The Dinner Club

A group of old school friends gather at Jack Drage’s countryside estate for a weekend that promises hunting, wine, and reminiscence. The centerpiece is a centuries‑old dining hall, untouched except for discreet modern heating, its vaulted ceiling and ancient oak beams giving the space an almost sacred atmosphere. As they settle in, the host mentions a Tudor‑era portrait hanging there, hinting at a dark past of secret meetings and bloody intrigue.

Curiosity turns to unease when the men learn that the room once served as a covert meeting place for a fervent Sir James Wrothley, whose faction was caught in a deadly clash of religion during Henry VIII’s reign. The narrator, a chronicler of events, watches the conversation drift between rational explanations—indigestion, chance—and the suggestion of lingering, perhaps supernatural, forces. As the evening unfolds, the atmosphere thickens, setting the stage for a weekend that may end far more disastrously than any of them anticipated.