I can at least attest to the fact that, on PC1, Myst claimed to have a better use for their action than the one I was proposing. And I can confirm they were not on Scadrial, so it wasn’t the elim kill at least.
Araris doing that isn’t impossible. Us older folks do like to perform gambits and generally cause chaos. It would imply that things went poorly for them in PC1, though, if they were willing to perform a desperate play like that. So I don’t really buy it. At this point, I think Araris’s and Verdance’s alignments are opposite. Maybe they’re both villagers and one of them is confused about something, but I doubt that.
I’m fine leaving the vote where it is for now.