A Bulwark Against Darkness
The quest that forges the Arbiter armor set. It opens only once you are Notorious, sends you across the valley for four components — one of them locked behind Home Sweet Home — and ends with a three-segment ritual against wolves and a bear.
3
segments for the ritualComponents are costed on their own quests.
4
componentsMoult, quicksilver, silk, relic.
5.2%
have Arbiter’s RegaliaSteam global rate, first week.
The four components
This may be the best armour set in the game; the rest of the legendary gear is worth knowing about before you commit three segments to the ritual.
1. Large Lizard Moult
It is in one of three caves: a cave in the marshland between Briar Sloughs and Maragir Wealds, with a small, easy-to-miss opening close to where the ritual for Iulian happens in The Gilded Gauntlet / The Bittersweet Toast, where the lizard is the one Vera was hunting when she died; a large cave directly east of the Muddy Trail shrine; or the Tatzelwurm Lair.
No time cost. You may have to fight the lizards in the cave, or simply pick it up without fighting anything.
2. Flask of Quicksilver
The ritual room on the top floor of the tower where Home Sweet Home takes place, on the desk, after Coen deals with the astrologer. You can search the tower once you escape the dream loop; staying in the loop instead leads to the Together Forever ending and the credits.
Home Sweet Home costs 4 segments to enter.
3. Silk Threads
From the Sanzhani fairy questline, which opens with Good Home. Come Hither gives one for free after you kill a Murohn and take it from the lair; Pearly and Precious lets a Sanzhani sell you one for close to 6,000 denarii, which is probably not worth it.
Free via Come Hither; the Murohn is the price.
4. Relic of a Saint
Most objects with Saint or St. in the name will probably do, though a hand-in may occasionally need a second relic before it works. The Saint's Tibia is looted at St. Tyna's Convent during Echoes of Silenced Bells (next to a ladder in the courtyard); the Relic of St. Tobias comes from The Night of Horrors on Lacra's questline. Do not hand over the Relic of St. Tyna (an epic amulet, also at the convent) or the Relic of St. Dasius (a legendary amulet, bought from Vicho after A Study in Crimson) — those are real gear, and the blacksmith will take whichever you give her.
Free if you already carry one; otherwise it costs whichever of Echoes of Silenced Bells or The Night of Horrors gets you there, both costed on the quest table.
The ritual
Bring all four to Nareh, the Uriash blacksmith in the north-western hinterlands — the same woman who reforges the sword in Forge It Anew. She takes each component as you bring it and hands back the matching piece — armour, shin guards, bracers or boots — at epic rarity. With all four turned in she tells you the set needs binding: a ritual that costs three segments and puts you through a pack of wolves and then a bear (the Ursine Apparition). Survive that and the four pieces become the legendary Enhanced Arbiter set, and the Arbiter’s Regalia achievement unlocks.
What the set does
| Piece | Slot | Bonuses |
|---|---|---|
| Enhanced Armor of the Arbiter | heavy chest | weapon damage, claw damage, witchcraft ability damage, AC restoration on actions |
| Enhanced Shin Guards of the Arbiter | heavy legs | witchcraft cooldown, AC restoration (passive, on actions, on perfect blocks) |
| Enhanced Bracers of the Arbiter | heavy bracers | max vampiric health, vampiric health regeneration, blood-drinking restoration, weapon damage |
| Enhanced Boots of the Arbiter | heavy boots | max human health, human health restoration, max stamina, magical damage reduction |
All four pieces are heavy armour.
Starting it, what it costs and what it pays
- How do you start A Bulwark Against Darkness?
- Reach Infamy level 4, the Notorious tier, by disrupting the boyars' operations. The letter can reach you two ways: a messenger leaves it with Anca at the Crossroads Inn after the edict cutscene, or a smuggler approaches you near the tavern and market stalls in Altenmarkt, Svartrau City. Either one starts the quest. The letter lists the four components and the blacksmith.
- How many time segments does A Bulwark Against Darkness cost?
- The ritual itself costs three. The components come from other quests with their own costs on the quest table — Home Sweet Home is four, Echoes of Silenced Bells six to eight — while the moult and the silk cost no segments.
- What is the reward?
- The legendary Enhanced Arbiter armor set — four heavy pieces — and the Arbiter's Regalia achievement. It is probably worth your time, and arguably one of the best armor sets in the game.
- Do you have to finish Home Sweet Home first?
- Yes, and you have to escape the loop rather than stay in it. The Flask of Quicksilver is on the desk in the tower's top-floor ritual room, which you only reach by breaking the dream.
Keep going
Forge It Anew
The sword that goes with this armour, from the same blacksmith.
Home Sweet Home
Where the Flask of Quicksilver is, and how to escape the loop to reach it.
The three boyars
The Infamy that unlocks this quest comes from provoking them.
Echoes of Silenced Bells
Where the Saint's Tibia is, if you did not pocket it the first time.