A Bulwark Against Darkness stalls early for a lot of players because one objective never completes on its own. “Read the list of armour components” is not something a character does for you and not something that ticks off when you walk somewhere. You have to open the document yourself, in your own inventory, before the quest will hand you the component hunts that lead to the Arbiter armour.
Quick answer: Open your inventory, scroll to the quest item called List of Armour Components (quest documents sit on an orange background under Books & Notes), read through its pages, then back out of the menu. The objective clears as soon as you close the menu.
Read the List of Armour Components in your inventory
You need the quest active first. The chain starts once you reach Infamy Level 4, when a messenger hands Coen a mysterious letter, or when Anca passes it to you at her hut. Read that letter from your inventory, and the List of Armour Components becomes the next thing to open.
What the List of Armour Components tells you
The document names four rare materials needed for the armour, then adds a set of quoted excerpts meant as hints. The clues are deliberately vague, so the table below is the useful part of the read.
| Component | What the letter points you toward |
|---|---|
| Moult of a large lizard | The mires of Sangora, described as ambush territory for bog dragons |
| Bundle of silk threads | The sanzhani, moth-like creatures who trade silk said to be as strong as steel |
| Flask of quicksilver | Alchemical stock, with well-supplied traders named as a likely source |
| Relic of a saint | Places of worship and noble vaults; Saint Tyna and Saint Tobias are called out by name |
The letter also gives the location of the uriashi blacksmith who can forge the set. If you have already met her through Forge It Anew, Coen recognises her straight away.
How to confirm the objective completed
Closing the menu after reading swaps the single tracker line for the material hunts. You should see new objectives appear for finding the moult of a large lizard, a flask of quicksilver, and a bundle of silk threads, alongside the relic of a saint. A Medicus II perk upgrade notification can pop up around the same moment, which is a separate progression prompt and not part of the quest.
Note: the components exist in the world whether or not you have read the list, so anything already sitting in your inventory counts immediately and can cross an objective off the moment it appears.
If the objective won’t clear
There are only a few reasons this step stays open.
- You read a different document. Manuals and unrelated letters share the same inventory area, so check the title reads List of Armour Components.
- You skipped the mysterious letter. That has its own objective and needs reading first.
- You closed the document without opening it properly. Highlighting the item in the list is not enough; the reading view has to open.
- The quest is not active yet. Infamy Level 4 is the gate, and the letter is delivered automatically at some point on the way through the story.
With the list read, the quest becomes a collection job across Vale Sangora. Once all four components are in hand, the tracker points you back to the uriashi blacksmith at the Uriash Hermitage Shrine in the northwest, where the forging ritual costs time segments and ends in a fight you have to survive. Clear it and Coen walks away with the full Enhanced Arbiter armour set, plus the Arbiter’s Regalia trophy.
