Research:Barbed quill
From Discworld MUD Wiki
faith.items.scroll of 194 is not sufficient, in Pteri's experience, to ever successfully hold the quill (out of dozens of tries with full GP, no negative stat modifiers, etc). This was with a crafts.arts.calligraphy bonus of 186 too.
fai.it.scr 194 and cr.art.cal 188 worked for me, so other skill.