Newbie DM questions [CoS Spoilers]

[Rdprime]

I am in the process of prepping to run Curse of Strahd and have some questions for the experienced DM's out there who have run CoS.

1) How would you spice up Argynvostholt? I really like the flavour of this place and want to include it in my campaign. The problem is that for the size of this place there are so many essentially empty rooms. Should I add more encounters, more treasure, more traps, more NPCs? Just curious how other DMs handled this place.

2) Did you run the amber temple? The temple seems cool but I am not sure how well it fits into the rest of the campaign. I would love some opinions on this place.

3) Ismark and Ireena. Is there any safe place in Barovia that the players can leave them or do they accompany the party until captured or killed?

4) How did you handle Strahd encounters and how many did you run? I like the idea of Strahd showing up at several points in the story and would love some insight on any cool encounters you ran for your players.

Thanks in advance.

[Madfellow]

I'm preparing to run this one as well, so I don't have a lot of definitive answers, but for #3 I think Ireena and Ismark can stay in either Kresk or Vallaki. They might not actually be safe there, but Strahd can certainly let them think they are while he focuses on the PCs.

[Rdprime]

Good call! I like the idea that nowhere is truly safe but players may think several places are safe. This gives me some ideas for possible Strahd encounters! Much appreciated.