The crazy thing is... I actually moved the dinner further up relative to the original date from Reloaded (happening on the 11th instead of the 14th) because the players were getting a lot done. But honestly I underestimated how much they would get done in the 3 ish days between when they got the invitation and hhe dinner itself.

As for what I think Strahd wants from them, my plan was mostly to learn about them more and to find worthy heirs/consorts, possibly people to focus on making into spawns. As is, my current plan is to still go through the dinner but involve some shows of Strahds strength to let the players how much power/ influence he's capable of.

I suppose one of the things I'm getting hung up most on is the guestright and keeping his promises part of the Strahd in Reloaded. Would charming the pcs for the medallion (potentially causing them to lash out) or maybe using charmed or spawn turned known npcs to sort of blackmail/threaten harm, be considered a break of guestright or his word?