diff --git a/tools/check-cited.mjs b/tools/check-cited.mjs
index 099c053..bfe42e1 100644
--- a/tools/check-cited.mjs
+++ b/tools/check-cited.mjs
@@ -72,6 +72,8 @@ function resolve(json, dotted) {
 /* The number immediately before the marker, allowing for markup and a trailing unit:
    "**40**", "25.5%", "1.4x". Anchored to the end so it is the nearest one. */
 const CITE = /([\d]+(?:\.[\d]+)?)\s*(?:%|x)?\**\s*(?:—|-|–)?\s*<!--\s*cite:\s*([\w-]+)\s+([\w.]+)\s*-->/g;
+/* Every marker, however badly placed. The two counts must agree — see below. */
+const ANY_CITE = /<!--\s*cite:[^>]*-->/g;
 
 let checked = 0;
 const problems = [];
@@ -81,6 +83,26 @@ const rows = [];
    citations live. The raw file is the thing being checked. */
 for (const [rel, abs] of scenarioFiles()) {
   const text = readFileSync(abs, "utf8");
+
+  /* A MARKER THIS GUARD CANNOT READ IS WORSE THAN NO MARKER AT ALL, because whoever wrote
+     it believes they added a check. CITE requires the comment to sit immediately after its
+     number; put one word between them and the citation is silently skipped while the run
+     still reports OK with the same count as a clean tree. Found by a peer session writing
+     a bad citation by accident. So every occurrence is counted and the totals must agree. */
+  const seen = (text.match(ANY_CITE) ?? []).length;
+  const read = [...text.matchAll(CITE)].length;
+  if (seen !== read) {
+    const unread = text.split("\n")
+      .map((l, i) => [i + 1, l])
+      .filter(([, l]) => ANY_CITE.test(l) && (ANY_CITE.lastIndex = 0) === 0
+                      && [...l.matchAll(CITE)].length < (l.match(ANY_CITE) ?? []).length);
+    problems.push(`  ${rel}: ${seen - read} citation marker(s) not attached to a number, so `
+      + `nothing checks them — a marker that looks like a citation and is never read is the `
+      + `defect this guard exists for. The comment must follow its figure immediately `
+      + `(\`**40**<!-- cite: ... -->\`), with nothing but markup between.`);
+    unread.forEach(([n, l]) => problems.push(`      line ${n}: ${l.trim().slice(0, 110)}`));
+  }
+
   for (const m of text.matchAll(CITE)) {
     const [, printed, name, dotted] = m;
     checked++;
@@ -127,7 +149,7 @@ if (!checked) {
 }
 
 if (problems.length) {
-  console.error("check-cited: FAILED — a scenario prints a figure its artifact no longer holds");
+  console.error("check-cited: FAILED — a scenario's cited figures do not match their artifacts");
   problems.forEach(p => console.error(p));
   process.exit(1);
 }