Online:Witches Festival

The Witchmother|thumb|right
The Witches Festival is a holiday event that typically takes place in the month of October. During this event players can obtain a skeletal polymorph, a 100% XP buff and the opportunity to acquire a collection of Witches Festival-themed items. The festival also has a special quest associated with it, named The Witchmother's Bargain, which repeats every year. A notable feature of the event is the inclusion of Plunder Skulls. Plunder Skulls are special reward containers that grant players various event-themed items. 

Starting in 2021, the quest Plucking the Crow can also be completed each day of the event and involves battling an event-specific group boss, the Crowborne Horror.

 

Witchmother's Cauldron
thumb|right|Witchmother's Brew
After completing The Witchmother's Bargain, the Witchmother's Whistle memento is gained. The whistle can be used repeatedly during the event 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. Drinking from the Witchmother's Cauldron will transform your character into a skeleton for the duration of the buff. After the end of the event, the memento will no longer grant the XP buff or the skeleton transformation.  

The whistle can be used by all characters on your account (including characters who have not completed The Witchmother's Bargain) since Mementos are account-wide, despite the fact that the quest itself is separate for each character.
 

Plunder Skulls
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:This bucket contains items that many witches and warlocks would find of interest.
  contains up to 5 samples of Witches Festival Provisioning ingredients and 1-3 samples of Amber Marble. They can also contain unique recipes, Hollowjack motif pages, or rare hats. All of these items can be traded with other players, including the collectible hats. The Provisioning items available include Guts, Worms, Crawlers, and Spider Eggs.

Availability
Plunder Skulls can be earned from the following:

Bosses in Delves, Group Delves, Public Dungeons (including Group Event bosses), Group Dungeons, Trials, Overland and Arenas
Dark Fissures
Dolmens

Dremora Plunder Skulls
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:This Dremora-skull bucket contains some of the secrets of the Dremora Crafting Motif, as well as items of sinister interest to witches and warlocks. It can be earned only once a day.
  are special containers were introduced in the 2018 Witches Festival and continued in 2019. There are seven different types that can be obtained from various bosses. Each skull is guaranteed to contain a chapter from    book. Dremora Plunder Skulls of each type can be earned only once per day per account. See below for a full list.



Witches Grab Bags
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Beginning in 2020, the Impresario offers the   for 2 Event Tickets each. These bags contain plunder skull items from years past that are no longer available. If you have all items from years' past that are available in the bags, you will be awarded Group Repair Kits. The available loot is:

Apple-Bobbing Fresh Gorapples
Runebox: Hollowjack Spectre Mask
Runebox: Pumpkin Spectre Mask
Runebox: Scarecrow Spectre Mask
Runebox: Thicketman Spectre Mask
Skeletal Marionette Parts
Any page of the Hollowjack Crafting Motif

Witches Festival 2021
thumb|right|Witches Festival 2021
:Unlock unique collectibles and goodies by slaying Tamriel’s monsters during the Witches Festival in-game event!
The Witches Festival begins October 21 at at 10:00AM EDT, and will run until November 2 at 10:00AM EST. During this event you can earn rewards from Plunder Skulls which include new emotes and mementos. It is similar to last years event, but with an important exception — the Witchmothers have been gathering in greater numbers and Witchmother Taerma will ask for your assistance in pushing back the incursions of the horrific Crowborne Horror. A boss that will require a group to beat, but first you need to reach it by completing the new event daily quest—Plucking the Crow.

Two event tickets can be earned daily from looting the body of the first monster you kill that drops plunder skulls. The Impresario will have the first two fragments of the new player house, Doomchar Plateau. In addition to this she will have a selection of furnishings available as well as this years collectible items.

Reaper's Harvest Crown Crates were brought back to the Crown Store for the first time since 2017 for the duration of this event. This marked the first time the Radiant Apex mounts from that season could be purchased with Crown Gems, and was also the first time the contents of the crates could be purchased using Seals of Endeavor.

Witches Festival 2020
thumb|right|Witches Festival 2020
:"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!"

The Witches Festival 2020 begins October 22 at 10:00AM EDT, and will run until November 3 at 10:00AM EST. Throughout this terror-filled term, you can receive repulsive rewards in the form of spooky Plunder Skull containers, a 100% XP boost, Event Tickets, and collectibles. This event is similar to the previous year, but with the addition of a new style and memento.

The 2020 festival was also the first chance for players to buy the first two Crimson Indrik Berries (  and  ) from The Impresario, used to mutate the Nascent Indrik into a Crimson Indrik. Players can receive three Event Tickets each day for after killing a boss, with a total of 39 possible tickets by the end of the event.

2020 Dremora Plunder Skull Loot
The drops from Dremora Plunder Skulls in the 2020 event are identical to the 2019 event drops, but with the addition of Grave Dancer Weapon Style pages. These past drops include Witches Festival Writs, Glenmoril Wyrd Style pages and treasure maps for the weapon pages, and Dremora motifs. However, some drops, like the Hollowjack Motif pages and bones for the Skeleton Marionette were moved into the Witches Grab Bag available from the Impresario.

2020 Plunder Skull Loot
The drops from regular Plunder Skulls in the 2020 event are identical to previous years' drops, including furnishings, blueprints and recipes. One new item as is Rune-Carved Bone Fragment which creates a new Throwing Bones runebox collectible.

Witches Festival 2019
The 2019 Witches Festival|thumb|right:"Boo! Battle Tamriel’s monsters, get double XP, and earn creepy new rewards during the Witches Festival in-game event! Learn everything you need to know about the frightening fete here."

The Witches Festival 2019 will run from October 24 until November 11, 2019. Due to numerous connectivity issues on PC for the first few days, the event was extended by 7 days across all platforms. The event is similar to the previous year, but with the addition of some new style pages, mementos, recipes and collectables. The drops from regular Plunder Skulls in the 2019 event are identical to the 2018 event drops. 

The 2019 festival was also the first chance for players to buy the   from The Impresario, used to mutate the Nascent Indrik. Players can receive two Event Tickets each day for after killing a boss, with a total of 38 possible tickets by the end of the event.
 

2019 Dremora Plunder Skull Loot
The drops from Dremora Plunder Skulls in the 2019 event are identical to the 2018 event drops, but with the addition of Glenmoril Wyrd Style pages, festival writs, new provisioning recipes and a new memento, all of which have a relatively low drop rate:

Glenmoril Wyrd Armor Style Pages
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Armor pages have a small chance to drop from directly from Dremora Plunder Skulls. These exist as items that can be sold or traded.
 
 	
 
 
 	
 	
 	
 

Glenmoril Wyrd Weapon Style Pages
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Weapon pages are found by following a marker on the associated treasure map. The style page doesn't exist as an item found in a chest like regular treasure, but instead spawns as the weapon itself, surrounded by a large pillar of purple light. Taking the weapon immediately adds the style page into your inventory. See the main page for a guide on the map locations.

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Witches Festival Writs
 
:''"A direct request for a festive food, from Alyxe the Hag. Once accepted, this contract cannot be traded or sold. Completing 13 Witches Festival Writs awards you the Witch's Infernal Hat; completing 28 grants you the title of "Witch."''
  are special master writs that request a Witches Festival themed food or potion via a quest. The recipes for these provisioning items can be found both types of Plunder Skull. Writs themselves can only be obtained from Dremora Plunder Skulls. Writs are also available to buy from the Impresario for 1 Event Ticket each, but these are bound to your account and cannot be traded or sold. See the main page for full details.

Completing 13 Witches Festival Writs awards you the Witch's Infernal Hat; completing 28 grants you the title of "Witch". There are also several achievements related to festival writs.

New Recipes
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Three new legendary recipes are introduced in the 2019 festival, however they have a relatively low drop rate:
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Skeletal Marionette
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:"Be the life of your party with this cute little skeleton marionette! It dances! It prances! It hangs from strings, ready for you to make it move! (Creepy skeleton voice not included.)"

The   collectible can be obtained by consuming ten Skeletal Marionette Parts, which can occasionally be found in all varieties of Plunder Skull. Alternatively, the memento can be bought outright from the Impresario for 5 Event Tickets, however this will not grant you the associated achievement.



Crown Store Exclusives
During the festival, some new and returning items will be available in the Crown Store. This includes the return of the Reaper's Harvest and Hollowjack Crown Crates, the Hollowjack and Witches' Coven furnishing packs, Exorcised Coven Cottage, Kynbound Senche-Panther, Witch's Infernal Familiar and more.

Gallery
 
 

Witches Festival 2018
:"The grim spectacle of the Witches Festival has once again returned to haunt the people of Tamriel. Take part in this chilling celebration to earn bonus XP and unique rewards. It’s also your first opportunity to earn Event Tickets and Indrik Feathers – don’t miss out!"
The 2018 Witches Festival|thumb|right
The Witches Festival 2018 ran from October 18 to November 1, 2018. In addition to previous rewards, 2018 introduced the new Dremora Motif and Dremora Plunder Skulls. It was the first opportunity for players to begin working towards obtaining the Nascent Indrik mount.

2018 Dremora Plunder Skull Loot
 

2018 Plunder Skull Loot
 
 

Witches Festival 2017
:"The ghostly spectre of the Witches Festival has returned to Tamriel! Want to take part in this spooky celebration, enjoy a bonus to XP gains, and earn terrifying rewards? Read on to find everything you need to know about this ghoulish gala."
The 2017 Witches Festival|thumb|right
The 2017 Witches Festival ran from October 20 until November 1, 2017. Similar to the Witches Festival of 2016, this event featured the chance to earn Plunder Skulls by defeating delve bosses, dungeon bosses, World Bosses, and dolmen bosses. Drops from Plunder Skulls included Hollowjack Motif chapters, special themed recipes, and furniture. Rare drops included runeboxes containing Hollowjack, Scarecrow, and Thicketman masks.
2017 Plunder Skull Loot
 
 

Witches Festival 2016
:"The Witches Festival, our first in-game holiday event for The Elder Scrolls Online, is lurking around the corner! Learn how and when you and your friends can take part in this spooky Tamrielic holiday plus details on the special treats you can earn by participating."
The 2016 Witches Festival|thumb|right
The 2016 Witches Festival ran from October 13 to November 1 or November 8, 2016. During that period a free whistle was available from the Crown Store, which began the quest The Witchmother's Bargain when used. A Witchmother's Whistle Memento was rewarded for completing the quest, and could be used to obtain a 100% Experience bonus and begin the event. With the buff applied, many different types of bosses would begin to drop Plunder Skulls containing unique recipes, motif chapters, and even two rare hats. Unlocking all of the achievements for this event would unlock the "Sun's Dusk Reaper" title.

Due to a bug introduced with Patch 2.6.7 which prevented the Plunder Skull achievements from counting earned skulls correctly, the event was extended to November 8 on PC/Mac.

2016 Plunder Skull Loot
 

Notes
Partaking in the Witches Festival will unlock several Holiday Events achievements. To unlock them all, you must complete the quest, drink from the Witchmother's Brew, collect all motif pages, and obtain 100 Plunder Skulls. Doing all of these tasks will reward you with the "Sun's Dusk Reaper" title.

External Links
Zenimax 2021 Announcement - A Frightful Fete Comes to Tamriel with the Return of the Witches Festival
Zenimax 2020 Announcement - Unlock Spooky Rewards During The Witches Festival Event
Zenimax 2019 Announcement - The Spooky Season Is Here With The Return Of The Witches Festival!
Zenimax 2018 Announcement - Become a Monster and Earn Unique Rewards During the Witches Festival
Zenimax 2017 Announcement - The Witches Festival Returns!
Zenimax 2016 Announcement - The Witches Festival is Coming!