Whilst many among them wear hideous and even frightening costumes, only this figure excites true terror. The unrecognizable one is dressed in such a way as to excite terror in the other partygoers. It is only when the clock strikes midnight and the revelries are stopped for the twelve strokes, that the party goers become aware of a figure amongst them not previously noticed. Dressed in masks and costumes ranging from the fanciful to the grotesque, they move from chamber to chamber, each one presenting a different fantasy, avoiding only the final chamber and stopping only when the hourly chimes intrude. The party goers, safe in their extended seclusion from the outside world, enjoy the festivities. In spite of the room and its clock, the party proceeds gaily. This pause is soon over and forgotten until the next hour. When it sounds each hour the sound is so disconcerting that the musicians stop playing and the party halts momentarily. It houses a huge ebony clock which ticks loudly and chimes horribly.
The final chamber provides another chilling aspect. This room is mostly avoided by the revelers.
This seventh room is shrouded in black tapestries and carpet, but the windows of this room are blood red, so that the light coming through the windows casts a ghastly hue on the faces of anyone who enters. Each room is a different color, draped in velvet and other ornate furnishings, lit by braziers burning in a corridor beyond and shining through stained glass windows the same color as the furnishings. The dance is held in an elaborately decorated suite of seven rooms which flow into each other in a maze-like sequence. Eventually Prince Prospero holds a magnificent masquerade ball for his courtiers.
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