Banquo Manor

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Banquo Manor was a house situated in the south east of England.

Characteristics

Location

The village of Three Sisters was a mile from the manor, as was the local station, forming a triangle. Little Applecombe was 20 miles away when heading down the road from Three Sisters.

Manor and grounds

Banquo Manor was build around the latter half of the 18th century. It was stone fronted with a conservatory of glass at the side. The drawing room was square and large, it had a fireplace against the wall and the door was made of strong wood. Both the drawing room and the conservatory had French windows leading into the grounds. After Harries' experiment the conservatory was substantially damaged. The chimney shaft from the study met with the chimney shaft from the drawing room, forming a fork and one chimney

The top floor had rooms for the scullery and kitchen maids; these rooms were poorly furnished and cold. The next floor down had rooms for the household maids, the cook and the undercooks; these rooms were better furnished than those on the top floor.

A generator in the cellar supplied the manor's electricity. There was a room under the stairs that was used for storage; Cuthbert Simpson later used this as his quarters. A shotgun was kept in the manor.

The manor was made from orange-tinted stone from local quarries; it was very rectangular and the front door was flanked by four pillars supporting an arch. It was small in comparison to other manors with tall narrow windows surrounded by white stone; this same stone was used on the Tudor-style battlements that crowned the manor.

The grounds of Banquo Manor included a large hill, one of the largest in the area. It overlooked Three Sisters. George Wallace wanted a cave build on the hillside where he could sit and look at the view. A shack stood nearby containing explosives used in the making of the cave.

Name

The Manor was named after Banquo, a character from the play Macbeth. A plaque featuring a speech from the play hung in the drawing room; a second one hung in the study but was removed. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy)

History

Construction

Robert Dodds inherited a significant amount of money from his aunt; with this he commissioned the building of the manor by the Adam's brothers. He fancied himself as an actor; his favourite performance was in Macbeth as Banquo, hence the manor's name.

It was rumoured that Dodds killed his aunt to establish a legacy. This was untrue as he was in Italy at the time.

Dodds' was murdered by his cousin, Pamela while practising his role as Banquo. Pamela had recently escaped from a lunatic asylum. She stabbed him in the master bedroom and then drank his blood. It was said she killed him in revenge for him having supposedly killed her grandmother (, his aunt).

Residents and guests

In 1898, George Wallace was the owner; he lived in the manor with his wife, Elizabeth Wallace. Richard Harries was invited to use the conservatory as a laboratory for his experiments into brainwaves. Harries took over the master bedroom. Harries dismissed all the staff apart from Cuthbert Simpson, the butler and Beryl Green, a maid with whom George had an affair.

The Eighth Doctor, masquerading as Dr. Friedlander, and Fitz Kreiner came to assist in the experiments. John Hopkinson also came as a witness. Gordon Seavers was expected but, unknown to the residents (bar Hopkinson) he had supposedly committed suicide.

Harries' experiment

Harries trialled his experiments on rats, having them share collective thoughts. Simpson implanted them with nano-cams and set them free to keep tabs on the desk.

Hopkinson sabotaged Harries' experiment in revenge for him having blackmailed Seavers, resulting in his suicide. Harries hoped to share the thoughts of his sister, Catherine Harries. The machine overloaded and Richard was killed, Catherine survived. Ian Stratford and Sergeant Baker came to investigate.

Murders

The Doctor was made the prime suspect after he disappeared. Ian, Baker and Fitz followed his footprints through the grounds and came across his body in Wallace's cave on the hillside.

The body of Harries was stolen, but later found returned. Beryl was attacked and killed after she found evidence that Harries had been blackmailing George and Gordon. George and Elizabeth were killed in their bedroom. Realising the killer was still upstairs; Stratford, Baker and John began searching.

They came across the Doctor, alive and well. Then, Richard Harries' corpse appeared. It was walking and trying to attack the group. They fled from it and Simpson fired upon it with no effect. The residents then barricaded themselves into Hopkinson's room.

The Doctor deduced that connection was made in Harries' experiment whilst Catherine was unconscious. Subconsciously she wanted to protect her brother's honour and so the corpse wanted to kill everyone in the house, as it had done with George, Elizabeth and Beryl. The corpse broke in and Catherine halted its advance by thinking hard. Ian, Baker, John and the Doctor then went to get chains with which to tie the corpse up.

Catherine followed them. She had Richard follow her and told them she was consciously controlling Harries in the killings, that she was connected to him and that she would now kill them. Catherine claimed that Richard was still alive and that she could talk to him through their link. Baker knocked her over and they barricaded her out.

Catherine used Richard to break into the room from outside while she waited in another room. He came through the French window but with a collective effort they knocked him out and barricaded the window. Ian opened a door, Catherine was on the other side and she shot him in the shoulder.

Ian and Baker stayed in the drawing room whilst John and the Doctor used the chimney fork to cross to the study and escape through the window. Susan and Kreiner abseiled down to them from above. Still in the room, Simpson was attacked, his eyes were torn out and he fell from the window and seemingly died.

Harries came downstairs and chased the Doctor and Hopkinson. Kreiner and Susan re-entered the drawing room via the chimney. John and the Doctor ran to George's shed, Harries still pursued. They collected some dynamite and headed back to the manor.

Ian and John pulled aside the barricade allowing them entrance. Harries managed to force his way in. Catherine also entered and commanded Harries to attack Susan. He hesitated but eventually complied, trying to throttle her. He was pulled free and Susan fell unconscious. Harries then attacked Baker as he stuffed Harries' pockets with the dynamite. Richard was again pulled away, however Catherine fired at Baker twice hitting him in the back and head, killing him.

John threw a lamp at Harries, lighting the dynamite. He exploded and his body was torn apart. His dismembered arm stopped Catherine from shooting Susan. Hopkinson wrestled her for the gun, it went of killing Catherine.

The Doctor and Kreiner headed to Simpson's room in search of Simpson's Artron inhibitor, a device that was draining the TARDIS' artron energy. They found it in the conservatory, the sole surviving valve of Harries' equipment. The Doctor destroyed it restoring Compassion to her former self. Then, they all left. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy)