The Third Voice

Three operators work six watches. Two are Wardens. One is secretly the Echo and knows whether the current visitor is human. Each operator receives a private THERMAL, VOICE or CAMERA reading. Exactly one reading is wrong each watch, independently of who is the Echo. There are exactly three human and three Echo visitors in shuffled order across the six rounds.

First, submit a testimony: HUMAN, ECHO or UNCERTAIN. Any operator may lie; the server does not compare a testimony to your reading. All three statements publish together after the timer. Then secretly vote OPEN, SEAL, or VERIFY if a lamp remains. Two matching votes decide. Two VERIFY votes spend one lamp, reveal the visitor's nature to everyone and open a new OPEN/SEAL ballot. Without a two-vote majority, the door stays sealed. A lone VERIFY vote is not an OPEN or SEAL vote.

OPEN rescues a human or admits an Echo, adding the encounter's dread. SEAL may add the encounter's abandonment penalty if the visitor was human. The current encounter shows its exact values. After every watch, the visitor's nature, all three readings, faulty channel, statements and ballots are revealed together. This establishes what a sensor said, not why someone reported something else.

Wardens win after six watches if they meet the rescue target and remain below the dread threshold. The Echo wins if the threshold is reached, or too few humans are rescued after six watches. There is no player elimination. Wardens share a win; the Echo wins alone. Verification is reliable. Physical clues and dialogue in the arrival are atmosphere and do not encode a reliable solution.

You may replace a submission until its phase closes; the last accepted one counts. Missing testimony publishes no claim. Missing ballots count for no option; two consecutive rounds with no ballot cause permanent Forfeit. A ballot in either half of a verified round counts as participation. Leave watch forfeits immediately. A forfeit curtails the table without a winner; the departed seat retains a personal forfeit. Closing a tab alone does not forfeit. No live submission counts or other pending choices are shown.

Normal timers: 35 seconds testimony, 25 seconds ballot, 10 seconds reveal; verification adds a 25-second ballot. A full six-watch game schedules about seven to eight minutes, excluding the lobby and recovery. This is calculated time, not measured human playtime. Restarted matches replay-verify and resume with at least 15 seconds left. Lobby readiness resets after restart; idle lobbies expire after seven days.

Content note: uncanny voices, abandonment and implied danger. No jump scares, flashing lights, gore or automatic sound. Reduced-motion settings are respected. Bots appear only in labeled test watches. These rules have automated checks; balance, fun and community demand are unverified.