Things That Go Boom In The Night: Ten Skulls, and They Vanish If You Are Slow
Things That Go Boom In The Night asks for ten spectral chinchompa skulls, and it comes with a punishing wrinkle: spectral chinchompas vanish if you do not attack them quickly enough. Miss one and you are not just short a skull — they take up to 10 in-game days to respawn. The quest publishes seven locations for exactly that reason.
Quest Details
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Secondary |
| Start | Speak to Vannaka, west of Cathan in Bleakfields Valley, Fellhollow |
| Requires | Partial completion of Withering Heights for Fellhollow access, and completion of The Wild Hunt |
| Items needed | Ten spectral chinchompa skulls |
| Recommended | Good armour and weapons, food |
| Enemies | Ten spectral chinchompas |
Two prerequisites, not one. You need Fellhollow access and The Wild Hunt finished — which is unusual, since most Fellhollow quests need only the region.
Vannaka is in the same spot as The Wild Hunt's start, west of Cathan in Bleakfields Valley, and the framing is the same: the spirits of the area remain in torment and he wants them dealt with.
They Vanish
The mechanic that defines the quest:
You must attack and/or kill them as quickly as you can, or they will vanish.
That is a timer on first contact, not a fleeing enemy. A spectral chinchompa that notices you and is not engaged promptly disappears — and then:
If you missed one or a few, they take up to 10 in-game days to spawn.
Ten in-game days is a long wait. Dragonwilds runs its own day cycle, so a missed chinchompa is not a "come back in five minutes" problem — it is a session-scale delay.
The practical consequence is loadout. You want something that connects immediately at range: a bow, a crossbow, or a fast spell. Closing to melee distance is exactly the delay that loses you the target.
Where They Are
They live across Fellhollow, within wooded areas and groves — the same habitat as the nature spirits from The Wild Hunt, which is why that quest is a prerequisite in spirit as well as on paper.
The two closest to Vannaka:
| Location |
|---|
| South Emberwood's druid circle |
| Witchwillow Range's willow tree grove |
There should be enough for you to kill and collect their skulls.
Five more if you come up short:
| Location |
|---|
| Another willow tree grove north of Hope's Fall |
| West of Doric's camp, where the first statue is before entering the cave |
| Further west again, near the shore of the Lake of Lost Souls |
| The south-eastern wood of Silverthorn Keep |
| Another willow tree grove in Silverthorn Keep |
| The most eastern part of Silverthorn Keep, by a purification pool |
Willow groves are the pattern. Four of the seven named spots are willow groves, which is the same landmark The Wild Hunt uses for its nature spirits — so if you did that quest, you already know how to find these.
Doing It in One Trip
- Bring a ranged option. The vanish timer punishes closing distance, so open at range and connect immediately.
- Start with the two nearest groves — South Emberwood's druid circle and Witchwillow Range — which the walkthrough says should be enough on their own.
- Do not save any for later. A chinchompa you leave is one you may wait ten in-game days for.
- Learn the willow-grove tell. Four of seven locations are willow groves; the habitat is the search filter.
- Do The Wild Hunt first anyway — it is a hard prerequisite, and it teaches you the same groves plus gives you a terrorbird mount for the travel.
Note the ordinary Chinchompa for contrast. Fellhollow's spectral variety is its own creature, but Ashenfall's normal Chinchompa has 60 health at power level 3 and the Carnivorous Chinchompa 230 at power level 5, both weak to Ranged and resistant to Fire. If the spectral version follows the family pattern, a bow is doubly correct here — it beats the vanish timer and it hits the family weakness.
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Conclusion
Things That Go Boom In The Night starts with Vannaka west of Cathan in Bleakfields Valley and is one of the few Fellhollow quests with two prerequisites — partial Withering Heights for the region and completion of The Wild Hunt. It asks for ten spectral chinchompa skulls, and its defining mechanic is that the creatures vanish unless you attack them quickly, with up to 10 in-game days before a missed one respawns. That makes a ranged opener the correct loadout, since closing to melee is the delay that loses the target — and the ordinary Chinchompa family being weak to Ranged and resistant to Fire points the same way. Seven locations are published, four of them willow groves, the same habitat The Wild Hunt's nature spirits use; the South Emberwood druid circle and Witchwillow Range's willow grove are nearest to Vannaka and the walkthrough says they should be enough on their own. Do The Wild Hunt first regardless — it is required, it teaches the groves, and its terrorbird mount makes the travel far quicker.
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