Bounty of the Goddess (Voonlar)

The Bounty of the Goddess was a temple and garden complex dedicated to Chauntea in Voonlar.

Location
Voonlar was a trading town and farming community located in the southwest corner of the Moonsea region of north Faerûn. The temple itself stood at the intersection of the North Ride and Shind Road in the center of Voonlar.

Description
The temple and extensive gardens were surrounded by walls and took up about a third of the town proper. The gates were circular in design and made of thick iron bars overgrown with flowering vines and moss. The frame around the gates bore a design of sheaves of wheat.

The main temple was a beautiful edifice with multiple slender bell towers. The grounds of the compound were a maze of flagstone paths that passed by lush flower beds and blooming shrubbery interspersed with pools and trellis-covered benches. These bowers could be lit at night with dancing lights. There were also three guesthouses and several greenhouses all connected by tunnels used for heating and irrigation pipes.

Activities
The Bounty generated some revenue by selling quince and persimmons, herbs and spices, seeds, and herbal elixirs that had various healing properties. They kept a small supply of healing potions but sold these discretely, unlike the Lathanderites of the House of Holy Light who made it a lucrative business. There was also a small brewery run by one of the Trueseeds, but it is unknown if the barley bear was sold or given away as gifts or favors.

Adventurers on the run from local law enforcement, the Zhentarim, or the Cyricists from the Dark God Reformed could sometimes find shelter in the guesthouses and extensive tunnel system in the gardens of the compound.

Defenses
The guards of the temple were mainly farmers and drovers that could be called upon to don leather and chainmail armor and defend the Bounty of the Goddess, typically against acts of vandalism, thievery, and arson by the local Cyricists. The guards had training in broadsword, dagger, and mace.

History

 * When the walls around the Bounty of the Goddess lands were first constructed, there was strong opposition from Bron Buorstag Hlammythyl, the elected sheriff of Voonlar. He later completely reversed his stance and became a supporter of the project.

Rumors and legends

 * It was speculated that the Bron's sudden change of heart about building a wall around the temple was precipitated by a suggestion from someone in a superior position within the Zhentarim who felt that the wall would make it easier to contain and observe the Chaunteans and their visitors.
 * It was said that the iron bars underlying the flowery wooded gates to the Bounty of the Goddess compound were of ancient dwarven craftsmanship.