With no particular place in mind to start, we simply began looking about the castle until we came upon someone to speak with. Escher was in a lounge with a large, open terrace, overlooking the courtyard. The night sky was clear and full of stars, and he had been working on some new volume of poetry when we entered. He shared some of his previous work with us (none of which seemed to have unintentional leaks of information), and no-so-subtly bemoaned the fact that he hadn't been out of the castle in decades. In fact, according to Escher, no one but Volenta had been out of the castle in memorable history, and she had only left on official business. Anastrasya did invite a large number of guests into the castle, however. She would have weekly parties, inviting both the living and cardiovascularly-challenged as guests to her events. It isn't unusual for her to have dozens of ghosts or undead in the banquet hall on any given week.

Ludmilla was working in the library when we came upon her. In addition to being the official court historian, she also works with a man named Lief, the castle accountant, to address budget issues and the like. By opening with some whispered gossip about Anastrasya's "crass behavior" at dinner, it was a rather simple matter to get Ludmilla talking. Apparently, the young vampire gets on her nerves. Quite a lot. She seems to think a bit more of Escher and Volenta, but I get the impression she feels they are both quite young still. Ludmilla did helpfully note that there are several living contacts that come to the castle regularly. Lord Vasili is the most frequently seen, being the castle's envoy to Vallaki, but there are also a few regular delivery persons from town and from the winery out west. None of these people save Vasili have been to the castle in recent weeks, however.

To prevent this endeavor from taking a small eternity, we split the group to gather more information more quickly. In short, this is what we learned:

Mire and Roderick went upstairs where they found Gertruda, who said that she has been treated very well since coming to the castle. She had nothing but nice things to say about her hosts. Of everyone there, she felt that Volenta was the most friendly. Escher will hang out with her and read poetry to her sometimes, but Ludmilla is often too busy for her, and Anastrasya does not like her at all. She has seen Lord Vasili there on several occasions as well; everyone in the castle likes him and has nice things to say about him, according to Gertruda.

Ragnar and Finrar headed down a floor to a spacious hall filled with all manner of bones, most notably the skull of a giant dragon. This is Volenta's hall where she "makes her art". She was beside herself to have visitors interested in her hobby: she makes sculptures out of the bones of her enemies and whittles little figures from them as well. Finrar was equally delighted, chewing happily on bone sculptures, "improving" them with his teeth-marks. Volenta was of the opinion that Ludmilla was too loyal to Strahd to ever betray him, and of everyone in the castle, Anastrasya is the worst, far too possessive of Strahd's time and attention in a way that no one cares for, not even Strahd.

After speaking with Volenta, Ragnar also questioned the living servants Cyrus (the cook) and Helga (the maid). They have had a few deliveries to the castle, but nothing out of the ordinary, nothing suspicious, and no one who lives in the castle ever leaves. They are able to say that Anastrasya was planning to have one of her parties the next evening, and they were expecting a shipment of goods from town in a few days after that.

I spoke with Rahadin, the castle chamberlain, about recent happenings in Ravenloft, which was a wholly unpleasant experience. Besides generally bearing an affect of disgust and superiority when dealing with us, there is something very bizarre about the elf. There are a few Dusk Elves in Waterdeep, so that is not entirely unusual, but unlike any of his brothers and sisters I've ever met in Faerun, when I approach this elf, there is a most disconcerting noise that permeates the air around him, like a chorus of wailing and screaming. I'm certain he only tolerated my questions because Lord Strahd told him to. Regardless, he confirmed that no one in the castle ever leaves except Volenta. He doesn't trust her, but I suspect that Rahadin doesn't trust anyone except perhaps Strahd. He seems to have the most respect for Ludmilla, although that isn't saying much. He feels that Escher is little more than an overly dramatic child, making him a less likely suspect. Anastrasya, however, can be very histrionic and needs to be the center of attention.

The five of us eventually met back up at the main entrance hall as we searched out the last consort to speak with. Anastrasya was in the dining hall, preparing for her own party that would take place in a few hours. She had little new information to add about the others living in the castle. In her opinion, Ludmilla is too old, tired, and jealous of her; Escher is a boring snob; Volenta is loyal but just dead common; and Gertruda is a threat for Strahd's affection, even though it's clear from watching them interact that she's not. Anastrasya did say that ghosts from all over the country would be coming to her party, including from Argynvostholt and Berez. Rather graciously, she gave us permission to attend her party and see what we were missing by only mingling with the living.

At the party, we set up surveillance stations around the room, with Ragnar, Doru, and Roderick watching the reactions of the guests while I and Mire mingled, making occasionally pointed remarks in an attempt to get suspects to reveal themselves. I managed to get the names of quite a few spirits displeased with their unlifes. In the fullness of time, it will be my pleasure to assist them with finding their final resting places. Even more, however, were perfectly happy with their existences, coming to the castle every week to mingle and party with others. Anastrasya is a reasonably good hostess.

Unfortunately, she is also a loose-lipped hostess. Doru was able to spot two particular gentlemen who kept returning to Anastrasya for conversation. One man, a priest by the name of Brother Gregor would continue to ask her questions, and she would reply with anything that came to mind, especially if it involved juicy gossip. Mire pulled the other ghost, Ludlo Ulrich, into a dance so that she could get closer to the pair to listen in for evidence, while asking the ghost more about where he came from. According to Ulrich, he had been in a town called Berez, which had flooded. He hadn't wanted to leave his home, so he'd drowned.

When Ireena told us this story some days ago, it had played out rather differently. The burgomaster of Berez had done something so terrible, involving the death of a young girl, that Strahd had punished him by flooding the town. When Mire called him on this version of the story, Ulrich became visibly upset. Having determined that this was enough evidence to bring before Strahd in at least a preliminary fashion, I sought him out in the castle to explain what we had found so far: a pair of ghosts from Berez seem to be taking advantage of Anastrasya's lack of discretion to gain personal information about the happenings in the castle, although there doesn't seem to be any evidence of malice or intentional betrayal on the part of anyone within Ravenloft. Rather, everyone we spoke to cares for him a great deal (except perhaps for the very grumpy accountant who seems to be annoyed at everyone equally).

As soon as Strahd entered the room, the two ghosts from Berez became quite nervous and left, making it certain that they were the ones involved. Strahd thanked all of us from our efforts in the matter. Likely in an effort to get under Anastrasya's skin for what she had done, Lord Strahd made a point of taking my hand and kissing it as he thanked me. I do not think that Anastrasya cares for me any more than she likes Mire now...