With the start of a new month, you retrieve your thick cloak from your closet as the cooler weather settles upon Stitchwind. You smile to yourself as you leave your guild and see the city amidst another new festival.
The greens of the Agility Guild had been replaced with the rich crimsons of the Melee Guild. What had been the archery range now holds a jousting competition. The ground rumbles as the powerful horses race their way by. You watch in awe for a few moments before continuing on your way.
You see the merchants had changed their wares to reflect the change in festivals. The sounds of the blacksmiths hard at work ring out over the crowds gathered for the festival. The finest supplies lay out for the crowds to view. Exquisite sets of needles and seam rippers shine in the autumn sun. A set of beautifully crafted scissors catch your eye and you can’t help but add it to your collection. Happy with your purchase, you continue along your way.
You pass by a number of Paladins discussing theology. One enthusiastic Dragonborn stands on the corner, passing out pamphlets. Not wishing to tamper his eagerness, you take a leaflet and go about your way.
It is quickly forgotten as you stop and watch master Monks performing amazing feats of martial arts. You enjoy the presentation before carrying on down the thoroughfare.
Finally, you make your way to where the Magic and Agility guilds had their main event and find it full of activity. You smile to yourself as you enter the area, wondering how your prior research was going to come into play.
You see others already hard at work at different pieces, but you manage to find yourself a spot. As you begin to take your supplies from your pack, you take a good look around. You find that it’s even busier now than it had been at the previous festivals. You spot one of the Melee Guild Leaders at a table set in front of the group, busy looking over some papers. You also see the other Guild Leaders making their way through the rows of people. Every now and then one would stop and talk to someone before sending them forward to the table before disappearing into the building behind the Melee Leader.
You are so absorbed in watching, you don’t realize someone is standing before your work area. You jump a bit. Before you stands a horned being with blue skin. She gives you a pointy toothed smile.
‘Hello,’ she says. ‘I’m Alannah. You’re here to test your skills?’ You nod and she continues. ‘Excellent. You may start when you’re ready and one of us will be around to check on your work.’
You watch as she continues along her way, stopping by a few other stitchers. You set to work on your specialty stitches that you had researched.
After a while, Alannah stops beside your work area again. You nervously glance up, but her eyes study your stitching. She nods to herself then meets your eyes and smiles. ‘Very nice work,’ she says. ‘You’ll do nicely.’
‘For what?’ You ask.
‘Head up to Aenyx and I’ll tell you,’ she says and starts to walk away.
You look around and see a number of others being directed to Aenyx by some of the other Guild leaders. You stand and follow the rest, wondering what was in store for all of them.
You wait in line for a few moments before stepping up to the table. Aenyx looks at you and gives you a pleasant smile. ‘Name?’ She asks and you give it. She looks through her lists. ‘Ah, here you are.’ She marks something down. ‘You can head on in.’ She nods to the building behind her.
You nod and follow the others into the building.
Prev Story next(in town), next(out of town)
Your Quest
This Quest celebrates the Melee guild by buckling down and trying things we might consider daunting!
Like those stubborn warriors we will persevere and celebrate our attempts.
Your goal this month is to try your hand at some specialty stitches. You can either do a complete cross stitch design that incorporates some specialty stitches, or just do some test specialty stitches on a scrap of aida.
Whether you're trying out a few different ways to do french knots, or you're tackling an advanced stitch style like hardanger. Overcome your fear and give it a try.
Resources
You can pick a pattern, or simply do some specialty stitches on a scrap of fabric.
Check out the side quest Specialty Study to see a list of the tutorials and patterns others have collected.
There's also a listing on my website of Advanced Stitches if you're having trouble thinking of one you haven't tried yet.
Turn In
All done? Reply here with a photo of what you stitched and what you thought about your chosen specialty stitch.
If you stitched a pattern, be sure to include a link to where others can get that pattern too!
If you did this quest back in November 2020 on the discord feel free to re-submit the piece you did then, stitch a new one, or both!
Reward
- MQ_NS_SpecialtyPractice.png (3.12 KiB) Viewed 3970 times
