Tamriel’s most ghoulish gala returns! Put monsters to the sword to receive ghastly goodies and double XP during the Witches Festival in-game event!
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Making the Most of Event
- Pick up the daily quest titled Plucking the Crow from Witchmother Taerma, who is within Olyve’s Brewery AND at every Impresario tent in Tamriel.
- Her daily quest charges you with collecting 50 Cursed Feathers, found within Plunder Skull containers.
- Tip: Save around 6 purple plunder skulls to obtain feathers on future days. (thanks: RatherDashing)
- Double-dip on while collecting your Dremor Skulls each day by doing an associated daily for a boss of each type. DLC’s have Delve, World Boss, and Insurgency / Event Dailies. There are also base game dailies for Delves, Public Dungeons, and Dolmens
- Maximize your Double Experience
- Unlock your double experience by using the Witch Mother’s Whistle
- Complete the quest (see Walkthrough)
- Use the cauldron to turn in to a skeleton if you want to look like a skeleton.
- Double Experience is automatically applied during the event.
- Unlock the insane experience in a box by completing your crafting writs during event
- Sealed writs
- Witch festival writs
- New Life Festival writs (if you have any left)
- Unlock your double experience by using the Witch Mother’s Whistle
- Speed up completion of all seven Dremora skulls each day by parking alternate characters at each of the locations.
- Delves
- Find a delve with few campers. Ideally, a delve used in a daily quest. The usual delve boss timer is 5 minutes but will spawn when a daily quester appears in the room: will likely only get gold off mobs. Skulls can also be found on any named, Dolmens, World Bosses, etc..You can gather skulls in Cyrodiil but you have leave Cyrodiil to activate the buff.
- Delves
- Public Dungeons
- Remote locations are often less crowdedBest locations for farming plunder skulls are public dungeons with multiple nameds in same room. They spawn every 5 minutes.Easiest way to get this dremora skull at Dark fissures / “mini dolmens” / insurgent daedra spawns. These are spawns in more remote locations where waves of 3 daedra spawn. These are on a 5 minute timer.
- The World Bosses in the starter zones (Stonefalls, Glenumbra, and Auridon) tend to be easier
- Most dolmens will be popular during the event as players use them to level lower level players and farm jewelry.Obtaining a Dremora skull may be problematic as you will need to hit the boss at the end. They spawn just left of the dolmen stairs.
- Group Dungeons
- Best option is to double-dip. Grab the three pledges from the Undaunted and queue up in the group finder (normal for a faster run).
- If you are leveling a lower character, grab the pledges and then queue for a random dungeon daily. You may get lucky and get one of the daily pledges and the bonus experience the first time you do a random dungeon.
- Trials
- If you are not in a trial guild, Craglorn zone chat is a good place to find a Trial Pick Up Group (PUG)
- Arena
- If you are comfortable with your character build, you can complete Maelstrom Arena on average about 40 minutes.
- If you have some good DPS friends, normal Blackrose Prison or Dragonstar Arena could be an option.
- Public Dungeons
Walk-through
Tip: If you obtained the Crow Caller and completed the event quest previously, you do not need to do the quest or obtain the crow caller again.
- Open the crown store and obtain your free Crow Caller found in the Holiday section.
- Use the Crow Caller to summon Witchmother Olyve to begin The Witchmother’s Bargain quest.
- Collect Pumpkin
- Available from Grocer for 150g
- Found laying around
Tip: There is a spawn outside Bad Man Hollow’s Public Dungeon Entrance that is very close to Daggerfall. Also, there’s a pumpkin spawn behind the luxury vendor in Hollow City. Some are also found in the Faction base camps in Cyrodiil. - Found in some food containers
- Collect Some Guts
- Small animals like squirrels, foxes, guar, chickens, snakes, frogs, etc.
- Collect an Essence of Death
- Named in any Delve
- Find the Witchmother Olyve in her brewery.
Pull up the quest and bring up your map to see location.- Aldmeri Dominion
Go to Auridon’s Greenwater Wayshrine (Southwest of Firsthold) in Northwest Auridon. The brewery is a short distance to the the northwest of the wayshrine. - Daggerfall Covenant
Go to Glenumbra’s Crosswych Wayshrine (northern Glenumbra) and head West. The brewery is just northeast of Cath Bedraud and east of Par Molag crafting centre. - Ebonheart Pact
Go to Stonefalls by the southern dolmen. Fastest way is to travel to the Serk Quarantine Wayshrine in north Deshaan and travel North and East.
- Aldmeri Dominion
- Complete the quest to obtain your Witchmother’s Whistle.
- Collect Pumpkin
- Use the whistle to summon the “Witchmother’s Cauldron,” which grants you and your party a two-hour 100% XP buff that stacks with all other XP bonuses.
Witches Festival Writs
The writs will ask for Witch Festival recipes or Alchemy poisons or potions. You can premake all the items needed before accepting the writs to speed up the process. You turn the completed writs into one of the daily crafting writ turn-in locations at either the Provisioning or Alchemy box depending of the writ requested. Also, my max crafter obtained 6.5k Inspiration, usual masterwrit experience, and received 1 – 20 master crafter vouchers.
Sample Witches Writs Items
- Bewitched Sugar Skulls
- Crunchy Spider Skewer – 1 Voucher
- Crisp and Crunchy Pumpkin Snack Skewer
- Frosted Brains – 1 Voucher
- Ghastly Eye Bowl – 1 Voucher
- Pack Leader’s Bone Broth – 20 Vouchers
- “Peeled Eyeballs” – 1 Voucher
- Purifying Bloody Mara – 20 Vouchers
- Sweet Sangine Apples – 1 Voucher
- Witchmother’s Potent Brew
- Witchmother’s Party Punch
- Essence of Ravage Health (Ravage Health, Invisible, Defile) – 1 Voucher
- Damage Health Poison (Ravage Health, Invisible, Defile) – 1 Voucher
Recipes
- Recipe: Sweet Sanguine Apples (Green)
- Recipe: Crisp and Crunchy Pumpkin Snack Skewer (Blue)
- Recipe: Crunchy Spider Skewer (Blue)
- Recipe: Ghastly Eye-Bowl (Blue)
- Recipe: Bowl of “Peeled Eyeballs” (Blue)
- Recipe: Frosted Brains (Blue)
- Recipe: Witchmother’s Potent Brew (Purple)
- Recipe: Witchmother’s Party Punch (Purple)
- Recipe: Bewitched Sugar Skulls (Gold)
- Recipe: Purifying Bloody Mara (Gold)
- Recipe: Double Bloody Mara Recipe (Gold)
- Recipe: Pack Leader’s Bone Broth
Furniture Recipes
- Blueprint: Coffin, Lid
- Blueprint: Gibbet, Single
- Blueprint: Stockade
- Blueprint: Witches Brazier, Primitive Log
- Blueprint: Witches Totem, Antler Charms
- Design: Argonian Totem of Skulls
- Design: Pumpkin, Display
- Design: Common Bowl of Stew, Display
- Diagram: Cleaver, Butcher’s
- Diagram: Common Cage, Hunting
- Design: Pumpkin, Display
- Design: Sugar Pumpkin, Wax
- Design: Wood Elf Bone Chimes
- Diagram: Cage, Covered
- Diagram: Cleaver, Butcher’s
- Diagram: Common Cage, Hunting
- Diagram: Common Cleaver, Cooking
- Diagram: Common Trap, Hunting
- Diagram: Vampiric Candlestick
- Formula: Vampiric Alchemy Rack,Tubes
- Formula: Vampiric Lab Jar, Large
- Formula: Vampiric Lab Jar, Red
- Pattern: Common Pack, Backpack
- Pattern: Witches Corpse, Wrapped
- Praxis: Hagraven Cauldron, Rough Stone
- Praxis: Hagraven Cauldron, Ritual
- Praxis: Vampiric Sconce, Azure
- Praxis: Vampiric Lamp, Azure Triple
Note: There was a scandal over the Cauldron recipe where it looked like the Wood Elf Cauldron. To be fixed.
Furnishings

- Animal Bones, Fresh
- Animal Bones, Gnawed
- Animal Bones, Jumbled
- Apocrypha Inkwell
- Apocrypha Ink Bottle, Black
- Apocrypha Ink Bottle, Green
- Apocrypha Ink Jar, Green
- Apocrypha Ink Jar, Black
- Apocrypha Ink Pestle, Black
- Apocrypha Ink Pestle, Green
- Apocrypha Ink Vat, Small
- Apocrypha Ink Vat, Black
- Apocrypha Ink Vat, Green
- Apocrypha Specimen Jar, Abyssal Eel
- Apocrypha Specimen Jar, Brains
- Apocrypha Specimen Jar, Centipede
- Apocrypha Specimen Jar, Eyes
- Apocrypha Specimen Jar, Leech
- Apocrypha Specimen Jar, Nascent Creative
- Apocrypha Specimen Jar, Scorpion
- Apocrypha Specimen Jar, Spider
- Apocrypha Specimen Jar, Tomeshell Viscera
- Bear Skeleton, Picked Clean
- Bear Skull, Fresh
- Block and Axe, Chopping
- Branch, Curved Burnt
- Branch, Curved Laurel
- Branch, Forked Burnt
- Branch, Forked Laurel
- Branch, Sturdy Burnt
- Branch, Sturdy Laurel
- Crop, Wheat Pile
- Crop, Wheat Stack
- Gravestone, Small Broken
- Gravestone, Broken
- Hagraven Cauldron, Ritual
- Mushroom, Emerging Stinkhorn
- Mushroom, Large Puspocket
- Mushroom, Lavaburst Bud
- Mushroom, Poison Pax Shelf
- Mushroom, Poison Pax Stool
- Mushroom, Puspocket Sporecap
- Mushroom, Puspocket Group
- Mushrooms, Large Puspocket Cluster
- Primal Brazier, Rock Slab
- Pumpkin, Frail
- Pumpkin, Sickly
- Ruby Candlefly Gathering
- Saplings, Burnt Cluster
- Saplings, Burn Sparse
- Saplings, Burn Tall
- Shrub, Burnt Brush
- Specimen Jar, Spare Brain
- Toadstool, Bloodtooth Cluster
- Tool, Harvest Scythe
- Vampiric Container, Congealed Liquid
- Vampiric Container, Yellow Liquid
- Vampric Flask Stand, Double
- Vampiric Lamp, Azure Tall
- Vampiric Lightpost, Azure Single
- Vampiric Lightpost, Azure Double
- Webs, Cone
- Witches Bones, Offering
- Witches Brazier, Primitive Log
- Witches Remains, Hagraven
- Witches Skull, Horned Ram
- Witches Totem, Bone Charms
- Witches Totem, Emphatic Warning
- Witches Totem, Gnarled Vines and Skull
- Witches Totem, Twisted Vines and Skull
- Witches Totem, Wooden Rack
Bewitching Alchemy Reagents
- Blue Entoloma (5)
- Beetle Scuttle (5)
- Crawlers (3- 6)
- Fleshfly Larva (5)
- Guts (3 – 6)
- Imp Stool (3 – 5)
- Insect Parts (3 – 5)
- Namira’s Rot (5)
- Nightshade (5)
- Nirnroot (5)
- Spider Eggs (5)
- Stinkhorn (5)
- Worms (4)
Treasure Items
- “Barbas” Dog Collar
- Ashes of Lamae Beolfaf
- Anesthestizer Coil
- Black Mage’s Spellbook
- Blood of St. Pelin
- Blood-Curse Talisman
- Charm of Ill Omens
- Coral Stain-Scrubber
- Crimson Kerchief
- Crimson Rose Walking Stick
- Crystal Leech Jar
- Driftwood Idol
- Giant’s Lucky Thumb
- Goldtips Bronzer
- Horrible Mummified Banekin
- Ivory Teeth
- Jeweled Bloodletter
- Matikora Teeth
- Mummified Hand
- Mummified Monkey Paw
- Nocturnal Weeping Stone
- Plush Hagraven Doll
- Red Squirrel Paw
- Self-Chewing Teeth.
- Skull of a Slave
- Spool of Daedric Thread
Retired
Note:
Now, these items are only available from Witches’ Grab Bags purchased from the Impresario.
Runeboxes
- Face-Eating Tome
- Pumpkin Spectre Mask
- Scarecrow Spectre Mask
- Hollowjack Spectre Mask
- Thicketman Spectre Mask
- Marshmallow Toasty Treat emote
- Bonfire Memento
Apple-Bobbing Cauldron (Fragments)
- Apple-Bobbing Aged Fetid Fish
- Apple-Bobbing Cold Iron Cauldron
- Apple-Bobbing Fenwood Ladle
- Apple-Bobbing Fresh Fall Gorapples
- Apple-Bobbing Poise Guide
- Apple-Bobbing Stale Creek Water
- Apple-Bobbing Viscous Slime
Outfit Styles
- Dremora Style pages
- Glenmoril Weapon Style pages
- Obtained by Glenmoril Treasure Maps
- Glenmoril Armor Outfit Style pages
- Grave Dancer Weapon Style pages
- Hollowjack Motif
- Witchmother’s Servant Style page
Achievements
Tip: The Exorcised Coven Cottage will be available for purchase with crowns in the in-game Crown Store for the duration of the event, and if you earn the Witches Festival achievement “An Unsparing Harvest" you'll unlock the ability to acquire this bewitching home for in-game gold!
- Sacking Skeletons
Kill 100 Skeletons while under the effects of the Witchmother’s Brew - Cauldron Conjurer
Use the Witchmother’s Whistle 10 times. - Gruesome Feast
- Consume all 9 of the recipes listed below.
- An Unsparing Harvest
- Complete Pumpkin Pairs Well With Guts, Plunder Skull Fanatic, Reaper’s Harvest, Happy Work for Hollowjack
- Title: Sun’s Dusk Reaper
- Plunder Skull Fanatic (15pts)
- 1, 5, 100 Plunder Skulls
- Happy Work for Hollowjack
- Hollowjack Style for Axes
- Hollowjack Style for Belt
- Hollowjack Style for Boots
- Hollowjack Style for Bows
- Hollowjack Style for Chests
- Hollowjack Style for Chests
- Hollowjack Style for Daggers
- Hollowjack Style for Gloves
- Hollowjack Style for Helmets
- Hollowjack Style for Legs
- Hollowjack Style for Maces
- Hollowjack Style for Shields
- Hollowjack Style for Shoulders
- Hollowjack Style for Staves
- Hollowjack Style for Swords
- Pumpkin Pairs Well With Guts
Drink the Witchmother’s Brew during the Witches Festival - Reaper’s Harvest
Complete the Witchmother’s Bargain quest. - Bare Bones Puppet
Consume 10 skeletal Marionette Parts.
Momento: Skeletal Marionette - Wicked Writ Initiate
Complete Witches Festival Writs
Hat: Witch’s Infernal Hat (13 Writs Completed)
Title: Witch (28 Writs Completed) - Gruesome Snack
- Disastrously Bloody Mara
- Pack Leader’s Bone Broth
- Bewitched Sugar Skulls
- The Plundered Masses
- Dremora Plunder Skull, Arena
- Dremora Plunder Skull, Insurgent (Dolmens)
- Dremora Plunder Skull, Delve
- Dremora Plunder Skull, Dungeon
- Dremora Plunder Skull, Pulbic & Sweeper
- Dremora Plunder Skull, Trial
- Dremora Plunder Skull, World
- Plunder Skull
- Dremora Style Master
Pictures? https://eso.mmo-fashion.com/hollowjack/
Impresario
During the event, The Impresario will sell various items including fragments for the current quarter’s special event fragments and fragments for the base item to morph to the quarter item..
It is a good idea if you are interested in the special item to grab it’s fragments first. Unless it is the last quarter of the year, you will have other opportunities to obtain tickets for the base item fragments.
Generally, all items sold for 5 or less tickets, can be obtained from the event reward boxes.
What are Grab Bags?
These curious containers have a chance to contain a collectible from a previous Witches Festival event. When you open a Grab Bag, it will only ever contain items you don’t already own or know, and once you’ve acquired every possible item within them, they’ll no longer be available for purchase. Be sure to open each bag and remove its items as soon as you acquire it (to avoid duplicate items from subsequent bags).
If you have acquired every collectible but still have Grab Bags to open, they’ll contain Group Repair Kits instead—useful! For this event, a Grab Bag can contain Hollowjack Motif pages, the Skeletal Marionette memento, Apple-bobbing Cauldron fragments, and the Spectre Mask collectibles.
Related
- Official Announcement, ElderScrollsOnline.com (2021)
References:
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