Hunt monsters and you’ll unlock bonus in-game rewards during this year’s Witches Festival in-game event!
Witches Festival Returns!
Tamriel’s horrors are in for a scare with the return of the Witches Festival event, running from 10AM EDT on Thursday, October 23, until 10AM EST on Wednesday, November 5. Throughout this haunted holiday, you can claim cursed compensations (rewards), including Plunder Skulls, XP boosts, Event Tickets, and more! During the event, you will enjoy a passive 100% boost to XP gain across Tamriel. The Witchmother’s Whistle, the source of this bonus in years past, is no longer needed to benefit from the event’s additional XP, but the item itself (and the skeletal transformation it provides) is still available. To collect the whistle and enjoy a ladle or two of delectable hag’s brew, simply follow the steps listed below:
- Open the Crown Store and acquire the free quest “The Witchmother's Bargain.”
- You can also pick up this quest by speaking with the Crow Caller, who you’ll find outside of each Olyve's Brewery in Stonefalls, Glenumbra, or Auridon.
[*]Complete the introductory quest to receive the Witchmother's Whistle tool.
- You won’t need to acquire the Witchmother’s Whistle if you finished the quest in a previous year’s event.
[*]Blow the whistle to summon the “Witchmother's Cauldron,” from which you can drink to polymorph yourself into a spooky scary skeleton.[/*]
- You cannot summon the Cauldron in Cyrodiil.[/*]
Brew up some spooky fun this October!
Plunder Your Fears
During the Witches Festival, whenever you slay a boss monster, you’ll receive a Plunder Skull container alongside your usual spoils. Crack open one of these reward containers and you’ll have the chance to receive the following items:
- A chance for one of the following:[/*][list]
- Alchemy reagents[/*]
- A festival-themed furnishing recipe[/*]
- A festival-themed provisioning recipe[/*]
- A complete festival-themed furnishing[/*]
- A festival-themed sellable treasure[/*]
- A Hollowjack style item[/*]
- A Dremora style item[/*]
In addition, when you defeat a unique boss type for the first time each day, you’ll be rewarded with a special Dremora Plunder Skull instead, which offers the chance at one of the following in addition to above items:
- A Witches Festival Writ[/*]
- A Glenmoril Treasure Map[/*]
- A Glenmoril armor outfit style page[/*]
- A Crowborne Hunter outfit style page[/*]
- NEW Hagmatron’s face marking runebox[/*]
- NEW Hagmatron’s body marking runebox [/*]
- NEW tradeable style page for the Wickerchain Soul outfit style[/*]
Both variations of Plunder Skulls will drop from arena bosses, incursion bosses (such as those from Dark Anchors, Harrowstorms, Volcanic Vents, etc.), delve bosses, final dungeon bosses, Trial bosses, public dungeon bosses, world bosses, and Tho’at Replicanum in the Infinite Archive.
Lay claim to various accursed treasures!
Bonus Bosses
Additional prizes await any stalwart warrior brave enough to confront Tamriel’s most dreaded monstrosities, the Crownborne Horrow and Lord Hollowjack.
The first nightmarish challenge, the Crowborne Horror, requires that you pick up the daily quest “Plucking the Crow” by speaking with Witchmother Taerma, located inside Olyve’s Brewery and at every Impresario tent found throughout Tamriel.
The first time you slay the Crowborne Horror and turn in the quest each day, you will receive a special Dremora Plunder Skull. This Plunder Skull has a very small chance to contain a super rare assortment of tradeable Witches Festival goodies in place of the regular Dremora Plunder Skull contents, including:
- The FULL style book for the Dremora motif[/*]
- A folio of ALL Glenmoril Treasure Maps[/*]
- Runebox: Hagmatron’s face marking[/*]
- Runebox: Hagmatron’s body marking[/*]
- All of the Wickerchain Soul outfit style pages[/*]
Terrifying though the Crowborne Horror may be, that monstrosity pales in comparison to the true lord of horror, Lord Hollowjack! Dethrone the master of the macabre by acquiring the daily quest to challenge him from Priest Maxien, located inside Olyve’s Brewery. After you’ve completed this quest at least once on a given character, you can take it again on subsequent days and skip straight to the confrontation with Hollowjack.
Fell Lord Hollowjack
Should you claim victory and complete the daily quest, you’ll be rewarded each day with a special Dremora Plunder Skull unique to Lord Hollowjack. Within this haunted container you may discover a rare jackpot similar to that from the Crowborne Horror. However, it also grants a unique achievement and trophy furnishing. You can sometimes acquire a matching collectible bust furnishing by looting Lord Hollowjack, too—good hunting!
Impresario & Event Tickets
During this year’s Witches Festival event, you can collect two Event Tickets from the first boss you defeat each day. This means you can earn up to 28 tickets by the end, but remember that you can hold only up to 12 Event Tickets at a time. Don’t let those tickets ghost you!
For this event, the Impresario will stock the following items:
- All three Stonewisp of Truth and Law pet fragments [/*][list]
- Axiomatic Runestones[/*]
- Glyph of Law[/*]
- Powdered Wisp Remains[/*]
- Diminutive Runed Archway[/*]
- Heavy Philosophical Tomes[/*]
- Webs, Cone furnishing [/*]
- Hollowjack Lantern, Ouroboros furnishing [/*]
- Specimen Jar, Spare Brain furnishing [/*]
- Ruby Candlefly Gathering furnishing [/*]
- Vampiric Lamp, Azure Tall furnishing [/*]
- Vampiric Lightpost, Azure single furnishing [/*]
- Vampiric Container, Yellow Liquid furnishing [/*]
- This is purchasable only if you haven’t yet collected all the items contained within[/*]
The 2025 Witches Festival will also be your first chance to start collecting fragments for the final event morphing collectible of 2025, the Wildgrown Chapel of Julianos house!
Wildgrown Chapel of Julianos house
Additionally, the Impresario’s colleague, Nenulaure the Indrik Vendor, has the following items available for purchase using Event Tickets:
- Nascent Indrik Feathers[/*]
- Pure Snow Indrik Berries[/*]
- Crimson Indrik Berries[/*]
- Frost-Light Indrik Pet[/*]
- Rosethorn Indrik Pet[/*]
Lastly, the Impresario’s Assistant is offering the following, which you can acquire with Event Tickets:
- All three Unstable Morpholith fragments[/*][list]
- Deadlands Flint[/*]
- Rune-Etched Striker[/*]
- Smoldering Bloodgrass Tinder[/*]
- Smoke-Wreathed Gryphon Feather[/*]
- Black Iron Bit and Bridle[/*]
- Black Iron Stirrups[/*]
- Hallowed Hourglass Basin[/*]
- Illuminated Dragon Scroll[/*]
- Kvatchian Incense[/*]
- Blessed Rubedite Enamel[/*]
- Captured Dragonflame[/*]
- Sanctified Metalworking Tools[/*]
- Bolt of Indigo Cotton[/*]
- Bolt of Silver Silk[/*]
- Enchanted Sewing Kit[/*]
Menace Monsters
The spoopy season has truly begun as monsters stalk the people of Tamriel. Are you ready to hunt the haunters during the Witches Festival in-game event? Are you excited to put Lord Hollowjack to rest and unlock spooky rewards? Let us know via Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook.
The 2025 Witches Festival in-game event begins Thursday, October 23 at 10AM EDT, and runs until Wednesday, November 5 at 10AM EST.
