anytime dude! and don't worry about e-mailing anyone just keep it on the board and someone will respond

Thanks for the item code, Accord. I was trying to solve it without cheating to determine (for the future benefit of anyone else) whether I was, in fact, doing something wrong, or whether it was a bug. But if I have to I have to. However, I'm gonna try the midnight thing first.

Not a problem at all.

Btw (this is not really related.....but) Heart of Winter has gone GOLD!!!

OK, it looks like time was the key. Although the game simply tells you it must be done while it's dark, apparently that's not enough. For the record, it was 5am before, clearly dark. I tried it again at 10pm and they were there. So it doesn't have to be after midnight, but it does at least have to be (at a minimum) after 9pm and before 5am. Thanks for the help!