Jovan Stillmark

Professor Stillmark examines an unknown potion.

Jovan Stillmark lives in the town of Ravengro in the western region of Düsternis with his daughter Kendra Stillmark. They live in a large home in the south of town.

## Career

Jovan is a professor and scholar at the University of Gladengries. He is a student of many varied subjects, but his specialty is in secret societies and the occult.

## Jovan's Journal

Professor Sillmark has been investigating many things during his career. Before his disappearance, he left instructions to his daughter to contact Braennora, Leeroy Dwarfkins, Obie, Saffine, and Calista Vex so that they may hear his Last Will and give them one his his journals. The journal included these circled entries:

> Ten Years Ago:
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> The Whispering Court is more than just a cabal of necromancers.  I see that now.  Undeath is their fountain of youth, of course.  Uncovering their motivation does not place me at ease as I thought it might.  Their desire to be eternal simply makes them more dangerous.
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> Two Months Ago:
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> It is as I had feared.  The Court is interested in something here in Ravengro. But what could it be?
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> One Month Ago:
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> Whatever the Court seeks, I am now convinced their goal is connected to Harrowstone.  In retrospect, I suppose it all makes sense—the stories they tell about the ruins in town are certainly chilling enough.  It may be time to investigate the ruins, but with everyone in town already being so worked up about them, I’d rather not let the others know about my curiosity - there’s plenty of folks hereabouts who already think I’m a demonologist or a witch or something.
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> Twenty Days Ago:
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> It is confirmed.  The Court seems quite interested in something - no, strike that - someone who was held in Harrowstone.  But who, specifically, is the Court after?  I need a list of everyone who died the night of the fire.  Everyone.  The Temple of Pharasma must have such a list.
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> eighteen Days Ago:
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> I see now just how ill prepared I was when I last set out for the Harrowstone.  I am lucky to have returned at all.  The ghosts, if indeed they were ghosts (for I did not find it prudent to investigate further) prevented me from transcribing the strange symbols I found etched along the foundation - hopefully on my next visit I will be more prepared.  Thankfully, the necessary tools to defend against spirits are already here in Ravengro.  I know that the church of Pharasma used to store them in a false crypt in the Restlands at the intersection between Eversleep and the Black Path.  I am not certain if the current clergy even know of what their predecessors have hidden down below.  If my luck holds, I should be able to slip in and out with a few borrowed items.
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> Seventeen Days Ago:
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> Tomorrow evening I return to the prison.  It is imperative the Court does not finish.  My caution has already cost me too much time.  I am not sure what will happen if I am too late, but if my theory is right, the entire town could be at risk.  I don’t have time to update my will, so I’ll leave this in the chest where it’ll be sure to be found, should the worst come to pass.
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## The Last Will of Jovan Stillmark

“I, Jovan Stillmark, being of sound mind, do hereby commit to this parchment my last will and testament. Let it be known that, with the exception of the specific details below, I leave my home and personal belongings entire to my daughter Kendra. Use them or sell them as you see fit, my child.

“Yet beyond the bequeathing of my personal effects, this document must serve other needs. I have arranged for the reading of this document to be delayed until all principals can be in attendance, for I have more than mere inheritance to apportion. I have two final favors to ask.

“To my old friends, I hate to impose upon you all, but there are few others who are capable of appreciating the true significance of what it is I have to ask. As some of you know, I have devoted many of my studies to all manner of esoterics, that I might know the enemy and inform those better positioned to stand against it. For knowledge of one’s enemy is the surest path to victory over its plans.

“And so, over the course of my lifetime, I have seen fit to acquire a significant collection of valuable but dangerous tomes, any one of which in the wrong circumstances could have led to an awkward legal situation. While the majority of these tomes remain safe under lock and key at the Gladengries University, I fear that a few I have borrowed remain in a trunk in my Ravengro home. While invaluable for my work in life, in death, I would prefer not to burden my daughter with the darker side of my profession, or worse still, the danger of possessing these tomes herself. As such, I am entrusting my chest of tomes to you, posthumously. I ask that you please deliver the collection to my colleagues at the University of Gladengries, who will put them to good use for the betterment of the cause.

“Yet before you leave for Gladengries, there is the matter of another favor - please delay your journey one month and spend that period of time here in Ravengro to ensure that my daughter is safe and sound. She has no one to count on now that I am gone, and if you would aid her in setting things in order for whatever she desires over the course of this month, you would have my eternal gratitude. From my savings, I have also willed to each of you a sum of one hundred platinum coins. For safekeeping, I have left these funds with Embreth Daramid, one of my most trusted friends in Gladengries - she has been instructed to issue this payment upon the safe delivery of the borrowed tomes no sooner than one month after the date of the reading of this will.

“I, Jovan Stillmark, hereby sign this will in Ravengro on this first day of Calistril, in the year 4662.”