diff --git a/core/test/follow-through.test.js b/core/test/follow-through.test.js
index e25893dd..1bffc4ca 100644
--- a/core/test/follow-through.test.js
+++ b/core/test/follow-through.test.js
@@ -93,6 +93,9 @@ const freshHome = (t) => {
   })
   return home
 }
+// The real clock, taken before any case mocks it: a wait has to outlive its round budget when the
+// work it waits on is real rather than a mocked delay (#1192).
+const realSetTimeout = setTimeout
 // The timers a case mocked, if any. A wait must advance that clock: `setImmediate` rounds alone can
 // never fire a mocked `setTimeout`, so a wall-clock deadline would decide a race the test controls (#821).
 let mockedTimers
@@ -117,7 +120,15 @@ const waitFor = async (check, rounds = 20000) => {
     while (!check() && Date.now() < deadline) await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, REAL_WAIT_STEP_MS))
     return check()
   }
-  for (let i = 0; i < rounds && !check(); i++) {
+  // Every round still ticks the mocked clock, because only a tick moves it — but a tick cannot rush
+  // the real work the relay chain does (`inflight.json`/`state.json` writes, the Session flush,
+  // resolving the Agent), and 20000 `setImmediate` turns are ~70 ms of real time. So the round count
+  // is a floor under the budget, not a deadline: keep waiting until the real clock's deadline too
+  // (#1192 — a loaded runner burned all 20000 rounds before the relay call landed and kicked #1190
+  // out of the merge queue). `Date.now()` is not frozen by `mock.timers.enable({ apis: ['setTimeout']
+  // })`, and this puts no `setTimeout` in front of the mocked clock (#821).
+  const deadline = Date.now() + REAL_WAIT_MS
+  for (let i = 0; !check() && (i < rounds || Date.now() < deadline); i++) {
     mockedTimers.tick(1)
     await new Promise(resolve => setImmediate(resolve))
   }
@@ -507,6 +518,17 @@ test('a real-clock wait outlives its round budget (#1012)', async () => {
   assert.equal(await waitFor(() => later, 5), true)
 })
 
+test('a mocked-clock wait keeps a real-clock floor under its round budget (#1192)', async (t) => {
+  mockTimers(t)
+  // One round is a tick plus one `setImmediate` — microseconds — so a mocked wait given a small
+  // budget used to give up long before real work landed; a loaded runner then burned all 20000
+  // rounds while the relay chain was still writing `state.json`. 100 ms of real work is the
+  // smallest honest stand-in, and the mocked clock cannot advance it: the timer is the real one.
+  let landed = false
+  realSetTimeout(() => { landed = true }, 100)
+  assert.equal(await waitFor(() => landed, 1), true)
+})
+
 test('a written tool call is told apart from text about one', () => {
   assert.equal(writesToolCall(WRITTEN), true)
   assert.equal(writesToolCall('<function=read>\n<parameter=path>a.md</parameter></function>'), true)
diff --git a/patches/ds-bot/0001-core-fixes.patch b/patches/ds-bot/0001-core-fixes.patch
index 01ac2b45..e76c1038 100644
--- a/patches/ds-bot/0001-core-fixes.patch
+++ b/patches/ds-bot/0001-core-fixes.patch
@@ -6547,7 +6547,7 @@ diff --git a/test/follow-through.test.js b/test/follow-through.test.js
    started.set(home, [...(started.get(home) ?? []), host])
    return host
  }
-@@ -72,15 +72,46 @@ const freshHome = (t) => {
+@@ -72,15 +72,57 @@ const freshHome = (t) => {
    t.after(async () => {
      await Promise.all((started.get(home) ?? []).map(host => host.stop()))
      started.delete(home)
@@ -6560,6 +6560,9 @@ diff --git a/test/follow-through.test.js b/test/follow-through.test.js
 -  const until = Date.now() + 3000
 -  while (!check() && Date.now() < until) await new Promise(resolve => setImmediate(resolve))
 -  assert.ok(check(), 'condition not reached')
++// The real clock, taken before any case mocks it: a wait has to outlive its round budget when the
++// work it waits on is real rather than a mocked delay (#1192).
++const realSetTimeout = setTimeout
 +// The timers a case mocked, if any. A wait must advance that clock: `setImmediate` rounds alone can
 +// never fire a mocked `setTimeout`, so a wall-clock deadline would decide a race the test controls (#821).
 +let mockedTimers
@@ -6584,7 +6587,15 @@ diff --git a/test/follow-through.test.js b/test/follow-through.test.js
 +    while (!check() && Date.now() < deadline) await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, REAL_WAIT_STEP_MS))
 +    return check()
 +  }
-+  for (let i = 0; i < rounds && !check(); i++) {
++  // Every round still ticks the mocked clock, because only a tick moves it — but a tick cannot rush
++  // the real work the relay chain does (`inflight.json`/`state.json` writes, the Session flush,
++  // resolving the Agent), and 20000 `setImmediate` turns are ~70 ms of real time. So the round count
++  // is a floor under the budget, not a deadline: keep waiting until the real clock's deadline too
++  // (#1192 — a loaded runner burned all 20000 rounds before the relay call landed and kicked #1190
++  // out of the merge queue). `Date.now()` is not frozen by `mock.timers.enable({ apis: ['setTimeout']
++  // })`, and this puts no `setTimeout` in front of the mocked clock (#821).
++  const deadline = Date.now() + REAL_WAIT_MS
++  for (let i = 0; !check() && (i < rounds || Date.now() < deadline); i++) {
 +    mockedTimers.tick(1)
 +    await new Promise(resolve => setImmediate(resolve))
 +  }
@@ -6816,7 +6827,7 @@ diff --git a/test/follow-through.test.js b/test/follow-through.test.js
  const WRITTEN = 'Checking now.\n<tool_call>\n<function=pwsh>\n<parameter=command>\nGet-ChildItem E:\\\n</parameter>\n</function>\n</tool_call>'
  
  test('a tool call written as text gets one more turn on the same round slot', async (t) => {
-@@ -283,6 +283,18 @@ test('in its own chat, a Bot that wrote a tool call as text is asked to make it'
+@@ -283,6 +283,29 @@ test('in its own chat, a Bot that wrote a tool call as text is asked to make it'
    assert.match(text(retry), /^\[Your last reply wrote a tool call as text, so nothing ran\]/)
  })
  
@@ -6831,6 +6842,17 @@ diff --git a/test/follow-through.test.js b/test/follow-through.test.js
 +  setTimeout(() => { later = true }, 50)
 +  assert.equal(await waitFor(() => later, 5), true)
 +})
++
++test('a mocked-clock wait keeps a real-clock floor under its round budget (#1192)', async (t) => {
++  mockTimers(t)
++  // One round is a tick plus one `setImmediate` — microseconds — so a mocked wait given a small
++  // budget used to give up long before real work landed; a loaded runner then burned all 20000
++  // rounds while the relay chain was still writing `state.json`. 100 ms of real work is the
++  // smallest honest stand-in, and the mocked clock cannot advance it: the timer is the real one.
++  let landed = false
++  realSetTimeout(() => { landed = true }, 100)
++  assert.equal(await waitFor(() => landed, 1), true)
++})
 +
  test('a written tool call is told apart from text about one', () => {
    assert.equal(writesToolCall(WRITTEN), true)