At 10pm, Jago and Litefoot have arrived at Moorsey Manor after receiving a tipoff from Sergeant Quick in regards to the whereabouts of Private Willis – one of The Colonel’s surviving soldiers and the only witness that could prove the infernal investigator’s innocence. The duo are greeted by the footman Willis and the maid Beatrice. Jago realises that the footman is their man. Jago introduces himself as Professor Percival Potter and Doctor Lifgo as his plus one. Willis asks the duo to follow him into the drawing room, where he announces their arrival to the other guests.
Litefoot notices how all the guests are wearing black armbands as if they were at a funeral. One guest states its been one year since the death of a great man. Jago isn’t entirely sure whom the guests are referring to and nonetheless plays along stating that he knew the deceased very well. The guests become confused and ask Jago how he could know the deceased personally. Before the situation could get more awkward, Beatrice announces that dinner will be served in an hour and kindly asks the guests to return to their personal rooms to prepare. Seizing their opportunity, the Investigators call over Willis and request his help and mention his previous employ with the Colonel. Willis quietly tells them to come to the kitchen…
Later that evening, Jago and Litefoot are preparing for dinner in Jago’s room. They discuss how simple it was to get Willis to cooperate. But nonetheless, they are confident that his signed affidavit will be all they need to grant their freedom once more. But Willis will be leaving the manor at 12am, so Litefoot agrees to leave the dinner to collect his affidavit from him before he leaves. They wonder who the wake is in remembrance of, as the other guests seem rather unwilling to divulge the deceased’s identity. The clock strikes 11pm and the two investigators resolve to find out as dinner is being served.
Willis escorts the investigators to the dinner and whispers about meeting them both later. Jago and Litefoot are incredulous to discover that the rest of the guests are dressed in deerstalkers and inverness capes – the same style of dress as Sherlock Holmes! Litefoot is the first of the two to now realise who they are mourning – it has been one year since the publication of ‘The Final Problem’, the final Sherlock Holmes story in which he seemingly perished! They’ve stumbled into a Sherlock Holmes fan gathering! In regards to their lack of cosplay, Jago and Litefoot state they had a problem with their tailor. The guests formally begin to introduce themselves as Frederick Fox, Major Fanshaw, Doctor Reginald Peacock and Florence Woolley. Beatrice enters the room and kindly asks the group to convene in the dining hall where their host will meet with them and will take over the duties as the staff are dismissed at 11:30pm.
The Sherlock Holmes fans are seated at the dining table, where they marvel at the incredible number of clocks decorating the room. Fox is particularly fascinated as he mentions he had a career as a clockmaker. Major Fanshaw becomes impatient as their mysterious host hasn’t shown themselves yet. But nonetheless, Litefoot takes notice of a strange puzzle box on the table. He manages to open it with little difficulty and only a note is inside stating that their host will reveal themselves at midnight. Suddenly the sound of a woman’s scream fills the room. Everybody leaves to investigate where they find Beatrice in the drawing room standing in horror over the dead body of Willis…
Beatrice tearfully explains that she went to leave as per usual and would usually meet Willis outside as he would escort her home. Not being able to find him outside, she returned to look for him only to find him dead on the floor. Peacock determines the cause of death to be a stabbing through the chest. Jago becomes increasingly distressed as their only lifeline to freedom has been killed unceremoniously. Peacock further examines the body and finds a note in his pocket. A rather morbid poem:
Stoke up the funeral fire
And guard your heavy hearts to mourn
For one among you will expire
Each hour till the crack of dawn
Suddenly, a demonic laugh resonates through the house. Then the loud sound of doors being bolted shut. The guests race to the front door to escape only to find the doors have been locked, no sign of a keyhole or latch to open them. The windows have been barred with cast iron bars to prevent any form of escape. The guests are now sealed inside a deadly murder game…
Major Fanshaw bravely takes charge of the guests and leads them through the house to try and find an exit, only to find more corridors leading in different directions. Litefoot questions Beatrice on which way they should be going, only to find she hasn’t a clue which way to go herself. Litefoot ponders on why the killer is targeting this group in particular. The only thing that ties the group together on the surface is their mutual appreciation for Sherlock Holmes. The guests each state they each received a letter of invitation to the house from the Sherlock Holmes’ club secretary Moriarty. Litefoot questions Beatrice on the previous parties and what went down at those gatherings. Beatrice states that the previous parties had middle-aged, upper-class gentlemen as the guests. But what strikes Litefoot as particularly strange is that Beatrice has never met the owner of the house as they never mingle with the staff. Based upon the information, Litefoot assumes the killer and the owner must be one and the same! The group reaches the end of a corridor and proceed to walk through the door at the end…
They walk into a room that is an exact copy of the drawing room where they started from. Litefoot deduces that they are in the very same drawing room, even Fanshaw’s cigar is still smoking in the ashtray! The guests become incredibly confused as the door they entered through led to the entrance foyer an hour ago, so how could it have changed? Woolley becomes hysterical as she notices that the clock is approaching 1am, the time of the next death. But the rest of the guests try and reassure her that as long as they stick together, nothing can happen to them. The mantlepiece clock strikes 1am and nobody has died…except Peacock notes that the mantlepiece clock hasn’t precisely struck 1am, so how can it sound before the hour? Fanshaw inspects the mantlepiece clock and suddenly the entire mantlepiece revolves into the wall taking Fanshaw with it. Litefoot calls out to Fanshaw, who responds to their calls, but suddenly Fanshaw screams in terror as a loud rumbling noise emanates from inside the mantlepiece. The group manages to revolve the mantlepiece back around once more and discover the burned remains of Fanshaw. Someone burned Fanshaw alive…
On cue, the same demonic voice from earlier chants out an macabre warning stating that the next death will come at 2am. Overcome with fright, Woolley abandons the group and flees deeper into the house with Fox and Litefoot giving chase.
Meanwhile, Beatrice is in hysterics over another death in the household, while Jago tries to reassure her that Fanshaw may not have felt anything before perishing, even though Peacock being a man of science suggests otherwise. Beatrice then notices that one of the eyes of one of the paintings just moved…Litefoot and Fox eventually manage to find Woolley, who apologises for running away. She explains how the time 2am hit an unfortunate chord with her as it was the time her father died in the Crimean War. Coincidently, it was the time her mother’s carriage plummeted off a bridge sending her to her death and the time her Grandmother died due to sleepwalking out a window to her death. As such, Woolley has a paranoid fear of 2am believing it to be the time of her death…
In the drawing room, Peacock tries to reassure Beatrice that the painting can’t be looking at them, but Jago suddenly witnesses its eyes staring down at him. It is indeed watching them. Peacock manages to get them both to calm down…until the clock chimes and they both scream in terror.
Deep in the house, Litefoot, Fox and Woolley try to navigate their way back to the drawing room without much luck. Even Fox is befuddled as he kept a mental note of the route they took and even he’s been misdirected. Suddenly, they hear the sound of the clock chiming 2am. Woolley squeals in delight as she’s lived to 2am. But a trapdoor suddenly opens under her feet and she falls into a pit of spikes, impaling her to death. The demonic voice resonates once more taunting the group and warning them that another death is imminent at 3am.
In the drawing room, Jago, Beatrice and Peacock hear the sound of Woolley’s death scream. Peacock doesn’t make the situation any better by stating the scream sounded agonising. Despite stating that it would be safer to stay in the drawing room, Peacock suggests they investigate the scream and the trio head out into the corridors to look.
Litefoot and Fox wander the corridors trying to reunite with the other group. Fox states that this case has to be one of the most gruesome he’s ever been assigned to in the force, revealing to Litefoot that he is in fact an undercover officer. Litefoot confides in Fox stating that he and Jago have dealt in some rather disturbing cases themselves. The two men find a familiar door, they walk through and enter the drawing room again. They discover that Jago, Peacock and Beatrice have disappeared…
As they wonder the corridors, Jago ponders who could be behind such atrocious murders. Referring back to how she never met her master, Peacock points out that her master could be one of the guests. He further plants the seeds of doubt by stating that the guests don’t know each other personally or should really care for each other. Peacock ends by stating that he finds Litefoot to be the most likely suspect. Jago stands by his friend, but voices his suspicions of Frederick Fox. The trio come to a dead end, but Peacock is certain he heard Woolley’s scream from the direction they were travelling. As they turn back the way they came, Jago mentions a door they passed on the way down the corridor that they could try, only problem is that the door in question has disappeared. Peacock is shocked to discover a wall has appeared on the corridor they were walking down only thirty seconds ago! Jago concludes that the entire house must be one gargantuan, living entity…
Litefoot ponders about the identity of the murderer, and how they went through all the trouble of creating elaborate traps for their guests to kill them with. Fox offers the possibility that the murderer in question could possibly be hiding amongst the guests. He suspects that Beatrice is the most likely suspect as she would have plenty of opportunities since she knows the house better than anyone alive presently, plus she could’ve planted the macabre poem in Willis’ pocket when she discovered his body. Litefoot suspects Peacock as he recalls how everybody was horrified at the sight of Fanshaw’s burned body, whilst he was not perturbed in the slightest. Fox then hopes that Jago is on his guard if he is indeed with either of them…
Peacock and Beatrice don’t buy into Jago’s theory of the house being alive, even the demonic voice taunting the guests laughs at him. Jago offers up another possibility that the house is haunted by poltergeists rearranging everything inside to confuse them or maybe its an advanced spacecraft from another world. Peacock is flabbergasted at Jago’s ludicrous claims and suggests that the entire house is probably a large illusion…
Litefoot and Fox wander the corridors in search of the rest of the guests. Suddenly, a section of wall begins to slide across the corridor, barring their path. Litefoot deduces that the house is purely made of mechanics and cogs and that someone is manipulating their pathways to direct them to where they go – like rats in a maze…
Jago has also come to the same conclusion. He begins tapping on the walls to see if he can discover a hidden passage that leads to the internal machinery behind it all. To the groups astonishment, Jago inadvertently presses on a pressure plate and a secret room in the wall opens before them. Despite Jago’s urging to the contrary, Beatrice heads inside to investigate. But the wall closes behind her sealing her inside in the dark. Suddenly, a low rumbling sound emanates around the secret room. Beatrice cries out in terror that the walls are closing in on her like a compactor. Jago urges Beatrice to look for a failsafe and he urges Peacock to do the same on their side while he tries to help her, but to no avail. Jago pleads for the mysterious villain to stop this horror, but all he can do is listen to the sound of Beatrice screaming in agony as she is crushed to death…just as the clock strikes 3am…
The demonic voice laughs as it claims its newest victim. Litefoot’s patience is wearing thin and he resolves to bring down the killer. Litefoot suddenly recalls that Fox was a clockmaker before becoming an officer, plus the traps and murders strike precisely at the hour. Fox realises where Litefoot’s reasoning is going and they both come to the same conclusion – the mechanics are all one ginormous clock!
Jago and Peacock are despairing over the death of Beatrice. Peacock has given up his resolve and resigns himself to the house’s mercy. Jago manages to rally Peacock’s morale by stating that they owe it to the victims that the villainous murderer is brought to justice!
Litefoot explains to Fox that the secret to any trick is preparation and that the real magic happens behind the scenes. Whilst explaining his theory, Litefoot begins tapping on the walls and eventually finds a hollow spot. He asks Fox to help him break it down and they discover a secret passage way with its walls lined with cogs, gears, wires and pipes powering the entirety of the house. It would explain how most of the traps and pathways could’ve operated without human intervention. All they need to do now is to find the power source and turn it off…
Jago and Peacock discover a completely new room lined with hundreds of clocks. The demonic voice congratulates them and presents them with a final riddle. They must find the clock that governs all, only it holds the key to Moorsey’s doors. The voice grants them fifteen minutes to solve his puzzle before the next victim is apparent. A blackboard rolls into the room with a complex mathematical theorem adorned on it. Nonetheless, Peacock is delighted at being presented a complex puzzle and resolves to solve it like Sherlock Holmes!
Inside the internals of the house, Litefoot and Fox find a more complex maze than the one they were a part of. Fox notes how some of the cables are converging on specific pathways, he deduces that they must lead to the central power source of the house. As such, he and Litefoot use the cables as a guide for their route. They find a door and find it leads to a library. Fox peruses the books and finds that they are all on the subject of mechanical engineering and clock making. He also discovers newspaper clippings with a particular subject – a man called Edward Merridew. They learn that Merridew was a famed clockmaker and part of an elite guild of clockmakers. He was commissioned by Queen Victoria to demonstrate a new large-scale clock. Unfortunately, at its demonstration, a minor miscalculation caused the clock to explode and send cogs flying into the family. Thankfully, nobody was hurt except for Queen Victoria’s favourite dog which was crushed by a stray cog. After this incident, Merridew was relieved of his position in the clockmaker’s guild and disappeared from the public eye. Fox shows a picture of Merridew from the newspaper and asks if he looks familiar…it’s a spitting image of the picture with the moving eyes in the drawing room! It all leads to one conclusion…they are in Merridew’s house!
Jago and Peacock are struggling to solve the mathematical equation on the blackboard. Peacock suddenly realises that the entire equation is a calculus theorem. And the theorem letters spell out coo coo as in a coo-coo clock! Peacock finds one coo-coo clock in the room and stops its pendulum to make the coo-coo bird pop out. Suddenly, the coo-coo bird’s beak opens up and spews scalding hot steam in Peacock’s face, burning him to death at the precise time of 4am…
Peacock’s screams didn’t go unheard as Litefoot and Fox could also hear it from the library. With their quarry now clear to them, the two men leave the library to find the source of the scream.
Jago stands over Peacock’s dead body and fears the end is soon for him as he slowly gives into despair. The demonic voice congratulates Jago and declares him the winner of the murder game. Jago is not feeling triumphant and demands the game ends now. A new compartment opens up and several beheaded bodies with clocks where their heads should be are seated in the room. The bodies are of the former guild of clockmakers that Merridew was ousted from. The voice invites Jago to sit down, but he is too overwhelmed with disgust to listen…until he is knocked out by a disturbed sounding woman who tells him the night is far from over…
Litefoot and Fox follow the source of the screams and enter a room that looks to be a sort of chapel. They discover an urn at the altar filled with ashes…
Jago awakens to find himself chained to a chair and a familiar woman standing over him – Beatrice! Except Beatrice doesn’t sound as innocent as she was when she was a maid. She tells Jago they are inside the clocktower, and that the tower’s pendulum is directly above his chair with a razor-sharp blade attached to its end. It will slowly descend over time and will eventually, gruesomely decapitate Jago. She will then replace his head with a clock like she did with the rest of the guild. She recounts the story of Edward Merridew and how he was commissioned by the crowned heads of Europe, Presidents and Tsars of the world to build their clocks. She talks of how one little mistake cost him his career and caused him to fall into obscurity, until one day he concocted a plan to exact revenge on those who wronged him – a huge clockwork house. Jago demands to speak to Merridew as he assumes the demonic voice belonged to him, but Beatrice tells him Merridew died years ago, but she took his plans and decided to carry on his twisted scheme. Beatrice demolished Moorsey Manor and rebuilt it while incorporating his clockwork machinery and traps into the house. Beatrice had built with Merridew’s plans the most devilish killing machine ever created. Jago despairs at how such a nice maid could be so twisted. To rub salt in the wound, Beatrice reveals that she isn’t a maid nor is her name Beatrice. She drops her cockney accent in favour of an upper-class accent and reveals her identity is…Edwina Merridew and Edward Merridew is her father.
Edwina explains that she lured each guild member to the house with promises of a rare clock. She managed to kill each member except for the elusive Professor Potter (The alias Jago was given to hide his identity) who would always turn down her invitations. She discovered that he had in fact a passion for Sherlock Holmes stories so instead she staged an elaborate gathering of Sherlock Holmes fans in order to draw him to the house. Jago protests that he is not the real Professor Potter and even gives his real name as Henry Gordon Jago and that he and Professor Litefoot are fugitives after being accused of trying to assassinate Queen Victoria. He further explains that the true reason for travelling to Moorsey Manor was to get an affidavit from Willis to clear their names. Edwina seems humoured by the story but chooses not to believe it. By this point the swinging pendulum is lowering ever more closely to Jago’s head. Litefoot arrives in the room, much to Jago’s relief. He demands Edwina that she release Jago, but as expected she refuses to. She explains that the swinging pendulum can only be stopped by disabling the one master clock in the house and only she knows which one that is. She also tells Litefoot not to bother trying to free Jago from his chair or she will shoot him with her pistol. Litefoot however isn’t phased by any of her threats and shows Jago and Edwina the urn from the chapel. Edwina suddenly breaks down proclaiming its her father’s ashes inside the urn. Litefoot proposes an exchange – Edwina will free Jago and Litefoot will return the urn. Edwina becomes deranged and very insane as she furiously demands Litefoot that he gives back her father while firing her pistol madly. Litefoot makes a run for it as Edwina gives chase. Jago can only watch as his best friend runs for his life. Fox emerges from the darkness and reintroduces himself known to Jago and plans to free him from his trap.
Deep inside the house, Edwina traipses through the house looking for Litefoot. All the while taunting him that his friend’s death via pendulum is inevitable. With no response, she shrieks in desperation and anger: GIVE ME MY DADDY!!
Fox is unable to free Jago from his chains as they are solid and the chair is bolted to the floor. Jago remembers Edwina mentioning a master clock. Only problem is that the room is full of hundreds of clocks and there’s no clear indication of which one it may be…
Litefoot is scaling the many steps leading up the clocktower. Unfortunately, Edwina makes herself known to him by firing a warning shot. She goes on a mad rant about every little specific detail concerning the clock tower, including its number of steps, materials and size. But most importantly, there’s no other exit apart from the stairway that she is blocking. Litefoot however manages to make his own escape route…even if he feels very ashamed of it as he shatters the clocktower’s window…
The pendulum is getting dangerously close to decapitating Jago and Fox is desperately trying to deduce which of the many clocks in the room could be the master clock.
Litefoot is now standing perilously near the edge of the tower overlooking the manor grounds while holding the urn containing Edward’s ashes. He threatens to scatter his ashes where they will be unrecoverable and dares Edwina to take them from him. He is willing to return the ashes if she gives up the clue to stopping the pendulum, but Edwina once more refuses to say anything. The clocktower chimes 5am and Edwina shrieks in despair as she couldn’t witness her own handiwork of murdering Jago. With nothing left to lose, Litefoot throws the urn over the edge and an insane Edwina dives off the tower after it to her death. Litefoot notices how the clocktower’s gears have stopped moving. Fox has managed to stop the pendulum and save Jago!
Jago is relieved to be free of his death trap. He asks Fox how he was able to deduce which clock to destroy. He explains how he initially struggled as there was no clear indicator on any of the clocks until he remembered how there was a golden carriage in the portrait of Merridew in the drawing room, a gift from his guild to mark his 50th year of service. He then destroyed that clock, but admits that it was an educated guess…
As they leave the manor, Fox admits that he hasn’t been entirely truthful to either of the investigators. His name isn’t Frederick Fox, but rather Inspector Frederick Abberline of Scotland Yard and he declares both Jago and Litefoot under arrest…
