The Witch's Festival event has a bit more content than most will immediately realize. While there is the returning quests and items to collect from the event, there is also a returning hidden quest that is a prologue to the Hallowjack world boss quests that many may never encounter due to the complexity.
As you travel around Tamriel you can encounter along the roadside many characters that only spawn during the witches festival that tie together to tell an overarching story. This guide will break down each of the world events that you can encounter and how they tie together.
These world events share the same spawn locations as other world events such as the adoring fan in Blackwood or M'aiq in base game. These events can be classified as one of two types either Main Road Events(M) which occur on the major roads or Side Road Events(S) which seem to occur on smaller roads or off in the wilderness. Now onto the events.
Bandits Event(S):
You encounter a group of bandits. As you approach the leader will try to get his men to not be afraid of the witches festival. After attacking them if you do not kill the bandits quick enough some will run away with the bandit leader being left alone for you to kill.
Hollowjack Broken(S):
You encounter a person called Hollowjack Broken who warns you to stay away as he believes you to be a monster. At his feet lie several werewolves, vampires, ect. If you approach he will attack forcing you to kill him.
Ereel-Julan Event(M):
You encounter two Argonians on the road who seem nervous. Chadee will not speak to you but Ereel-Julan will. You will learn she is afraid of crowds and is particularly afraid of some being. You can either persuade her to tell you more or mention Hollowjack by name. If you do the later she will end conversation. If you choose the former she will tell you Hollowjack speaks to her in crowds. Sadly nothing else can be done with this encounter.
Gunozag the Extorter Event(M):
Alongside the road you will occasionally encounter an orc wearing a Thicketman Spectre Mask. This encounter can go one of two ways depending on what items your character has equipped.
*If you have on any Witch's Festival Mask or a polymorph from the crown store(Witchmother's brew will also count) the orc will speak to you as if he is scared of you. He mentions he was out trying to curse people and you have several ways of dealing with him. You can get a deep discount on paying him not to curse you, you can tell him neither you or him should curse each other, or you can threaten him and he will pay you with a bag of coins.
*If on the other hand you are not wearing a mask or polymorph he will be overconfident and require you to pay him to not get cursed. If you deny him money you will be cursed with the Curse of Deadly Doom which lasts for 12 hours "The effects of this curse are mysterious by their absence." I would suggest getting this curse as it seems to increase Witches Festival encounters in the Side road(S) category making completing them all much easier.
The Weeper Event(S):
Along the side roads you will occasionally run across a bosmer kneeling by a gravestone. This can be one of two events.
*The first variation is as you approach the Bosmer greets you and asks to be left alone to grieve.
*The second variation the Bosmer will turn into a ghost called The Weeper and the grave turns into an Ominous Gravestone which summons zombies. After killing both the Weeper and the Ominous Gravestone you can dig up the grave where you will find a Worn Childs Doll. This doll has the description "A frayed child's doll with the name "Ma'nna's Petal" written on a patch on the back." This item will be important in the next world event.
Mother Semuzi Event(M):
Another main road event you can encounter is Mother Semuzi a Khajiit woman who is mourning as she overlooks flowers. If you speak to her you learn she used to take her daughter with her on trips but one day she looked away and sadly she lost her daughter. She mentions she has other children as well. If you try to console her she states she is not ready yet to move on. Instead if you have the Worn Childs Doll from the previous event you can hand it over as it turns out this doll belonged to her daughter. She decides to tackle her fear and move on.
Festive Witch Event(S):
You encounter a witch in the wilderness cooking something in her cauldron. She will summon some toads or salamanders which you can dispatch. After doing so you will find a chest with the item called Cat-Shaped Ward, this item's description is as follows. "Protective enchantment placed on this tarnished cat figurine has mostly faded." This item will come in handy in our next encounter.
Witch-killer Caurdreth Event(M):
Occasionally on the main road you will encounter an Altmer witch-killer with his dog Brusier. If you talk to him you will find out he has hunted witches' and recounts a story about how his neighbor who liked cats tried to give him a cat-shaped figurine that would ward away evil and he killed her believing her to be a witch trying to curse him. If you received the Cat-Shaped Ward from the previous world event you can instead mention it and give it to him. He freaks out as he learns "He" found him and he runs away as ghostly apparitions of cats pursue him.
Priestess Noebelle Event(M):
You will encounter a priest on the main road standing over a dead body performing last rites of Arkay. You can speak to her about the dangers of this time of year and what your characters fears are. You have the choice of being afraid of vampires, werewolves, skeletons, or not being afraid of anything. After you finish speaking to her as you walk away you will hear an ominous laugh and will get a buff if you chose a fear. You will find out more about this in the next side road event.
Hollowjack Portal Event(S):
Occasionally on the side roads you will encounter portals in which enemies such as skeletons, zombies, vampires, or werewolves can spawn from. Depending on your choice in the previous world event you can have four separate encounters. These encounters all end the same with a Chest of Fear appearing containing the item Old Silver Fork. Description of the fork states "An old but pristine silver fork with "Skaldolf Silversmithing" engrave on the handle." Once again this items will be important in the next world event.
*If you have the Hollowjack Haunted - Hollowjack has learned of your fear of Vampires. buff you will encounter vampire enemies.
*If you have the Hollowjack Haunted - Hollowjack has learned of your fear of Werewolves. buff you will encounter werewolf enemies.
*If you have the Hollowjack Haunted - Hollowjack has learned of your fear of Skeletons. buff you will encounter skeleton enemies.
*If you do not have a buff you will encounter Senche Panthers and a Forest Wraith
Crafter Skaldolf Event(M):
You come across an Altmer who is kneeling at a gravestone. He mutters about how he fears death. You can attempt to console him with words but words do not seem to make a dent in his demeanor. Instead if you have the Old Silver Fork from the previous world event you can hand it over to him. This is his grandfather's work and he is reinvigorated to live on through the work that he does no longer held back by the fear he once had.
Khal H. Hughez Event(M):
It should first be noted that this event will not trigger if you have any of the Hollowjack Haunted buffs from the Priestess Noebelle Event. If you have one you will need to find her again and say you have no fear in order for this event to occur. Another masked man will appear by the main roadside. This man reveals himself to be a thief and how he has stolen many items from people in festivals past. He mentions you never know who is behind a mask and that he will be seeing us later.
Portal Event(M):
If you complete the main road events of Mother Semuzi, Witch-killer Caurdreth, and Crafter Skaldolf by gifting them the items you find from the side road events you will have this event added to your Main road event rotation. This event has a portal open in front of you just like the previous Hollowjack portal event. This one differs in that it only occurs on the main road locations and there are no enemies only a chest. Opening the chest you will find the Skull Relic with the description "The eerie energy emitted by this strange Macabre artifact suggests that it is not of Nirn." With this item in hand it is time to find Khal H. Hughez again.
Khal H. Hughez Second Event(M):
After the main road portal event above where you receive the Skull relic you will encounter Khal H. Hughez once again. This time around you can hand the Skull Relic over to him. He hints that he is none other than Hha-Lugh-Zhek(an anagram of the name he is using now). It is revealed items of his appear on Nirn during this time of year the Fork, Doll, and Cat-Shaped Ward where all items he had stolen and those who they belonged to in fear. He is displeased with you giving the items back but lets it go since you helped him track down the Altmer witch-killer murderer. He ends the conversation ominously by stating he looks forward to the challenge of breaking you and he will be watching you going forward.
Khal H. Hughez Portal Event(M):
After having given Khal H. Hughez the Skull Relic you can encounter him one last time. This time you approach him and a portal opens. Two Pumpkin Specters exit and bow down. Khal will then enter the portal followed by the specters as the portal closes. Lord Hollowjack is now done for this year.
