Daring Races on the Night Market?

Taucheranzug · May 1

Hey everybody,

how do they work, where do they start, where do I have to go? Can't find any proper information about those races anywhere on the net... any info would be highly appreciated! Thank you guys!

Best

duagloth · May 1

Its behind a door labeled unstable creatia. You have to navigate through it, crouching is key

cozmic72 · May 1

duagloth wrote: »

Its behind a door labeled unstable creatia. You have to navigate through it, crouching is key

That’s for the Parch. The other zones have different races. I’ve found this one to be the easiest.

SeaGtGruff · May 1

Are you talking about the "Swift and Fleet" faction daily quest, or whatever it's called?

If that's the one you mean, I ended up abandoning it because it was too confusing, but my assumptions were that you have to do a "race" in each district, where the "race" is a race against time to complete a specific task in a very short span of time.

In the Skittering District, you must interact with a brazier(?) to collect a fire essence, then quickly run to one of the outlined spider nests(?) to burn it before the fire essence dissipates. I think it lasts for maybe 11 or 12 seconds-- at least, my character sheet said the associated active effect was counting down from 11 seconds when I checked it, but it took me a second or more to pull it up my character sheet to check it after I had collected the fire essence. What I couldn't figure out was whether I had to go around the entire district doing this, or do it a certain number of times, or what, because only 1 brazier was marked on the map, although that may have just been the brazier you need to start with. I could successfully burn 1 nest before the time ran out, but if there were more braziers in other places then the map never updated to show where the next one was, and if you just need to do it once in each district then the quest journal entry never updated to indicate that I successfully finished the race in that district.

I forget what I was supposed to do in the Parch, but I believe I successfully did it at least one time, except the map and quest journal never updated to indicate that I'd been successful.

And in the third district, it said I was supposed to close the Void rifts or whatever-- but, again, I never got any updates on the map or in the quest journal, and if I was supposed to run around the entire district closing Voids then I wasn't able to get from one to another without getting killed.

Taucheranzug · May 1

Ah, ok, thanks for the input. Actually, I didn't even know that there are dailies for those races. This part of the Night Market seems to be quite poorly documented...

So - do you actually NEED a daily quest to start some of those races? Because I saw a Twitch stream last night where the streamer more or less accidentally stumbled across the entrance of that "Unstable Creatia", entered it and just walked through some blueish energy barriers of sorts without knowing what he actually had to do, until all of a sudden a "Race completed" message came up...

Thanks again!

Best

EDIT:
Just found "Unstable Creatia" in The Parch myself (didn't have a quest for it), crouched through a couple of barriers and got the "race completed" message. That was below easy. No idea what the ZOS devs had in mind when they were designing this...

Katheriah · May 1

The void one is easier if you go invisible.

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

In the Skittering District, you must interact with a brazier(?) to collect a fire essence, then quickly run to one of the outlined spider nests(?) to burn it before the fire essence dissipates. I think it lasts for maybe 11 or 12 seconds-- at least, my character sheet said the associated active effect was counting down from 11 seconds when I checked it, but it took me a second or more to pull it up my character sheet to check it after I had collected the fire essence. What I couldn't figure out was whether I had to go around the entire district doing this, or do it a certain number of times, or what, because only 1 brazier was marked on the map, although that may have just been the brazier you need to start with. I could successfully burn 1 nest before the time ran out, but if there were more braziers in other places then the map never updated to show where the next one was, and if you just need to do it once in each district then the quest journal entry never updated to indicate that I successfully finished the race in that district.

This one also doesn't finish for me, but now I'm wondering if you need to run back to the first brazier and then to the next spider nest? I might try it next time I get there.

ApoAlaia · May 1

Taucheranzug wrote: »

Ah, ok, thanks for the input. Actually, I didn't even know that there are dailies for those races. This part of the Night Market seems to be quite poorly documented...

So - do you actually NEED a daily quest to start some of those races? Because I saw a Twitch stream last night where the streamer more or less accidentally stumbled across the entrance of that "Unstable Creatia", entered it and just walked through some blueish energy barriers of sorts without knowing what he actually had to do, until all of a sudden a "Race completed" message came up...

Thanks again!

Best

No need for quest for the daring races.

There is a a daily faction quest named Fleet and Swift related to this activity but is not required.

Same with 'oddities'. There is a faction quest named Keen of Mind but is not a prerequisite, you can complete 'oddities' without it.

Taucheranzug · May 1

OK, thank you, but how do I start the races in Skittering District and Sorrow Friend then? I understand that in Skittering, I have to talk to a Brazen (???) first, but which one and where...?
And how do I start the closing voids race in Sorrow Friend?

Thanks for your help again!

Best

Varana · May 1

For the Sorrow, there are green-ish glowing orbs somewhere in the district - I'm not sure if they're in the same place, but probably. If you have the daily, the quest circle should be roughly pointing at them.
You need to synergize with one of the green orbs and the race starts; the others are highlighted as black hole-like things that you can see through the walls.

IrelandTweaky · May 1

For Skittering, there are three spider nests. They are relatively close to the gate, but there are groups of mobs around them. Best to clear them out with help, then do the race. The nests are outlined in yellow (the kind you can see through walls, iirc). You have to run up to them while you have the fire and activate a fireball. Get all three and the race completes. At least, I think that's how it went. Best of luck!

spartaxoxo · May 1

Katheriah wrote: »

The void one is easier if you go invisible.

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

In the Skittering District, you must interact with a brazier(?) to collect a fire essence, then quickly run to one of the outlined spider nests(?) to burn it before the fire essence dissipates. I think it lasts for maybe 11 or 12 seconds-- at least, my character sheet said the associated active effect was counting down from 11 seconds when I checked it, but it took me a second or more to pull it up my character sheet to check it after I had collected the fire essence. What I couldn't figure out was whether I had to go around the entire district doing this, or do it a certain number of times, or what, because only 1 brazier was marked on the map, although that may have just been the brazier you need to start with. I could successfully burn 1 nest before the time ran out, but if there were more braziers in other places then the map never updated to show where the next one was, and if you just need to do it once in each district then the quest journal entry never updated to indicate that I successfully finished the race in that district.

This one also doesn't finish for me, but now I'm wondering if you need to run back to the first brazier and then to the next spider nest? I might try it next time I get there.

Yes. You run back to the brazier to get more fire. Burn all three nests in time and you win

SeaGtGruff · May 1

Regarding the Unstable Creatia race, I was able to complete it easy-peasey by crouching as mentioned by others, but before that I'd tried again and again to go through without crouching. If you are NOT crouching, you generally get killed by walking through the barriers, but if you wait until a moving circle of fire comes along then you can go through the barrier unharmed if you wait until just after the fire circle has gone through-- except there seems to be more to it than that, because sometimes you can pass through safely but other times you get killed. Crouching makes it so easy that I wonder if that's some kind of bug in the quest that wasn't intended to let you win so easily?

Varana · May 2

In his explainer post, code said that sometimes you also have to jump over lightning bars, but I've done two of these (i.e. in two different places on the map) now and only had the crouching variant.
So either the other instances of the race in the district have different versions, it's random and for some reason (almost?) only the crouching spawns, or they changed something from the PTS.
As it is, the Parch race is trivially easy.

Toanis · May 2

duagloth wrote: »

Its behind a door labeled unstable creatia. You have to navigate through it, crouching is key

Lol. Silly me was roll dodging under the lightning curtains. I got pretty good at it, but now I have to try crouching

ESO_player123 · May 2

I have some questions regarding the race in the Sorrow:

1. Do you have to start at a specific orb? I usually try to start as I enter the district on the orb that is kind of to the right of the entrance and go in the counter-clockwise direction (kind of).

2. How many orbs are in the race? I'm able to get 4 or 5 (I see each next one through the walls), but after that no matter where I look I cannot spot one. I knew that the race is not over because my toon still has that greenish aura around it, but I cannot find the next orb. Any advice?

heaven13 · May 3

Varana wrote: »

For the Sorrow, there are green-ish glowing orbs somewhere in the district - I'm not sure if they're in the same place, but probably. If you have the daily, the quest circle should be roughly pointing at them.
You need to synergize with one of the green orbs and the race starts; the others are highlighted as black hole-like things that you can see through the walls.

It feels like the mobs respawn WAY too quickly to be efficient. Unless you do actually have a full group. My partner and I have been able to duo some stuff but we make it to one nest and the front mobs by the brazier are respawning again as we grab it to go to the next.

Soarora · May 3

ESO_player123 wrote: »

I have some questions regarding the race in the Sorrow:

1. Do you have to start at a specific orb? I usually try to start as I enter the district on the orb that is kind of to the right of the entrance and go in the counter-clockwise direction (kind of).

2. How many orbs are in the race? I'm able to get 4 or 5 (I see each next one through the walls), but after that no matter where I look I cannot spot one. I knew that the race is not over because my toon still has that greenish aura around it, but I cannot find the next orb. Any advice?

No, you don't need to start at a specific orb. There's 5 orbs, I was having trouble with the one by entrance because one of the orbs is so far away, you don't really see it from most of the orbs.

Mooncake · May 3

How long was this Night Nightmare on the PTS? How come there's no guides or tutorials or location maps for these quests anywhere?

The Sorrow's Friend race is impossible to do solo. There are no quest progress markers or indicators of any kind to help you find those stupid orbs. I'm beyond frustrated trying to finish this one.

SeaGtGruff · May 3

Mooncake wrote: »

How long was this Night Nightmare on the PTS? How come there's no guides or tutorials or location maps for these quests anywhere?

The Sorrow's Friend race is impossible to do solo. There are no quest progress markers or indicators of any kind to help you find those stupid orbs. I'm beyond frustrated trying to finish this one.

AFAIK, the void orbs are always at the same spots, so you should be able to explore a bit to find all of them, then either mark them on a screenshot of the map or else just memorize where they are. Then you could try doing the race.

However, I agree with the comment about the mobs. I get that these races are supposed to be "challenging," but I feel like there are too many mob groups in each district, spaced too close to each other in most places, and they seem to respawn pretty quickly after you clear them, making it a real pain to try to do these activities. I mean, there's "challenging," and then there's "sadistic torture."

ajkb78 · May 4

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Mooncake wrote: »

How long was this Night Nightmare on the PTS? How come there's no guides or tutorials or location maps for these quests anywhere?

The Sorrow's Friend race is impossible to do solo. There are no quest progress markers or indicators of any kind to help you find those stupid orbs. I'm beyond frustrated trying to finish this one.

AFAIK, the void orbs are always at the same spots, so you should be able to explore a bit to find all of them, then either mark them on a screenshot of the map or else just memorize where they are. Then you could try doing the race.

However, I agree with the comment about the mobs. I get that these races are supposed to be "challenging," but I feel like there are too many mob groups in each district, spaced too close to each other in most places, and they seem to respawn pretty quickly after you clear them, making it a real pain to try to do these activities. I mean, there's "challenging," and then there's "sadistic torture."

The skittering race is pretty easy, you can crouch and get to the middle and right webs without the mobs noticing you. The third one (left) is pretty close to some mobs but still... Void one was horrible, I had to go full stealth nightblade to do that one, mostly sneaking but using invisiblity where needed. The timer isn't awful to get between each orb, so if solo it's worth taking the extra second or two to position yourself where the mobs won't see you, and then cloak away if needed.

SeaGtGruff · May 4

ajkb78 wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Mooncake wrote: »

How long was this Night Nightmare on the PTS? How come there's no guides or tutorials or location maps for these quests anywhere?

The Sorrow's Friend race is impossible to do solo. There are no quest progress markers or indicators of any kind to help you find those stupid orbs. I'm beyond frustrated trying to finish this one.

AFAIK, the void orbs are always at the same spots, so you should be able to explore a bit to find all of them, then either mark them on a screenshot of the map or else just memorize where they are. Then you could try doing the race.

However, I agree with the comment about the mobs. I get that these races are supposed to be "challenging," but I feel like there are too many mob groups in each district, spaced too close to each other in most places, and they seem to respawn pretty quickly after you clear them, making it a real pain to try to do these activities. I mean, there's "challenging," and then there's "sadistic torture."

The skittering race is pretty easy, you can crouch and get to the middle and right webs without the mobs noticing you. The third one (left) is pretty close to some mobs but still... Void one was horrible, I had to go full stealth nightblade to do that one, mostly sneaking but using invisiblity where needed. The timer isn't awful to get between each orb, so if solo it's worth taking the extra second or two to position yourself where the mobs won't see you, and then cloak away if needed.

I've yet to complete the spider one.

And I haven't made many attempts at the void one, because there are always trash mobs in the way.

The interesting thing is, my initial reaction to the three districts was that I like the Parch the most, and like Sorrow's Friend the least. However, Sorrow's Friend has the only trash mobs I've been able to clear solo-- not all of them, mind you, just the ones nearest to the district's entrance/exit. I'm definitely starting to warm up to Sorrow's Friend, if only for that reason.

DarkDajin · May 4

For sorrow:
Grab the orb by the entrance, then go left (seen from how you spawn in) and hug the left wall to get the next one.
Turn 180 and walk back along the wall then turn left to get the third.
Rush to the jump pad on your right and go up to get rid of things chasing you.
Then keep going and glide down towards to fourth.
And finally cross the courtyard to the far away fifth orb.

Either invisibility or a bit of shielding/armor/hp makes it quite doable solo.

raystormusa · May 4

The 5 spots in Sorrows Friend are marked on this DIY map I made.

Feel free to create your own best route to complete the Daring Race.

Note that the Faction Daily “Fleet and Swift” can be completed by running the orbs in ANY ORDER, as long as its done in the time limit. My group has tested this and all received credit for the Quest, Achievement and (annoying + useless) Boon, despite the Quest marker arrow being fixed on the entrance door orb.

Maps:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/692279/marked-maps-for-night-market-precinct-and-district-quest-starter-find-spots#latest

Taucheranzug · May 4

Varana wrote: »

In his explainer post, code said that sometimes you also have to jump over lightning bars, but I've done two of these (i.e. in two different places on the map) now and only had the crouching variant.
So either the other instances of the race in the district have different versions, it's random and for some reason (almost?) only the crouching spawns, or they changed something from the PTS.
As it is, the Parch race is trivially easy.

I beg to differ. While my first run was actually really as easy as you described (just running through while crouching, nothing else), my 2nd run today was way more difficult (by the way, only the first race per day in a district counts towards e.g. the Golden Pursuits, while at the same time raising the difficulty). You still have to move forward in crouching mode, but now you have to jump over some of the lightning bars (the ones that have that "veil" below them), otherwise, you die and start again at the beginning. Also, you can't take your time because if you wait too long, those fires are gonna get you.
Looking forward to doing this for the 3rd time (Golden Pursuits award awaits...), let's see if it gets even more difficult then.

Best

NickBCool06 · May 4

Varana wrote: »

In his explainer post, code said that sometimes you also have to jump over lightning bars, but I've done two of these (i.e. in two different places on the map) now and only had the crouching variant.
So either the other instances of the race in the district have different versions, it's random and for some reason (almost?) only the crouching spawns, or they changed something from the PTS.
As it is, the Parch race is trivially easy.

Taucheranzug wrote: »

EDIT:
Just found "Unstable Creatia" in The Parch myself (didn't have a quest for it), crouched through a couple of barriers and got the "race completed" message. That was below easy. No idea what the ZOS devs had in mind when they were designing this...

Taucheranzug wrote: »

Varana wrote: »

In his explainer post, code said that sometimes you also have to jump over lightning bars, but I've done two of these (i.e. in two different places on the map) now and only had the crouching variant.
So either the other instances of the race in the district have different versions, it's random and for some reason (almost?) only the crouching spawns, or they changed something from the PTS.
As it is, the Parch race is trivially easy.

I beg to differ. While my first run was actually really as easy as you described (just running through while crouching, nothing else), my 2nd run today was way more difficult (by the way, only the first race per day in a district counts towards e.g. the Golden Pursuits, while at the same time raising the difficulty). You still have to move forward in crouching mode, but now you have to jump over some of the lightning bars (the ones that have that "veil" below them), otherwise, you die and start again at the beginning. Also, you can't take your time because if you wait too long, those fires are gonna get you.
Looking forward to doing this for the 3rd time (Golden Pursuits award awaits...), let's see if it gets even more difficult then.

Best

Until yesterday, I also only had the variant with the crouching, but starting today, I’ve had to jump as well.
Could it be that they sneaked in a hotfix?

EDIT:
Today on May 5, 2026, I was in the easy variant with only crouching again. It seems to vary.

Taucheranzug · May 5

I don't think so. I think that's totally on purpose. It's easy on the 1st race (day 1), but already on the 2nd race (day 2!), it gets harder. Also, I've read all patch notes since the opening of the Night Market very carefully and didn't find any changes about this race in there. I think people just did this race multiple times on their 1st day and then assumed it would stay that easy.

Following this logic would mean that the other two races (in Skittering and Sorrow) get harder as well after the 1st day... maybe somebody can confirm that...?

@Varana : You wrote that you did this race "in two different places on the map"? I believe there is only ONE instance of the "Unstable Creatia" (which is in the lower right corner of the Parch map)...

Best

croakie · May 5

There are four doors in the parch, are they different patterns behind each door with requiring you to jump?

Varana · May 5

Taucheranzug wrote: »

@Varana : You wrote that you did this race "in two different places on the map"? I believe there is only ONE instance of the "Unstable Creatia" (which is in the lower right corner of the Parch map)...

There are four doors around the map.

I believe they're also different versions - in some, you have to turn right, in others, left.
Or they're randomly chosen and have nothing to do with the door. I'm not sure.

Anyway, I now got the jumping version as well.

Taucheranzug · May 6

...ok, so I just completed my 3rd race in The Parch (and finished the Golden Pursuit). Well, what can I say - just like my first race, it was back to being easier than easy today, with just crouching through the barriers again, not a single jump needed. So the difficulty level seems to be totally random.

Best