As the villagers awoke from another restless night, they began a roll call of sorts. Who was still alive? Had anyone not made it to breakfast? Roundy had made it into the dining room first, followed shortly by Space Cowgirl and deadsirius. Bullwinkle wandered in. Jura, Pez, and jroa, right on Moose's heels. A collective sigh of relief echoed in the room.
Wait though. Isn't someone missing? One, two, three... oh no! Who's missing? Wait a sec. Where's Crouton? Ah shit, he had spent the night dancing by the fire like a shaman on the most surreal spirit quest of his life.
The group headed out towards the fire pit. There is what appears be a trail of blood leading away from it. As they got closer to it though, it seemed strangely thick. Is this ketchup? Bullwinkle tasted it. Yup. Ketchup. And mixed in with it, small pieces of graham cracker. This was clearly the beginning of the Crouton trail. The villagers set out to follow the ketchup and s'more path. It led down the road briefly, and then turned sharply toward the river. They crossed the street. A piece of melted marshmallow. A chunk of chocolate. Into the grass alongside the water. More ketchup. And a telescope engraved with "Pebbles" on one side - Crouton had mentioned finding that telescope in Ichi's room the day before! But the trail seemed lost once they hit the water. That is, until they peered across the water and saw a glimmer of sunlight reflecting off something that looked like a giant lense. What was that? Had Crouton seen it? Is that why the telescope was out here?
Peering through the telescope, it was clear that the lense they were seeing was merely the focusing mechanism for a giant laser - one engineered by none other than the great Samuel Rowbotham, built but never tested, and meant to be employed in the greatest Flat Earth measurement ever conceived of, spanning the entire diameter of the Earth. A laser as powerful as this one would be capable of destruction unlike any weapon the world had ever seen, and so it had been kept secret by the High Zetetic Counsel in order to ensure world peace. Clearly, the Counsel had been toppled.
Peering directly back, away from where the laser was pointed, the group saw the thing they both feared and expected. Crouton, while dancing his heart out covered in condiments and melted sugar, had sustained a direct hit from the Rowbotham Beam. He must have been standing where they found the telescope, and then blasted backward nearly 100 feet until he hit finally hit a tree. There was a perfectly circular hole 8 inches wide that went straight through his chest, completely cauterized. His eyes were wide open, his mouth twisted in agony. The tree his body was pinned against had a matching hole that went entirely through its trunk. As they stood in front of Crouton, peering through the hole in his chest, they could see this hole went on into the distance indefinitely. Through trees, buildings, vehicles, farm animals... This hole would later become know as the Great Rowbotham Laser Penetration; a worldwide phenomenon, perhaps the most famous attraction on the entire plane. Had Sammy only been around to see this!
But alas. This moment of triumph for Rowbotham's experiment was also a moment of incredible tragedy for the villagers, as another one of their own had fallen. Granted, he smelled delicious - like a family campground, of sorts, an aroma disturbingly not unlike grilled hot dogs doused in ketchup, coupled with the sweet smell of s'mores, wafting all around him. But his delicious scent was not enough to outweigh the sadness of those who had come to know him as the dancing shaman weirdo guy who was also a little suspicious but mostly seemed alright.
Another villager has fallen. And dawn breaks.