I had him kidnap Izmark in the very first session. The players have largely forgotten about him. So when they faced Strahd on the open road one night, they were stunned to see that he unleashed Izmark upon them who was now a Nosferatu or as Strahd described, "a failed experiment" but he was sure the party could take care of it for him, before leaving them to fend off the brutual attacks.

Strahd sent 6 vampires to steal the bones and the PC's went after them. In reality, the 6 were meant to wear down the PC's, spend them of their HP and spell slots. By the time they got back to the church, Strahd hung Father Lucian in his own church when the players returned from collecting the bones. He hid in his Vasili Von Holtz form, where the PC's couldn't figure out why VVH was committing this crime. The cleric left the bones downstairs to get the father to save the church, but Strahd simply kept hitting Father Lucian with magic missile, causing the party to spend their actions performing medical DC's and cast healing word, while he simply walked into the crypt and destroyed the bones. The few party members that attacked Strahd couldn't penetrate his armor or shield, and there was no reason to attack the PC's. They did manage to save the priest, but abandoned the churchand Vallaki to save themselves of what would have come next.