Another heat wave came across Stitchwind, and to escape from the heat, you have spent your day stitching in the cool of your room. By now, evening has fallen and you decide to get out and stretch your legs now that the heat of the day has broken.
You leave your room and notice a group of guild mates gathered in the entrance hall. A sense of excitement fills the room and your curiosity brings you to them.
‘Why is everyone gathered?’ you ask.
‘We’re going to the Festival together,’ replies a guild mate, the eagerness clear on her face.
‘Festival? What festival?’ you ask.
‘Why the Magic Festival of course!’ she says. She takes your hand and brings you along to this festival along with the others.
As if by magic, the entire city was completely decorated overnight.
Banners that you remember hang everywhere about the city. Every banner in sight carries the crest of the Magic Guild. Colorful fairy lights float above the crowds, lighting up the streets below. All around, you see merchants selling mystic wares, from small trinkets enchanted to never lose a needle to alluring threads perfect for intricate spellwork. Senior members of the Magic Guild also line the main streets, showing off amazing feats of magical skill.
You make your way through the crowds, simply amazed by everything you see. You can’t help but make a few purchases here and there, how could you pass up on needles enchanted to never tangle thread?
With your parcels tucked under your arm, you continue down the thoroughfare. You soon find yourself at a long table with a number of people gathered around. The table was filled with a delicious array of baked goods, each one looking more tempting than the last. Between the pastries moved little golems made of...cake? Catching your look of awe, the warlock at the end of the table chuckles.
‘Impressive, aren’t they?’ She asks, her green eyes glimmering. ‘They are my little helpers around my bakery, but for the festival, they are great little workers.’
You stammer a thanks to one of the golems as they pass pastry into your hands, along with a flyer talking about magic lessons. You glance over the leaflet.
The warlock watches you read over the flyer. ‘Interested in a magic lesson?’ she asks.
‘Oh...I don’t know…’ you stammer. ‘I can’t-’
‘Can’t? No such thing,’ says the warlock, taking your hand and leading into the area set aside for the lessons. ‘Everyone can do magic, not just the Magic Guild. Besides, you’ll have an amazing teacher.’ She smiles at you and sets you in one of the seats.
You look around at the others gathered, surprised to see a mix of all the guilds there for the lesson. Some look skeptical, but many more look enthusiastic to learn.
It isn’t long before the other Magic Guild leader steps before everyone and she smiles at everyone gathered. ‘Good evening,’ she says. ‘My name is Sirithre, but you can call me Siri. Tonight I will be teaching you the magic of blackwork.’
With a wave of her hand, materials appear before everyone. You look at what appears before you and are shocked to see the exact materials needed for a blackwork pattern you had found.
Siri smiles at the looks of awe on everyone’s face. ‘Oh, the marvels of magic, isn’t it wonderful?’ She says and starts her lesson on blackwork.
Prev Story next
Your Quest
The Magic festival is in full swing, and surprisingly you're prepared!
Having spent the last few weeks looking up blackwork designs with your guildmates for the Blackwork Research side quest, you should have plenty of designs to choose from now. Pick a blackwork design that calls to you and get to stitching!
Whether you choose one turned in by someone, or find a new pattern entirely is up to you. It doesn't matter if you finish the design or get bored of it half way, your quest is simply to give blackwork a try.
Though it's called blackwork, it doesn't have to be black! Get creative and try out some variegated threads or mix up colors if you feel so inspired!
While some may put mindfulness or magical intention into their blackwork this month, it is by no means required.
The only requirement is the curiosity and willingness to try new things. :)
Resources
You can pick whatever blackwork pattern you like. But here's a few places to get you started:
Check out the Blackwork Research side quest to see a list of some of the blackwork patterns other guild members found!
Blackwork Journey has a number of free designs available.
String-Or-Nothing Has several PDFs of Blackwork filling patterns.
Tor Rhuann has a few smalls that might be to your liking.
Kitty And Me Designs has both free and paid blackwork designs
Peppermint Purple has some freebies. Plus their current SAL is typically available for free if you are willing to join their Facebook group.
Turn In
All done? Reply here with photo of your finished piece, and a sentence or two about your experience. If possible, please include a direct link to the pattern you used.
If you did this quest back in September 2020 on the discord feel free to re-submit the piece you did then, stitch a new one, or both!
Reward
- MQ_NS_BewitchingBlackwork.png (1.5 KiB) Viewed 5535 times
i love blackwork so much already