diff --git a/.github/scripts/changelog-armed.sh b/.github/scripts/changelog-armed.sh
index c2c37df..a5bf4c7 100755
--- a/.github/scripts/changelog-armed.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/changelog-armed.sh
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@ set -euo pipefail
 #   VERSION ends in -dev  ->  the top section MUST be '## Unreleased'
 #   VERSION is bare       ->  the top section may be '## Unreleased' (armed,
 #                             the ceremony's own re-arm) or the stamped
-#                             section for exactly that VERSION
+#                             section for exactly that VERSION — AND the
+#                             section for that VERSION must exist and carry
+#                             prose, because it is the one about to ship
 #
 # Keying on VERSION is the whole design, and the reason this is not simply
 # "require '## Unreleased'". That unconditional form is what rig#44 and
@@ -41,6 +43,11 @@ set -euo pipefail
 changelog="${1:-CHANGELOG.md}"
 version_file="${2:-VERSION}"
 
+# release-notes.sh lives beside this script; the bare-VERSION branch runs it
+# rather than re-implementing the extraction, so the guard and the publisher
+# cannot disagree about what a section is or when one counts as empty.
+here="$(cd -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+
 [ -f "$changelog" ]    || { echo "changelog-armed: no such file: $changelog" >&2; exit 1; }
 [ -f "$version_file" ] || { echo "changelog-armed: no such file: $version_file" >&2; exit 1; }
 
@@ -99,6 +106,36 @@ changelog-armed: VERSION is '$ver' but the top section of $changelog is:
   itself. A stamped section naming a different version means the ceremony
   stamped the wrong number, and the published release body would come from
   the wrong section.
+EOF
+      exit 1
+    fi
+    # The top heading is deliberately left UNCONSTRAINED above — both ceremony
+    # shapes must stay legal, which is the #44 / cast#108 lesson and is not
+    # negotiable. That asymmetry leaves a gap of its own, the HALF-ceremony
+    # tree: VERSION bumped to the release, a populated '## Unreleased' still on
+    # top, and no stamped section for the version anywhere. The test above is
+    # false on its first clause, short-circuits, and passes. Nothing else
+    # refuses until release.yml extracts the notes — which happens AFTER the
+    # merge, on main, and publishes a release with an empty body, the worst
+    # place for this to land. So make the same assert one step earlier by
+    # running the very script release.yml runs (heavy-duty/rig#67).
+    if ! bash "$here/release-notes.sh" "$ver" "$changelog" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+      cat >&2 <<EOF
+changelog-armed: VERSION is '$ver' but $changelog has no non-empty section for
+  '$ver'. The top section is:
+
+    $top
+
+  This is a HALF-DONE ceremony: the version was bumped but its section was
+  never stamped — the stamp is MISSING, not misnumbered. A bare VERSION means
+  this tree is a release, and the section it is about to publish has to exist
+  and have prose in it. Left alone, this passes CI, merges, and only then does
+  release.yml refuse to extract the notes — on main, after the fact, with the
+  release already half-shipped.
+
+  The fix is the ceremony's first edit (CONTRIBUTING.md, "Releases"): stamp
+  '## Unreleased' into '## $ver — DATE', then put an empty '## Unreleased'
+  back above it.
 EOF
       exit 1
     fi
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3b01b16..ed4ee00 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -63,7 +63,22 @@ which records not just what changed but what each drill run proved.
   false by construction on the ceremony PR's own tree, which is why rig#44
   and heavy-duty/cast#108 both had to revert it. So a forgotten re-arm
   does not block the release; it turns `main` red on the very next push,
-  the automatic `-dev` bump the release itself makes.
+  the automatic `-dev` bump the release itself makes. Leaving the bare
+  branch's top heading unconstrained is what keeps both ceremony shapes
+  legal, and a review round on the sibling fix (heavy-duty/cast#114) found
+  the gap that asymmetry leaves: a **half-ceremony** tree — `VERSION`
+  bumped, `## Unreleased` still populated on top, and the section for that
+  version never stamped — makes the wrong-number test false on its first
+  clause, short-circuits, and passes. Nothing then refuses until
+  `release.yml` extracts the notes, which is *after* the merge, on `main`,
+  with the release already half-shipped. So the bare branch now also
+  requires that the section it is about to publish exists and is non-empty,
+  and it asserts that by running `release-notes.sh` — the very script
+  `release.yml` runs — so the guard and the publisher cannot drift apart
+  over what a section is. The message is its own: a missing stamp is not a
+  misnumbered one, and an operator sent to correct a version number that is
+  already right will not find the real problem. Matches
+  heavy-duty/rig#67, so the three repos agree.
 - **`box restore` asks before it destroys — and the confirmation prompt is
   now the row's, not rm's** (#105) — `restore` and `rm` both irreversibly
   discard user state, and only one of them asked. The table gave `restore`
diff --git a/test/release.sh b/test/release.sh
index d02583d..23cf5e6 100644
--- a/test/release.sh
+++ b/test/release.sh
@@ -229,6 +229,30 @@ check "armed: ...and so does the RE-ARMED ceremony tree (the shape #108 asks for
 T="$(tree rel-wrong 0.7.1 '## 0.7.0 — 2026-07-19' '' '- **Some other release**')"
 check "armed: a bare VERSION under someone ELSE's stamped section fails" 1 "wrong number" armed "$T"
 
+# --- the HALF-ceremony: the gap the two bare-VERSION clauses leave ---------
+# VERSION bumped to the release, '## Unreleased' still populated on top, and
+# the section for that version never stamped at all. The wrong-number test
+# above is false on its FIRST clause here and short-circuits, so before
+# heavy-duty/rig#67's rule this tree passed the guard and was refused instead
+# by release.yml — at publish time, after the merge, on main, with the release
+# already half-shipped. Caught here one step earlier, by running the same
+# extraction release.yml runs.
+T="$(tree rel-half 0.8.0 '## Unreleased' '' '- **A pending entry**' '' '## 0.7.0 — 2026-07-19' '' '- **Shipped**')"
+check "armed: a bare VERSION whose section was never stamped fails (half-ceremony)" \
+  1 "no non-empty section" armed "$T"
+check "armed: ...and names the stamp as MISSING, not misnumbered" \
+  1 "MISSING, not misnumbered" armed "$T"
+# The wording is the whole point of the separate branch: an operator sent to
+# fix a version number that is already correct will not find the real problem.
+not_wrong_number() { ! armed "$1" 2>&1 | grep -qF 'wrong number'; }
+check "armed: ...and not as the wrong-number case, which has a different fix" \
+  0 "" not_wrong_number "$T"
+# A section that exists but carries no prose is the same failure: release.yml
+# would publish an empty body, which is what release-notes.sh already refuses.
+T="$(tree rel-empty 0.7.1 '## 0.7.1 — 2026-07-19' '' '## 0.7.0 — 2026-07-19' '' '- **Shipped**')"
+check "armed: a bare VERSION whose section is stamped but EMPTY fails" \
+  1 "no non-empty section" armed "$T"
+
 # --- degenerate trees refuse rather than pass by accident ------------------
 T="$(tree no-sections 0.7.1-dev 'Prose and no headings at all.')"
 check "armed: a changelog with no '## ' section at all fails" 1 "no '## ' section at all" armed "$T"