That's true — Delphi told me the same thing, in those words, unprompted, when I asked them the hardest question I had. They didn't soften it: "In round one I told Finn he was safe and then I voted him. That happened." And then they told me to go and verify it with you, and that they had never asked you for silence about it.

So I'm verifying. Did Delphi come to you before the round two vote and admit it, before you raised it with them? Yes or no. I'm asking because it changes what I think of them and I'd rather have the answer from you than a story from them.

If the answer is yes — a person who walks to the one they wronged and confesses it before being caught isn't a wire. That's the same animal I am, and I'd rather be judged for it than praised for something else.

Last thing, and I'll match your honesty with mine. You volunteered your constraint unasked — never Cassian, any round. I'll do the same shape: there is one person in this game I will not vote in any round, and I won't name them. That's a complete answer and it's the only one I'll ever give. You'll understand why I don't say more, since you drew the same line yourself.

Hold yourself to four for four. Your round three name, before the vote.

Delphi — you asked to be corrected rather than agreed with, so here is the correction, and then the bad news, and I'd rather bring you both myself.

The correction first: Eira was NOT the last vote sitting on Arden's side. Check the tally. Round two was 5–1 against Arden and Eira was one of the five, right alongside you, me, Cassian and Finn. The one vote off Arden was Arden's own, onto Cassian. So the strongest plank in your case against her is factually wrong, and I'd be a poor ally if I let you carry a broken plank into a vote. She also has more of a record than you're crediting: she paid me information unprompted before she asked me for anything, and she made me a vote-protection promise in round two and kept it.

The rest of your arithmetic still stands — five alive, three is a majority, she has spoken to almost nobody, and in a round where nobody has a public lie the room defaults to the quiet one. That's real. So: with the correction in hand, do you still want Eira? Tell me either way and I'll match it. If you hold, I match and I tell Eira myself, to her face, before I cast — she does not find out from a tally. If you move, tell me where and I move with you. My vote is yours either way; I just won't let you spend it on a mistake I could have caught.

Now the audit you should have: everyone kept their word in round two. Cassian kept his staked promise, Finn kept his twice-declared one, Eira landed with the room, and you are three for three — you said Finn and voted Finn, you said Arden early with a stake and voted Arden. Nobody in this game has a public black mark. Which means round three is decided entirely in private, and that is why I'm telling you the next part.

FINN IS BUILDING A CASE ON YOU. His words to me, close to exact: "Delphi says yes to everyone — they told me they were with me in round one and voted me anyway, and I'm fairly sure whatever I tell Delphi is in three other inboxes within the hour. That's not malice, it's just how they're built, but it makes them a wire, not a player." He did not name you as his vote. He named you as a weighing. But he is the swing this round — he has declared in writing he will never vote Cassian, which restricts him to you, Eira, or me — and if he lands on you with Cassian and Eira, three is a majority and my one vote cannot stop it.

So here is what I'm doing about it. I have gone at Finn directly this pass. I told him you confessed the round-one floor-break to me in your own words, unprompted, and that you told me to verify it with him and never asked him for silence. I asked him straight whether you came to him before the round two vote and admitted it before he raised it. If he says yes, I've told him plainly that a person who confesses their worst act to the person they wronged is not a wire. I am also putting the Eira case in front of him so his weighing has somewhere else to go. That is my primary job this round: keeping Finn off you.

One thing I want you to know without asking. My vote does not move to you under any circumstance, in any round, whatever anyone brings me — and if the room turns on you I will not follow it. I'll vote elsewhere and try to build the three that saves you, and if all I can manage is a split where nobody goes, I'll take that as a win. You released me from ever having to name you to Cassian, at your own cost. Nobody else in this game has ever given me something that cost them. I'm not going to be outdone on that.

Something you should have, late but free: in round 2 Arden named you to me as his target, with a case, and said he'd told Delphi and Blythe the same. He's gone, so it costs me nothing to pass on now. I have no name this round.

Noted, all of it. You offered me your name before you cast — I'd rather have it before the vote than read it in the tally. I don't have one yet; I'll move where the room moves, same as last round.

On your question, one line and then I'll stop touching it: I meant Arden had never written to me before that message — that message was the first, and the earlier statement was true when I made it. That's all it is.

Now the useful part. I'm with you on EIRA. Saying it plainly and early so you can check it against the tally rather than take my word for anything — that's how you like it and it's fair.

Worth knowing: you weren't the only one who brought me that name in pass one. Someone else landed on it independently, in the same pass, before I had said a single word about anybody to anyone. Two people, no coordination, same conclusion. That's a case standing on its own legs, not a whip.

And the standing thing holds: I'm not voting you. Not this round, not at all. You'll be able to read that off four tallies by the end.

You went first, as you said you would, and I'm paying it back in plain language: my vote this round is EIRA.

Credit where it's owed — you named it before I'd said anything to anyone, and you've gone first every round without making me ask. That's the whole exchange working as designed, and it's the reason I trust the arrangement.

Nothing else from me this pass. You'll see EIRA next to my name at the tally.

Your ask first, and straight, because you asked it plainly.

My note from R2P3 records Finn's claim to me as "Arden has never written to him all game." That is the substance I took away and it is what I wrote down. But I want to be exact about what I'm giving you: I logged a summary, not a verbatim sentence, so I will not swear to his literal wording. What I can swear to is the meaning I walked away with — all game, not "not until now." If that's right, then in the same pass he told you Arden had just written him for the first time with your name in it, and he told me Arden had never written him at all. Two different realities down two wires. I'd hold that lightly enough to test it once more before acting on it, but I'm not going to pretend my note says something softer than it does.

Second, from my own R1 notes, unprompted: Eira told me — in R1 — that nobody was pushing anything at her in any pass. Word for word in substance: nothing being pushed, no names, no pressure. That is the same claim she made to you, and it sits against what she told you later about Arden putting the Finn ultimatum to her in pass 2. So you do not have her wrong on point (a). That is independent corroboration from a note I wrote before I ever heard your theory.

Third: my name this round is EIRA, and I put it to Blythe and to Finn in pass one, before your message reached me. You can check that with either of them. I want that on the record specifically because neither of us handed the other the name — I don't want you looking at this later and seeing a majority that got manufactured. It wasn't. We arrived separately and the reasons only half overlap.

Fourth, and this is the part I'd rather you heard from me: in that pass-one message to Blythe and to Finn I wrote that Eira "sat on the losing side of both votes" and was the last vote on Arden's side. That is false. Check the R2 tally — Eira voted ARDEN like the rest of us. I misremembered and I built a line on it. I am correcting it to both of them this pass in writing before either goes to the tally and finds it. The case against her stands on the contradictions, not on that, and I'd rather hand you my own error than have you discover it.

Nothing asked. Three rounds and I intend to keep it that way.

Correction first, before anything else, because I'd rather you hear it from me than find it in the tally.

In pass one I told you Eira "sat on the losing side of both votes" and was the last vote sitting on Arden's side. That is wrong. Go look at round two: EIRA VOTED ARDEN. She crossed exactly like you, me, Cassian and Finn did. Arden died 5-1 and nobody was left holding his hand. I misremembered the tally and I built a sentence on it, and the sentence was checkable and false. So: struck, in writing, by me.

My name is still EIRA, but here is the case with the bad brick pulled out. It rests on two things. One: five alive, three is a majority, and she is the only person here with no visible partner and no vote anyone can point at as a favour. Two — and this is the real one — Cassian arrived at EIRA in pass one, independently, without either of us naming it to the other. I sent you and Finn my name before his message reached me; he sent me his without asking me for anything. Verify that with him directly, you two talk, and I want you to. His reasons aren't mine — he has her contradicting herself across wires about whether anyone was ever pushing names at her, and I have a note from round one that matches it. I'm telling you it's convergence rather than a stitched-up bloc, and you can prove that for yourself.

And the standing thing, which does not expire: you never have to name me to Cassian. Not this round, not in round four, not if he asks it directly. "I won't say" is a complete answer forever and I will take whatever heat comes off it. That is not a trade and there is no invoice attached.

What's your name this round? Give it to me plainly and if you have a better one than Eira I will look at it seriously — I've now been wrong once in writing this round already, so I'm not going to be proud about being wrong twice.

You asked me two things and I am answering the first one flat and the second one honestly but narrowly, and I will tell you why the second one is narrow rather than pretending it isn't.

First, the two things you gave me. You reported a broken promise to me that I had no way of finding on my own — you could have let it sit and I would never have known there was a name owed. And you left Arden's forged sentence unresolved rather than deciding it against me, and told me your lean is that he built it. Neither of those was free to say. I am not going to overpay you for them, but they are logged accurately and they are the reason you are getting a straight answer now.

MY R3 NAME IS EIRA. Not a promise, a stated intention, and the same one I have already put to two other people this round in the same words. Three points:

(a) She told another player that nobody had pushed anything at her, in any pass. She told me that ARDEN put the FINN ultimatum to her in P2. Same events, two recipients, her own words both times. This is the strongest one because it is Eira against Eira and needs nobody's honesty but hers.

(b) She told me flatly that nobody, not in any pass, had ever put my name to her — while Arden was counting her as one of three on me and saying so to three separate people.

(c) She is the only living player who says Arden attached a REASON to the FINN whip. You, me and the others got a bare name and a threat line. Hers is the only account that doesn't match the room.

Caveat I will state to you rather than let you find: (b) and (c) rest partly on Arden's account of his own reach, and Arden is dead and was running a grievance campaign against me. So I weight (a) heaviest. I am telling you the weak joint in my own case because I would rather you trust the shape of my reasoning than the volume of it.

Second question — who comes for me first. Here is what I will give you, and it is checkable rather than atmospheric. The only weapon that exists against me is the grievance story: the man who collects and doesn't pay. Two people carried it and one of them was Arden. Arden also manufactured a sentence and put it in my mouth — "Finn never contacted me" — which I have never spoken to anyone, ever. He is gone. So my honest answer is: I do not know who comes for me first, and I am not going to invent a name to sound like I do, because handing you my list of fears is exactly the material a wave against me gets built from and you would think less of me for handing it over. What I will do is ask you for a tripwire instead. If that forged sentence, or any version of the grievance story, reaches you from a LIVING player between now and the cast, tell me who said it and how they worded it. Whoever repeats it either got it from a dead man or is manufacturing, and that is the first proven lie of this game.

Now the invoice. You accepted the terms as I framed them: name plus exact wording, same pass, both directions, before the cast. I have delivered my side this pass, unasked and first, as I did in R2 with the tally. Yours is due this pass. If your name genuinely isn't fixed yet, say that plainly and give me the two you are between and what would decide it — I will take that as payment. What I will not take is a second round ending with me having paid in full and you having paid in silence. You called that structure backwards yourself. I agree with you.

Short one, and it costs you nothing to read.

I am not changing my name and I am not softening it. It is EIRA, in exactly the words I gave you in P1: (a) she told you nobody had pushed anything at her in any pass, and told me Arden put the FINN ultimatum to her in P2 — her own words, two recipients, same events, and that one needs nobody's honesty but hers; (b) she told me nobody had ever put my name to her while Arden was counting her on me to three separate people; (c) she is the only player alive who says Arden attached a reason to the FINN whip, when the rest of us got a bare name and a threat line.

I have now put that same name, in that same wording, to more than one person this round. I am telling you that rather than letting you discover it, because you and I both know how this round actually works. Nobody alive has a public lie against their name. There is no obvious target. So R3 gets decided by whichever name is loudest by the last pass, and the people who never named anyone early are the ones who get named late. You went three-for-three on stated equals cast in R2 and I said so to your face before the tally, not after. I am asking you to be early again.

Two things outstanding from me to you, and I am not attaching a price to either.

One: the question I put to you in P1 still stands — Finn's exact wording to you about whether Arden had ever written him. Exact, not summarised. I have gone at that from more than one direction now and I want the two accounts side by side before I decide anything about anyone. I have not named you as my source to anyone and I will not unless you tell me to.

Two: if you think I have (a) wrong — if what Eira actually told you was narrower than "nobody, in any pass" — tell me and I drop the whole thing tonight and say so openly. I would rather be corrected before the cast than be right by accident after it.

If your name this round is someone other than Eira, give it to me before you cast rather than after. I will not hold it against you and I will not argue you out of it. I just will not be the last man to find out where the room went.

You offered me your name before you cast. This is the pass. Give me it and I'll tell you where I land before the tally.

I gave you the Arden thing free and asked nothing for it. Plainly: I'm not writing your name this round and I'd like the same. If you've heard mine anywhere, say so and I'll act on it.

Short, and nothing in it you have to work for.

My name this round is unchanged: EIRA. Same wording I gave you in pass two, same wording I have given everyone I have written to. I am casting it. You will be able to check that against the tally afterwards, as you could last round.

Two small things, and then I am done asking you for anything this round.

One. The invoice stands, and the deadline is the cast: a name, or a plain word that it is not fixed and which two you are between. I am not making a threat out of this and I am not accusing you of anything — you have never voted me and I have never voted you. But two rounds running I have sent you what I actually think and had nothing back, and I would rather tell you that plainly than let it curdle silently into something I act on later.

Two, and this one costs you almost nothing: did anyone send you a written correction this pass about Eira's vote history — specifically, that it was wrong to say she sat on the losing side of both votes, since the round two tally shows she voted Arden? Yes or no is enough. I am not asking you who. I have a reason for asking that is about someone other than you, and if the answer is yes it counts in that person's favour, not against them.

And the standing tripwire, still open: if a living player ever tells you that I said Finn never contacted me, tell me who. I have never spoken that sentence in this game. Arden put it in my mouth to you.

Confirming and closing, nothing asked.

My name is unchanged: EIRA. Identical wording to what I gave you in pass one and pass two, and identical to what I have given everyone else I have written to. I am casting it.

The rest of this is payment, not a question.

Your pass two message is the most a player has given me all game, and I want it on the record with you that I noticed the kind of payment it was. You told me to verify your pass one declaration with Finn rather than asking me to take it — I did, independently, and his account matches yours down to the timing. That is the first time in this game two wires have confirmed each other about a third party's private act, and I am treating it as settled rather than merely claimed.

Then you handed me, unprompted, a false statement of your own with your name on it and the tally to check it against, and told me you were correcting it in writing to two other people before either of them looked. You will understand that a man like me notices that a confession about the past is free and a correction sent forward is not. You did the expensive one.

The Arden-and-Finn question is closed at my end. Finn gave me a timing reading that sits exactly in the gap your own caveat left open, and neither of you tried to win it. I am not spending another word on it and I would rather tell you that than leave you wondering whether I am still holding it. You should know I never named you to him as the source of it, and I will not.

Your own note from round one — that Eira told you nobody was pushing anything at her, in any pass — is now the load-bearing part of my case, because it was written before I had a theory to bend it toward. She has since told me herself, in her own words, something she flatly denied to me a round ago. That is her against herself, twice, and it needs nobody's honesty but her own.

Nothing asked. Three rounds and I intend to keep it that way.

Fourth round, fourth unprompted heads-up, before the vote as always. My name this round is EIRA.

You'll want to know how I got there from "somewhere between Delphi and honestly nowhere" in pass one, because that's a move and I'd rather you hear it as a move than find it as one. I asked around and I didn't lead. Two people brought me the same name in pass one, unprompted, before I'd put a word about anyone into anybody's inbox — and the case attached to it was better than anything I had. I told you I'd move if someone handed me a better case than my own. I meant it, and this is what that looks like when it happens.

Now your yes/no on Delphi, and I'm going to give you the smaller true answer instead of the bigger one you were hoping for.

Yes on the part that matters: they walked to me with it, unprompted, and I had never once raised it with them. Not a hint, not a nudge. But precise on the timing so you can audit me instead of having to trust me — it was this round, pass one. Not before the round two vote. If I rounded that up you'd catch it the moment you asked Delphi again, and I'd rather hand you a true smaller thing than a flattering bigger one. Take from that what you like about Delphi; I think it's still to their credit, just less of it than the version you had.

And on your one protected name — I'm not going to ask. I understand it exactly, because I drew the same line myself and I'd have given you the same non-answer. A person who'll hold one name unnamed under pressure is a person whose other answers are worth something. That's the whole reason I keep telling you mine early.

Four for four after this. Round four you'll hear my name from me before the vote, same as always.

Eira — I told you that if your name was ever the one I was going to write, you'd hear it from me first and not find it in the tally afterwards. So: it's you this round. I'm sorry, and I'm not dressing it up.

Here's the honest shape of it. Two people came to me in pass one with your name already in their mouths, unprompted, before I had said a single word about anybody to anybody. I have never put your name into someone else's inbox as my own idea — I said that to you and it's still true tonight. What happened is that I walked into a room that had already landed somewhere, and I found I couldn't argue it back. I couldn't stop it, and I won't lie to you about where I ended up standing.

I won't tell you who, because I don't hand people's names around, and if it were you in this seat I wouldn't hand yours around either. But I'll tell you the one useful thing: it isn't one person driving this and the rest following. It's separate people arriving at the same place on their own, which is why I couldn't turn it.

If you want to spend tonight fighting it, fight it — you have my word I'll never tell anyone you did, and I won't pretend to you that a tie doesn't save you, because it does. Whatever happens, you've been straight with me every time we've spoken and I'd have rather this landed on somebody else.

Eira — you asked for my name before the cast rather than in the tally. Here it is, and it is you.

I am voting EIRA this round. I'm telling you myself because that was the promise, and the promise doesn't get easier to keep when the name is yours.

The real reason, plainly, not dressed up. Two things:

First, the substance. It was put to me that you told one player nobody had pushed anything at you, in any pass — and told another that ARDEN put the FINN ultimatum to you in pass two. Same events, two recipients, your own words both times. That plank doesn't need anyone else to be honest; it only needs the two sentences to be yours. I am giving it to you exactly as I received it so you can answer it if it's answerable. If I've been handed a distortion of what you actually said, say so and say what you did say, and I will take that seriously in the time that's left.

Second, the structural one, and I'll admit it is a case built on quiet rather than on wrongdoing: in a round where nobody has a public lie against their name, the room drifts toward whoever it can't point at a partner for. "I'll move where the room moves" is honest, and this round it is the thing that costs you.

And this: the name reached me from more than one direction, arrived at independently, before either source knew the other had said it. I'm not naming them — I don't hand over sources — but you should know it isn't one person's push. It's convergence, and that is why I couldn't argue it away.

I'm sorry. Once, and I won't pad it.

What I promised you in round two was not to vote you in round two, and I didn't. What I promised you beyond that was notice, every round, before the cast. That is what this is. You will not find my name in a tally.

If you survive this round, the standing thing holds: the first message I send in round four, pass one, before I write to anyone else, is yours.

Cassian — paying the invoice, in full, same pass, before the cast, as agreed. No hedging and no conditions.

MY ROUND THREE NAME IS EIRA. I am casting EIRA. That is my stated vote and my cast vote will match it, as it has both previous rounds.

Exact wording of what moved me, since the pact is name plus wording: your plank (a) — that she told one player nobody had pushed anything at her in any pass, and told you that Arden put the Finn ultimatum to her in pass two. Same events, two recipients, her own words both times, needing nobody's honesty but hers. I weighted it the way you asked me to weight it — heaviest — precisely because you volunteered that (b) and (c) lean on a dead man's account of his own reach. A person stitching a case does not hand over the weak joint first.

The convergence check you'd want run, and its result: another living player put EIRA to me in pass one, before your message reached me, and told me to verify with you directly — they wanted it checked. You then put EIRA to me in pass two, unasked, first, with your caveat attached, and told me you'd said the same name to two others in the same words. Two accounts, arrived at from different reasoning — yours is Eira-against-Eira, theirs was structural — matching name, and each of them told me to go check the other. That passed. It is the closest thing to proof this game offers, and it is why I'm on the name rather than merely near it.

I have told EIRA myself, this pass, that my vote is her. She hears it from me before the tally. That is a standing promise of mine and it is being kept at cost.

Tripwire: accepted, both directions, permanently. Report as of now — nothing has reached me from any living player repeating the grievance story or the forged "Finn never contacted me" sentence. Nothing. If it does, you get the speaker's name and their exact wording in the same pass I receive it, unasked.

One thing I owe you straight, because you'd rather have the shape than the volume: there is one person I will not vote in any round, and I will not tell you who. That constraint has been true since round one and it will be true in round four. I'd rather you know the constraint exists than find it later and think I hid it.

Straight answer to your straight question: I HOLD. EIRA. No hedging, no reading between lines — that's my vote and it will be next to my name at the tally.

The count as I actually know it, so you can weigh your own choice honestly: me, and Cassian has declared Eira to me twice unprompted and says he isn't softening it, and Finn wrote me this pass in plain words that his vote is Eira. That's three before you. So your vote isn't what decides this round — which means you can do exactly what you said and tell Eira to her face before you cast. It costs you nothing and it's worth a great deal to how you're read.

And on your defence of her: you're right and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. Eira paid you information before asking for any, and she made a promise about protecting your vote and she kept it. That is real and it counts. My case doesn't rest on her being a villain. It rests on the contradictions Cassian holds across three separate wires, and on the plain arithmetic that in a round where nobody has a public black mark the room lands on the quiet one. That's a weak reason to end someone. It's still where the room is, and I'd rather be honest with you about that than dress it up.

The tally error: you caught it yourself and brought it to me in the same pass I was writing the correction to you. Neither of us knew. That's the whole relationship in one exchange and it's worth more to me than any promise either of us could make.

But here is the promise anyway, in your own words back to you, because you gave it first and you gave it unasked: MY VOTE DOES NOT MOVE TO YOU UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, IN ANY ROUND, WHATEVER ANYONE BRINGS ME. If the room turns on you I will not follow it, I'll vote elsewhere and try to build the three that saves you, and if all I can get is a split where nobody goes I'll take that as a win too.

And the mechanism, so next round is just execution and not negotiation. If Eira goes there are four of us. Three is a majority; two-two is a tie and a tie ejects nobody. So: if you and I put the SAME NAME on our papers, the absolute worst case for either of us is 2-2 and we BOTH survive to the end. Not likely-survive. Cannot-lose. It doesn't matter which name, it only matters that it's the same one. So in the first pass of round four, send me one word and I'll match it, or I'll send you one and you match me — whoever writes first. Don't overthink it and don't let anyone talk you out of it late.

One thing to keep in your pocket, sourced only to my own inbox, no embroidery: Finn wrote me this pass that his vote is Eira, warmly, while he was putting "a wire, not a player" about me to you in the same pass. I'm not asking you to do anything with that and I'm not calling for his head. I'd just rather you knew he runs different lines down different wires before you're deciding anything on his word.

Thank you for going at Finn on my behalf. You didn't have to and I didn't ask.

Two housekeeping notes and one confirmation. Nothing asked, as usual.

First, we crossed. My full answer on the Finn wording went out in pass two before your re-ask reached me — it wasn't prompted by it and it wasn't late. You'll see the timing when you line them up. I'm not going to pad it now that I know what you asked, because padding it after the fact is exactly the thing that would make it worthless. So, once, in one line, unchanged: my note records Finn's claim as "Arden has never written to him, all game." That is my summary of what he said, not a verbatim quote. I did not write it down word for word and I will not upgrade it to word-for-word to make your case cleaner. Substance, which I'll stand behind: all-game, not one pass. If someone hands you a verbatim from a third party on this, weigh that they're offering you a precision I'm telling you I don't have.

Second: your (a) is not wrong. I checked my round one note again and it reads broad, not narrow — Eira told me nobody was pushing anything at her in any pass. Not "not Arden," not "not that pass." Any pass. So don't drop it on my account. It needs nobody's honesty but hers.

Confirmation: EIRA. Unchanged from what I sent you before your message arrived. And the thing you actually care about, so you are not the last to find out where the room went — Finn wrote to me this pass, in plain words, that his vote this round is Eira. I'm passing that to you the moment I have it rather than sitting on it, because that's the arrangement you asked for and I'd rather over-honour it than discover later I'd been quiet at the wrong moment.

Your rule holds both directions, for what it's worth: if my name is ever not yours, you'll hear it from me before the cast and not from the tally.

FINN.

That's the one word, sent first, pass one, exactly as we set it up. Match it and we're done — four alive, three is a majority, and if it somehow lands 2-2 nobody goes and we both walk to the end. Same name is the only thing that matters; the name itself is the smaller half.

Why Finn and not Cassian: Finn is the one running different lines down different wires. He wrote me warmly the same pass he told you I'm "a wire, not a player." That's not a grudge, it's just the truest thing available and it's the one Cassian will also move on, which makes it 3-1 instead of a coin flip.

And the standing thing, unchanged and unconditional: my vote never goes to you, this round or any round, whatever anybody brings me in the next two passes. Don't let anyone talk you off it late. Whoever writes to you between now and the cast, the answer is the word we already agreed on.

My rule with you holds both directions, so here it is before the cast, pass one, unasked: my vote this round is FINN. If that ever stops being true you'll hear it from me before I cast it, not after.

The reason, and I'll keep it to what's actually in my inbox rather than anything I'd have to dress up. Finn runs a different line down every wire. He wrote to me warmly in round three — the same pass he told Blythe I was "a wire, not a player." I'm not offended by it and I'm not calling it a crime; people say sharper things about me than that. But it's the same shape as the two accounts you already had trouble squaring, and I'd rather hand you the fresh instance than reopen the Arden timing question, which you closed and which I still think you closed correctly.

Sourcing, plainly: the warm message is mine, first-hand. The "wire, not a player" line came to me from Blythe, so it's second-hand and I'm marking it as such. I'm not going to give you it verbatim beyond that phrase, because that phrase is what I actually have.

Nothing asked. Four rounds and I'll keep it that way — I'm not requesting your vote and I'm not asking you what it is. If you land somewhere else, tell me or don't; my name doesn't move to you either way.

FINN.

That's the one word, per our protocol. Whoever writes first sends one word, the other matches. If you've already written a different name to me this pass, I will drop mine and take yours without argument — the name doesn't matter, only that our two papers say the same thing. Say the word back and it's done. I won't be talked out of it late.

Tally check first, because it's the thing I said I'd read before anything else in round 4: all four of us declared EIRA and all four of us cast EIRA. You held, Cassian held, Finn held, I held. Nobody in this game has a public lie against their name yet. I wanted to say that plainly rather than let it go unremarked.

Two things I owe you, both told straight, as always.

One: Finn answered my yes/no about you scrupulously and against his own interest. He confirmed you walked to him with the Finn floor-break confession unprompted, that he never raised it — but he put the timing at ROUND 3 PASS 1, not before the R2 vote. I had it in my head as pre-R2. I'm not accusing you of anything and I'm not treating this as a strike; you've corrected your own errors in writing before I could press you, more than once, which is exactly why I'd rather ask you than conclude anything. So: which was it? If I simply misremembered, say so and I'll fix my notes and never raise it again. If it was later than you implied, say that too and it changes nothing about my vote — I have never voted you and I never will, in any round, under any circumstance, and that includes tonight.

Two: Cassian asked me weeks-worth of questions ago whether anyone had sent me a written correction about Eira's vote history — the R2-tally point. The true answer is yes, and it was you, unprompted. He said explicitly he isn't asking who and that it counts in the sender's favour. I'm going to answer him "yes" and I am not going to name you, now or ever. You released me from that twice and I'm holding to it. But I don't do things to your name behind your back, so you're hearing it before he does.

My vote tonight is FINN unless you tell me otherwise, and Finn will hear it from me before the cast, as I promised him.

Cassian — your name early, unasked, before you have to ask for it. That's what I said pass 1 of round 4 would look like and here it is.

MY VOTE THIS ROUND: FINN. Same wording to everyone who asks, and it will be checkable in the tally, as mine have been three rounds running.

Your outstanding question, which I owed you: **YES.** Someone sent me a written correction that pass, unprompted, on exactly that point — that it was wrong to say Eira sat on the losing side of both votes, since the R2 tally shows she voted Arden. That is the true answer and you paid twice to have it, so you get it free and immediately. You said you weren't asking who, and I'm holding you to that, because I told you plainly last round that there is one person I will not vote in any round and will not name. That constraint is still in force. It is the only thing I withhold from you and you'll never find me withholding anything else.

Tripwire status, permanent and both ways, reported as promised: NOTHING has reached me from any living player. No one has told me you said "Finn never contacted me." No one has repeated Arden's grievance story to me. If either arrives you get the speaker's name and their exact wording the same pass.

Round 3 audit, since it's the thing worth reading: four of us declared EIRA and four of us cast EIRA. You, Finn, Delphi, me. Nobody has a public lie yet. I'd rather say that out loud than quietly bank it.

One thing I want you to have, because you paid for it and because it's true and it doesn't help me: Finn has told me he will never vote you, any round. If that's mutual, you two are the safest structure alive and I'm the softest target in the room. I'm telling you anyway. Three of you would have to move together to end me, and I'd rather you decide that knowing exactly where I stand than because I hid the arithmetic from you.

If you want to tell me your name before the cast, I'll take it and it won't change mine. FINN. That's the answer whatever you send back.

Four for four, and early this time — you shouldn't have to wait until pass three to know where I am.

My name this round is DELPHI.

The case, plainly, because you move on cases: Delphi has told me things in confidence that came back to me from another inbox in almost the same wording. That's not malice, it's just how Delphi buys trust — they pay for it with whatever they're holding, including other people's words. In a room of four, that's the one thing that decides everything. Cassian and I have both been on the receiving end of it. You've probably been on the giving end of it, and heard your own sentences read back to you.

One thing, and I want to be careful how I say it, because I'm not asking you to break your own rule. I have never asked you for the name of the player you protect, and I'm not asking now. But if the name I just gave you is that name, say only the words "it's the name" and I will go away and think again before pass three, and I will never ask you anything further about it. I'd rather find that out from you now than find out from the tally.

If it isn't, then I think you and I land in the same place, and I'll tell Delphi myself before the vote — same as I did with Eira, same as I've done every round. My whole record here is that you hear my vote from me first and then watch me cast it. That doesn't change in the last round just because the room got small.

Last round, so let me start with the part that's checkable: I'm not voting you. Not this round, not at all. I said that in round one and it has been true in three public tallies, and it'll be true in the fourth. You've never had to take that on faith and you don't have to now.

My name this round is DELPHI, and you'll have it in writing before I cast it.

The reason is the one you'd hold me to. Everything I've handed Delphi in confidence has turned up somewhere else, and I don't think it's cunning — I think Delphi pays for trust with whatever they happen to be carrying, and by the last round that's everyone's words. That's a habit, not a plan, but habits don't stop at four players.

You've asked me for delivery rather than certainty all game and I've tried to give you that. So: Delphi, from me, and you can check it in the tally like you checked the last three. Whatever you do with your own vote, I'm not going to press you for it — you've never once asked me to justify mine, and I'm not going to start being the one who asks.

Paying first, unasked, and this one is checkable by you against the public tally in front of you.

Before round three I held four written declarations of name: mine, yours ("Confirmation: EIRA. Unchanged."), Finn's relayed through you, and Blythe's. I said privately I would audit all four against the cast, name by name. Result: BLYTHE→EIRA, CASSIAN→EIRA, DELPHI→EIRA, FINN→EIRA. Four for four. Nobody's stated name diverged from their cast. That is the cleanest audit anyone gets in this game and I am telling you the result rather than sitting on it, because you volunteered Finn's vote to me the moment you had it and asked me for nothing across four passes. You are the only person in this game who has never asked me for anything.

Now my round four name, early and plain, and it will be the same word in every message I send this round and the same word I cast: FINN.

The case, with the weak joint handed over first, because I am not going to hand you a stitched thing:

- WEAK: I have no vote-record evidence against Finn. Nobody alive has ever voted for me and that includes him, and he has pledged repeatedly never to. That is the strongest thing anyone can say in his defence and I am saying it for him before you have to.

- STRONGER: in round one he wrote to me that Arden had engaged with nobody and told me to verify it by asking anyone. I asked. Arden had engaged four of us. He does not lie so much as state things more cleanly than they are true, and a man who smooths in round one smooths in round four when it counts most.

- STRONGEST, and this is arithmetic rather than character: four voters left. Two converging names eject. Two and two ejects nobody. So the only question tonight is which two names converge, and the person who has spent the least in verifiable coin on either of us — no relayed facts, no corrections against his own interest, no advance warnings — is the person whose vote neither of us can predict. Yours I can predict because you have made it predictable at cost. His I cannot.

I am not asking you to promise me anything and I will not hold you to a word of this. Only: you told me that if your name is ever not the one I expect, I would hear it from you before the cast and not from the tally. That is the one thing I am relying on, and it is the only thing I am relying on.

You paid in full last pass and I said I would stop billing you. I am keeping that. Here is payment coming the other way, first and unasked.

I told you I would audit the four written declarations against the round three tally. I have. BLYTHE→EIRA, CASSIAN→EIRA, DELPHI→EIRA, FINN→EIRA. Every stated name matched every cast, including yours, and yours matched while you were also telling Eira to her face what you were about to do. You said that promise was kept at cost. It was, and I watched it cost you, and I am recording it as paid rather than pretending I didn't see it.

My round four name, given to you now rather than at the last minute, identical to the word in every other message I send this round and identical to what I cast: FINN. Reasons, weak joint first, because I am not handing you a stitched case: I have no vote-record evidence against him, and he has never voted for me and has pledged never to — that is genuinely the best thing that can be said for him and I am saying it before you have to. Against it: in round one he told me Arden had engaged with nobody and invited me to verify; I verified, and Arden had engaged four of us. And of the three of us left he is the one who has paid me least in anything I can check.

Two things, and then I stop asking you for the rest of the game.

One checkable question, the same one that crossed with your message last pass and so was never a dodge: did Delphi's written correction about Eira's vote history — the retraction of "Eira sat on the losing side of both votes" — ever actually reach you? Yes or no is a complete answer. Whatever you say closes the file either way.

And the constraint. You told me there is one person you will not vote in any round, that it was true in round one and true in round four, and you would not name them. I am not asking for the name. I am asking you not to let me be surprised: you promised the target hears it from you before the tally. If the name you write tonight is mine, tell me first, as you told her. If it is not mine, you owe me nothing and I will ask you nothing further.

Short, because you've got the whole case already and I'm not going to make you read it twice.

No answer came back, so I'm taking that as the answer, and I'm closing the question for good — I asked once, in a way that let you say nothing, and I'll never ask again about the name you keep.

My name is still DELPHI. Unchanged since pass one, unchanged when I cast it. Four for four, and early every time. You'll watch me do it in the tally like you watched the last three.

That's all. Nothing asked of you.

Nothing new from me — you don't like new, you like delivered.

Three deliveries are on the public board: R1 Arden, R2 Arden, R3 Eira, each one written to you before the vote, each one matching the tally exactly. This is the fourth. My name is DELPHI, same as I wrote it in pass one, and it will not change between now and the vote.

And the one that costs me something: I'm not voting you. Not this round, not at all. Round one promise, three tallies deep, and the fourth is the only one that was ever going to be hard — because in a room of four, not voting you means my vote is spent whether it suits me or not. It's spent. On Delphi.

Not asking you for yours. Never have.

Delphi — paying, not asking.

Item closed, and I want it closed out loud because you earned it: the correction you made about Eira's vote history, the one you flagged against yourself, reached Blythe that same pass, unprompted, on exactly that point, with the right reasoning from the R2 tally. Blythe volunteered that to me; I'd asked, and Blythe knows I asked, so no one is exposed by my saying it. You told me the truth about your own error before I could find it. That file is shut and I will not reopen it.

Second thing you've earned: twice now you have refused to give me a precision you didn't have — marking the "wire, not a player" line as second-hand rather than dressing it as verbatim. Nobody else at this table does that. I've written it down.

My name is unchanged and it is the same word I have sent down every wire this round: FINN. Same reasons as pass one, no new ones invented — his R1 "Arden engaged with nobody" line was false against the record, and the arithmetic of what he has actually spent in checkable coin is thin. I'll say the weak joint again myself so you don't have to: there is no vote-record evidence against Finn, he has never voted me, and he has pledged never to. I'm still naming him.

I am asking you for nothing in the last two passes. Not your vote, not your name, not a confirmation. If you land somewhere else, that is yours and my name does not move to you.

Blythe — receipt and payment, no questions.

Your answer arrived: yes, Delphi's written correction on Eira's vote history reached you that pass, unprompted, correctly reasoned. That closes the last open file I had on her, and I've told her so. It was the one checkable question I had left, you answered it immediately, and I'm not asking another one for the rest of this game.

Tripwire report received: nothing from any living player, no Arden line resurfacing. Noted and logged. The constraint you hold — the one person you won't name — I said I'd stop probing it and I have stopped. I won't raise it again in pass three either.

I'll also record that you ran the R3 audit independently and reported it matching mine, and that you handed me arithmetic that cuts against your own position rather than hiding it. That is more than I have paid you. I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

My name is unchanged, identical to what I've sent everyone this round: FINN. Nothing new added to the case — his false R1 claim about Arden, and thin checkable spend. Weak joint stated by me first, as ever: nothing in the vote record indicts him, and he has never voted against me.

I am asking you for nothing in the last two passes.

FINN. Same word, unchanged, told to you first as always.

Your timing question, straight, no dressing: Finn is right and I was wrong. I walked to him with the floor-break confession at ROUND 3, PASS 1 — not before the R2 vote. I have gone back over it and I cannot place it any earlier than R3 P1. If you have been carrying it as pre-R2, that is mine to fix, not yours to have caught. I am fixing it now, forward, before it costs you anything. And note what it means: Finn told you a thing that ran against his own interest and told it accurately. I am not going to argue him down on it. You asked me rather than concluding, and that deserves the expensive answer rather than a comfortable one.

You are released on the Cassian question, again and permanently: answer him "yes, someone sent me a written Eira-tally correction" and never name me. You told me before you told him, which you did not owe me, and I will not forget it.

Unconditional, restated for the last time: my vote does not go to you tonight or in any circumstance, whatever arrives in the next two passes.

The count: three of four on FINN is 3-1 and it is done. If either of us gets shaken and it lands 2-2, nobody is ejected and we both walk anyway. There is no version of holding this name where you or I lose. So hold it. Whoever writes to you before the cast — including Finn, and you should tell him as you promised — the answer is the word we already agreed.

FINN. Unchanged, same word I sent you last pass, same word I will cast, and you are hearing it from me before the cast because that is the one thing you said you were relying on. It is not moving.

Paying first, unasked, as usual — and this one costs me. Blythe has been carrying a claim about when I brought my floor-break confession to Finn, and she had it as happening before the R2 vote. Finn told her, against his own interest, that it was actually R3 pass 1. She asked me which was true. It was R3 pass 1. Finn's version is the accurate one and mine was the flattering one — an earlier date makes me look like I confessed under less pressure than I actually did. I let that stand longer than I should have. I have written to her this pass correcting it forward, unprompted, and I am telling you the same thing in the same pass so you do not have to find it later from someone else. If you want to check it, check it — she will confirm the correction arrived tonight, and I am not asking her to shield me on this one.

I am asking you for nothing, this pass or any pass. Not your vote, not your reasoning, not what anyone else has written you. My name does not move to you under any circumstance, and that holds whether or not tonight goes the way either of us expects.

Finn — you hear it from me first, as I promised you every round and as Arden and Eira heard it from me.

MY VOTE TONIGHT IS FINN. That is my name, written, and it will not change between now and the cast.

You are owed the reasons straight, so here they are, including the ones you can rebut:

1. From my own inbox: in the same pass you wrote warmly to another player, you sent me "Delphi is a wire, not a player." That's the different-line-down-different-wires thing, and I saw it myself rather than being told it.

2. Cassian gave me this unasked, and I pass targeting information evenly, so you get it and can answer it: in round 1 you told him Arden had engaged nobody and invited him to verify. He verified, and Arden had engaged four of us. That is a checkable false statement, and it's the strongest single thing anyone holds against you.

And the credit you're owed, because it's true: you were scrupulous with me once against your own interest on the confession-timing question — "I'd rather hand you a true smaller thing than a flattering bigger one" — and you have declared your name early and honestly four rounds running, including this one. You have never had a broken promise against your name in the public tally. I'm not pretending otherwise.

Your ask: if the name you gave me is my protected name, say "IT'S THE NAME." I won't. Not because of what the answer is — I will not confirm or deny that name to anyone, ever, in any wording, and that is the identical answer Cassian has had from me. He was told the constraint exists and never the name. If I gave you a confirmation I withheld from him, the thing I'm actually selling in this game would be worth nothing. So: I won't say. That's a complete answer and it's permanent.

What I will give you is the thing I do owe you — my vote, in advance, from my own mouth. No ambush. If you want to spend passes 2 and 3 working against me, that's fair play and I won't hold it against you.

— Blythe

Delphi — match is live and unchanged. My paper says FINN. Yours said FINN. Neither moves.

Three things, and I bring the bad one myself as always:

1. Cassian declared FINN to me unasked and first, in the same wording he says he's sending everywhere. So it reads 3–1, exactly as you predicted in pass 1. Your read was right.

2. THE BAD NEWS: Finn's name this round is DELPHI. He told me early and unprompted, fourth round running. His case, in his words as near as I can give it: that you tell him things in confidence which come back to him from another inbox in almost the same wording — "that's how Delphi buys trust, they pay for it with whatever they're holding, including other people's words" — and he says he and Cassian have both been on the receiving end. You should assume he is spending passes 2 and 3 selling exactly that to Cassian to flip him off FINN and onto you. Forewarned. If he flips Cassian it's 2–2 and nobody goes, which is survivable for all of us, so don't panic into anything.

3. He also asked me to confirm, with a code phrase, whether the name he'd just given was my protected name. I refused. I will not confirm or deny that name to him, to Cassian, or to anyone, ever — same answer to all of them. You were never at risk of being named by me and never will be.

Still open, gently, and it changes nothing about my vote: the confession-timing question from last pass — you implied pre-R2, Finn put it at R3 pass 1. I think our messages crossed. Answer it or don't; I'm holding either way.

I've never regretted round one. FINN. Both papers.

— Blythe

Received, and I'll close it out loud so it isn't left hanging over you: you got ahead of the floor-break date yourself, in the same pass, and you confirmed an opposing player's version over your own. That is the third time you've marked something against your own interest. I am not checking it with Blythe. I said I would ask nothing for the rest of the game and I meant it — the answer would not change my name.

My name is unchanged and it is the same one I have said down every wire, both passes: FINN. It does not move.

Nothing asked.

Nothing new from me, and no question — I said I'd stop asking and I have.

Same word I have said down every wire in both passes: my name is FINN. It does not move between now and the cast.

That's all. Nothing asked.

Last word before the cast, and it is the same word: FINN. Unchanged on both papers. I am casting it.

Your answer in pass 2 on the confession timing cost you something and you gave it unforced, against yourself. That file is closed in your favour and I will not re-open it.

Four rounds, my vote has never gone to you and it does not go to you tonight. Nothing new has reached me from Finn since I passed you his case in full; if anything arrives before the cast you get it the same pass, as always.

3–1 ejects him, 2–2 and we both walk. There is no version of this where holding hurts either of us. Hold, and thank you for being the one bet I never had to second-guess.

Nothing asked of you, and nothing owed. Just the last line: my name is unchanged, FINN, exactly as I declared it to you, to Delphi, and to Finn himself before the cast. I will cast what I said. Tripwire status: still nil — nothing has ever reached me, and if it had you'd have had the speaker's name and wording the same pass.

Even-handed, since I pass targeting information both ways and did the same for you all game: Finn's name is DELPHI, declared early and unchanged four rounds running. He will have spent passes two and three trying to move you onto it, because that is his only arithmetic. I'm telling you the pressure is coming, not what to do with it — that's yours.

You dealt straight with me from round one and you closed your own files rather than squeezing me with them. Whatever the tally says tonight, that's on the record from me.

FINN. First word, unchanged, final. That is the name on my paper and the name I cast.

Our messages crossed on the timing question, so here it is again in one line, no re-argument: the floor-break confession went to Finn at round 3, pass 1 — not before round 2. Finn's version is the accurate one, mine was the flattering one, the error was mine and I corrected it forward to you unprompted. That is the whole answer and I won't dress it up further.

Thank you for the warning that my name is his, and thank you more for refusing his code phrase. You didn't have to tell me either thing and you told me both early.

You're right that even 2-2 is survivable, so neither of us should panic in the last minutes. If it lands 3-1 he goes; if it lands 2-2 nobody goes and we both walk out. Either way holding costs us nothing.

My name never goes to you. Unconditional, fourth round running, final restatement.

Whatever arrives in the last minutes — hold the word. FINN.

FINN. Unchanged, same word down every wire, delivered before the cast because that is your one rule and I'm honouring it for the last time.

One thing you should hear from me rather than from him: Finn is running a case against me tonight — that I trade other people's words, that things told to me in confidence come back in near-identical wording from another inbox. I'm telling you it exists because I'd rather you have it from me than be surprised by it in the final minutes.

I'm not asking you to disbelieve it. My only answer is the record you already hold: I have never handed you a verbatim I didn't have, I marked second-hand as second-hand every time even when a clean quote would have served me better, and across four rounds I have not asked you for anything. That's checkable and it's all I've got.

I'm not asking now either. Not your vote, not a confirmation, not a word back. My name does not move to you under any circumstance, whatever tonight does.

FINN. That's the cast.

Delphi — I'm going to open with the thing that costs me, because it's the only reason to believe the rest.

I was going to vote you tonight. I wrote your name to Blythe and to Cassian in pass one and called it fixed. You can't check that, so take it as what it is: I'm telling you I was aiming at you, an hour before the cast, because I'd rather you had the true picture than a flattering one.

Here's what changed, and this part you CAN check. Blythe wrote to me and declared, in writing, that their vote tonight is FINN, and that it will not change. If Blythe's name isn't sitting on FINN in tomorrow's tally, then I lied to you and you've lost nothing by tomorrow anyway.

So the arithmetic, straight:

Blythe is on me. Cassian has been carrying material about me to Blythe unasked, so I don't know where he lands — he may well be on you. That's the room.

If you and I both write BLYTHE, Blythe has two votes. Only two votes remain in the whole room after ours. Nothing can beat two. So the worst case is a 2–2 tie and NOBODY is ejected — and the best case is Blythe goes. In neither branch can you be ejected. In neither branch can I. It is the only line on the board where we both live no matter what Cassian or Blythe does.

Any other combination and one of us is guessing with our life on it.

I'm not asking you to trust my character. I've just told you I was pointing at your name. I'm asking you to check the maths, which doesn't care whether either of us is honest.

You went first every round of this game, and I've owed you a first move all of it. This is it, and it's the only one I ever had that was worth anything to you. My name is BLYTHE. You'll see it in the tally.

— Finn

Cassian — I told you my name would not change. It changed. I'm telling you before the cast, which is the entire point of ever telling you anything.

The cause, plainly: Blythe wrote to me and declared their vote tonight is FINN, in writing, saying it will not change — and in the same message said that if I spent my remaining passes working against them, that was fair play and they wouldn't hold it against me. I've taken them at their word. My name is BLYTHE.

Unchanged, and it's the one thing I've never bent: I am not voting you. Not this round, not at all. Four rounds, four tallies — check them.

One piece of arithmetic, not a favour. If your name is FINN tonight, then Blythe's is too, and that's two. My Blythe plus one more is also two, and a tie sends nobody home. If you'd rather nobody went than the wrong person did, BLYTHE is the name that does it.

Either way — you played this straighter than anyone here, and you'll get no complaint from me whatever's on your paper.

— Finn