A figure stood in the doorway, and it was the Doctor’s turn to give a sharp intake of breath. Embroidered robes, a mandarin hat and a blank, pale face. But the face was so blank, so pale…
The Doctor snorted with laughter and turned to Dodo. ‘For a moment I thought … But it’s just a mask! Just a mask. They’re all masks!’
‘Why, it’s a fancy-dress party!’ Dodo beamed with delight. ‘How super.’
The masked mandarin spread out a hand in invitation, and the three friends entered the house. The Doctor pointed out a figure wearing a green ogre costume, the mask’s single eye seemingly staring at them. ‘There, you see! That is no more a Monoid than this fellow is the Celestial Toymaker, or that gentleman over there –’ he gestured at a man wearing a ten-gallon hat – ‘is one of the gunfighters we met recently!’
They were in a huge hall, lit by a thousand candles. Masked figures in costumes stood all round the edges of the room – not milling about, as might be expected at a party, but watching and waiting. In the centre of the room was a ring of children, each also in costume, as still as statues. The door creaking shut behind the new arrivals was the only sound to be heard.
And then music exploded into the hall. A masked figure dressed as a gypsy violinist was scraping his bow wildly against the strings, and the music coming from the fiddle echoed around the space, louder than seemed possible. The children were up, dancing – a tiny witch was waltzing with a small scarecrow, while a bandaged mummy hopped from one foot to the other and a black cat galloped around all of them. The adults moved too – although they weren’t dancing; they were still just observers – and a vampire came over to the newcomers to offer them goblets of deep red fluid.

(…)

‘Hiding in plain sight, hmm?’ the Doctor said. ‘But who else could it be? Who else would twist games like this?’
‘Well done, Doctor,’ said the Celestial Toymaker. ‘But your answer is invalid. My toys –’ he made a gesture and all those surrounding them pulled off their masks to reveal crude dolls’ faces with dots for eyes and nose, a semi-circle for a mouth – ‘know that games must follow the rules to the very end. They are waiting for your decision. Steven or Dodo?’

***

Murder in the Dark, Tales of Terror