There is a brief inner keep with a well and perhaps a large storehouse; then the stone steps of the inner tower appear, leading up into the central redoubt. 

The double doors of the tower are heavy oak, banded with iron, clearly made to hold against assault; but the inner halls are richly appointed with hanging tapestries and deep carpets on the stone floor. The colors of the heraldry and furnishings are red and black, predictably. 

Crin steps into the central staircase and nods to the rest of the party. "I will be upstairs in my study if you have need for me," she says. "But I will be busy with work for some hours." 

Sophia steps towards a side hallway. "There are two guest bedrooms on the first floor," she says. "If you'll just follow me?"

"I'll tag along for now. I'm interested in you and have no urgent business, unlike milady."

She briefly imagines responding to Sophia's request to follow her by saying "no" and jumping out the nearest window. But this intrusive thought is swiftly banished.

"Well, I'm happy to answer questions, especially as long as you're willing for me to respond somewhat cryptically and uninformatively to some of them."

There is a voice in the back of her head that is very pleased that the very pretty and very good Draenai with the very cool magic apparently finds her interesting enough to tag along, but it can likewise be mostly ignored.

She's ushered into a guest room, richly appointed in deep purple. What appears at first to be an implausible fire risk of a candled chandelier instead on closer inspection seems to be composed of candlesticks with small luminous orange crystals embedded in their ends. There's a double bed, a vanity, and a table with two chairs as well. There are no windows, however.

Sophia curtseys. "Welcome," she says. "This will be your room while you are a guest of Milady Illemvich. I will be attending to you, but on occasion some additional staff may be present; please do not be alarmed if you encounter someone who you do not know." 

She looks at Ishaza. "Would you like me to bring up a luncheon, Milady?" 

"Please. This morning's breakfast was not precisely pleasant."

She looks over at Alethia. "Is there anything you'd like to be brought? Any questions you'd like answered?"

"I don't particularly need anything, I believe."

She doesn't need to eat anymore and right now everybody thinks she subsists on blood.

"I'm sure I'll think of more questions, but my first is- well, I admit I was surprised by the size of Konigstein. How large are Lady Illemvich's lands? I recall her mentioning that it was a border region between Fort Oberstyre and Templehof, and at the time I assumed that meant simply that her lands were between the two. But I suddenly find myself thinking that perhaps her demesne is all of the land between Fort Oberstyre and Templehof, and I- misinterpreted her statement."

Templehof was Western Sylvania's Major Settlement in the strategy game she used to play, and she extrapolated from that to assuming it would be a city with its own lord that ruled quite a large area, having as they did a large and important settlement under their control. Perhaps that's untrue? It might not actually be incredibly important. It could be Just Another Castle for all she knows. Or the lord of it could have power that doesn't much extend beyond the place's walls.

"It is the latter," Ishaza states. "Due to the aid of more than a few key personnel and some small degree of necromancy when truly necessary. This tower used to be inhabited by a notorious necromancer; Crin assassinated him and inherited his fief. The people under him were more used than most in Sylvania to common taxes, so Crin's requisitions of people to pay costs in kind were seen as light. It has been decades of slowly fortifying the borders and establishing a solid power base for Crin. I joined her side five years ago. Progress is accelerating, but..." She shrugs. "There is always the risk of another von Carstein."

Sophia curtseys and departs.

"Crin mentioned an imperial crackdown, years ago. And the potential of people having- gone to ground, rather than truly died. Was there a von Carstein among those potentially extant individuals?"

"Yes, but he was killed... At least apparently. It is unclear if it was one of the original von Carsteins or a pretender."

"Ah. They were claiming to be one of the original heads of the dynasty, from the Vampire Wars?"

Probably not Vlad or Konrad, then, and Mannfred was supposed to actually return around now, she thinks. Actual Vlad would probably not leave people thinking he was plausibly a pretender, and Konrad was apparently the least subtle person ever to live. But Mannfred could have deliberately decided to leave it ambiguous by not, say, singlehandedly raising an army of the undead tens of thousands strong. If he had a reason. It could just have just actually been a pretender, she supposes.

"Yes, they were. Mannfred, I believe. It was before my time, but not before Crin's - you should ask her for the details when she has a spare moment."

"Then I think I shall."

Okay, apparently it was sufficiently not a Big Huge Thing that she isn't even sure it was Mannfred they were claiming to be. So it was either a pretender or Actually Subtle Mannfred. If it's the second she's probably going to have Problems before too long.

Ishaza settles into one of the chairs by the small table. 

"I can't help but wonder what's in that backpack of yours," she says. "Anything interesting?"

"I can say that at least some of it is more clothing like this. And nothing in it is innately dangerous, or would be simple or take a short amount of time to make dangerous."

"That's good." 

Ishaza settles back in her chair and stretches her hands out above her head.

She is going to control her eyes, which are her eyes and not somebody else's eyes.

Okay, correction. She is going to mostly control her eyes after one initial glance at precisely what that kind of stretch does to Ishaza's chest.

"So," Ishaza says. "My meal should be arriving any moment now, and I'm sure you have more questions. Why not sit down and join me?"

Okay good, either Ishaza didn't notice her slip or else it was small enough it didn't annoy her. This is very good- it would be Terrible to be accidentally rude or make Ishaza uncomfortable.

"I'd love to."

And down she shall sit.

And sure enough, Sophia bustles in with a pair of roast chicken sandwiches on a fine china plate. 

"Here you are, Milady," she says, setting the plate before Ishaza. 

Ishaza smiles. "Thank you, Sophia."

"Is there anything else for me to retrieve, miladies?"