Leaves of Learning

Clerics and monks of Oghma observe two rituals of the faith each

day: the Binding and the Covenant. The Binding is a morning service

wherein the symbols of Oghma are written in ashes upon a stone

altar while a silent prayer of loyalty and praise is made to the

Binder. The Covenant is an evening service during which a passage

from some work of wisdom is read aloud or recited from memory,

a song or poem is offered up to Oghma, and some item of knowledge

that the presiding clergy member has learned during the day is

spoken aloud to the god and those present. During the latter ceremony

Danali has made a practice of reading aloud from each page

added to the Index that day.

The Leaves of Learning also celebrates all the holy days sacred

to the faith, of which Midsummer and Shieldmeet are the two most

important. As most contracts, bonds, and the like are signed on these

two days, the temple staff stays very busy drawing up such documents

in weeks leading up to either Midsummer or Shieldmeet.

Most such documents are picked up in person, at which time the

claimants make a hefty donation to the church’s coffers. Danali traditionally

invites the public into the temple gardens on holy days,

and many Deepingfolk take the opportunity to stroll in the cool

shade among the temple’s bowers to the lilting strains of music from

an assemblage of skilled harpists.

The Leaves of Learning functions as one of the best libraries in the

Dalelands. Almost any type of Knowledge check can benefit from a

perusal of the temple’s tomes. Characters using the library for its

reference books receive a +10 circumstance bonus to any Knowledge

checks except Knowledge (arcana).

Under the supervision of at least two members of the clergy, visitors

to the Leaves of Learning can peruse tomes within the library

for periods of up to a full day upon payment of 15 gp. (Worshipers

of Oghma pay only 1 gp, a price that applies only to themselves and

not their inquisitive friends.) Although reading and discussion of

such books is allowed, copying is not permitted. The temple staff can

make copies of selected pages on the following day for a fee of 1 gp

per page and double that if the page contains maps, diagrams, symbols,

or illustrations that must be reproduced exactly (copying by

hand takes 1 day per 100 pages copied). Prices are negotiable for

larger works. Books can be copied magically at a cost of 3 gp per

page, minimum 50 pages. Doing so requires at least one day’s notice

but takes only one day for any book up to 500 pages long (which

would be a huge book, five times the size of a normal spellbook).

All copies of maps sold by the temple are believed to be accurate

or, if they err in some fashion, the best available. The temple’s clerics

may also be engaged to decipher obscure passages in forgotten

tongues, at a cost of 1 gp per hour of labor required, including

research time, if any.

The Leaves of Learning is home to some of the most skilled bookbinders

in the Dalelands. As such, wealthy patrons from as far away as Sembia and

runs between 10 gp and 100 gp, depending on the time and materials

required to complete the restoration. In cases where no copy of the

book in question exists within the library, the clerics usually waive the

fee if the owner grants them permission to make copies.

The temple staff also prepares and sells paper (4 sp), parchment

(2 sp), and blank books (5 gp, not appropriate for use as spellbooks).

Upon request, the temple can create a book appropriate for use as a

wood, metal, or more exotic materials.

Spell scrolls of clerical spells can be purchased at the Leaves of

Learning as well, although the clerics remain so busy with other

activities that they produce fewer such scrolls than do other temples

of the Binder. Typically available divine scrolls include comprehend languages, detect magic, detect poison, detect undead, divination, find traps, glyph of warding, make whole, read magic, and tongues. Sometimes passing Harpers and bards leave scrolls on consignment with

the temple that are available for sale as well, although in very limited

numbers. Typically available bard or Harper scout scrolls include comprehend languages, detect thoughts, identify, locate object, magic mouth, read magic, and tongues.

In addition to Learned Father Hasicor Danali, the Leaves of Learning houses seven elderly clerics of the Binder and five Oghmanyte monks of an order whose members protect many libraries and abbeys. Among the clerics, four Seekers report to two Lorekeepers, who in turn report to Lorekeeper Venturer Tessele Whitehorn.

The leader of the Children of the Passive Voice is Lorewarden Rowan Silvercrown. Both groups in turn report to Danali, although in truth daily life at the temple largely runs itself. The clerics are

very set in their ways, and probably would continue their daily

activities even if Highmoon was in danger of being overrun by a

horde of orcs. Danali largely delegates the temple’s security concerns

to Rowan, leaving the monks free to protect the complex

however they see fit.

In addition to the followers of Oghma, Lord Theremen Ulath

(the ruler of Highmoon) keeps a small contingent of Tower Guards

at the temple. Guard shifts at the temple last eight hours before the

next detail arrives to offer relief. Sergeant Mourn Deepwood, a worshiper

of Oghma, commands the guard contingent and lives on site

at the temple; the guards live off site.

Finally, Those Who Harp keep a close but informal watch on

activities at the Leaves of Learning. There is usually one Harper on

or about the premises on any given day. Of late, that Harper is usually

away on Harper business.

The Binder welcomes all true seekers of knowledge into his church,

and the Leaves of Learning is no exception to this practice. All that

is required to worship or study at the Leaves of Learning is a true profession

of faith in the Binder’s teachings (see the discussion below of

the zone of truth spell that permeates the temple compound) and a

willingness to contribute to its storehouse of knowledge. The latter is

usually interpreted as the gift of some book or scroll whose contents

are not as yet found within the walls of the temple library. However,

those who lack the wealth to make such a donation can instead contribute

an old tale or bit of song to be recorded by a temple.

Of course, such openness is not without risk, and all who are not

well known to the clergy are carefully watched during their stay

within temple walls. The Children of the Passive Voice have even

been known to discretely follow suspicious persons after they leave

the temple grounds to see if they are who they claim, a practice justified

by Rowan with a wink as “the further pursuit of knowledge,

which the Binder says cannot be a sin.”

The folk of Highmoon, now a growing, bustling center of culture,

are justly proud of the reputation of sophistication that the clerics

at the Leaves of Learning have given their town. As such, the

temple has earned the strong support of the population, who will

brook no plot to undermine their beloved library. Lord Theremen

Ulath is also a strong backer of Danali’s endeavors, contributing

both his political aid and a detachment of troops to ensure the

temple’s continued success. Those Who Harp maintain a benevolent

watch as well over the Leaves of Learning, for Oghma is one of the

divine patrons of the Harpers and the temple furthers the preservation

of tales and lessons of the past, one of the chief goals of that

fellowship.

Despite such allies, the temple is not without its foes, for not

everyone is enamored of the continuing spread of knowledge.

Thieves are the most common threat, dispatched by Sembian merchant

lords, Cormyrian nobles, or various secret societies to

retrieve or destroy some obscure bit of lore that might invalidate

some claim or reveal some secret of their lineage they might

prefer to go undiscovered. Greedy wizards are far less of a threat

than one might otherwise imagine, for members of the clergy have

widely advertised the fact that they have not a word about magic

within their walls.

The greatest long-term threat to the Leaves of Learning

comes from an unexpected quarter. The illithids of Oryndoll, a

subterranean city that lies deep beneath the Shining Plains far to

the south and west of Highmoon, have a highly developed, theologically

based culture that incessantly plunders knowledge and

hoards it within their temple. The illithids seek to acquire knowledge

at the exclusion of all others, and thus oppose the efforts of

Oghma’s priesthood to disseminate knowledge as widely as possible.

Word of Danali’s Index has recently reached the illithid leaders of

Oryndoll, who have recognized the threat it poses to their city’s

ambitions. As such, the quiet, unassuming temple at the heart of

Highmoon has become the unwitting target of the plots of one of

Faerûn’s oldest cultures.

Most folks find that access to the fabled libraries of the Leaves of

Learning is most easily achieved by knocking on the temple’s front

door during the day and being admitted by one of the resident clerics.

Although the cost of perusing tomes within the temple’s

archives is steep for most people, it is not enough to make pilferage

a reasonable alternative for the risk.

Those who do attempt to breach the temple’s wards or infiltrate

the grounds by posing as a visitor find that the entire structure lies

within the area of a hallow spell to which a zone of truth has been

fixed, making false professions of faith in the Binder’s teachings difficult.

The inner and outer walls of the temple are carved with

runes, many of which are nonmagical but some of which act as

wall or pass through an area without speaking the proper pass

phrase. Glyphs on the external walls and in common areas usually

trigger cause fear or hold person. Glyphs in areas of the library

restricted to the clergy might trigger blinding/deafness or hold person without the proper pass phrase. Should intruders cause an

alarm to be raised, the simple sounding of a glaur (many of which

are hung decoratively about the temple) brings guard reinforcements

running from the nearby Tower of the Rising Moon and even

summons the Watchmen of Highmoon up from their barracks

down the hill.

Infiltrating the Leaves of Learning is particularly troublesome

given the closeness of the small-knit community. One approach

might be to join the Watchmen of Highmoon and hope to be

assigned to the Tower Guard, a process that could take months. Even

then, it might not succeed, for senior members of the Tower Guard

claim most rotations at the Leaves of Learning. Another approach

might be to masquerade as an elf of the Semberholme region. Sometimes

the Fair Folk slip out of the nearby woods late at night,

uncomfortable at the thought of entering Highmoon during the

hustle and bustle of daytime activity, and make a midnight knock

on the door of the temple. Because of such cultural differences,

Danali has instructed the clergy to admit the Fair Folk at all hours.

This gives rise to the possibility that a sleepy guard might forget to

request an oath to the Binder from the midnight visitor or nod off

instead of supervising the visit appropriately. The dream of many a

would-be thief is to sneak into the dungeons beneath the Tower of

the Rising Moon and make their way up into the temple via a long-forgotten

tunnel. However, if any such tunnel exists, it has never

been found.

Here is a sampling of titles found within the Tower of Tomes: