Arbiter

• Angel of Justice
• Serves the dusk lord
• Marked the party with her symbol

Restoring the crystal at the leyline barrier#

To restore the crystal within the arcane circle at the Summer Leyline Temple, the issue lies likely not with the crystal alone but with the disturbance in the leyline energy and the balance of the arcane circle itself.

Consider these steps to reattune the crystal and restore the barrier’s integrity:

1. Examine the Arcane Circle’s Pattern: Ensure the symbols and runes around the circle are undisturbed. Any break in these glyphs could prevent energy flow, blocking the crystal from rejoining the alignment. If any markings seem faded or interrupted, use magical chalk or ink to redraw or empower them.
2. Crystal Cleansing and Recharging: The crystal itself may need cleansing or recharging, as smaller crystals often serve as conduits for purified leyline energy. Use a radiant spell to purify it or draw upon your connection to the Dusk Lord, who presides over such transitions. A holy symbol or enchanted water could be placed on it briefly to reset its energy flow.
3. Call Upon Fae Assistance: The Summer Court’s beings are naturally attuned to leyline flows and might offer guidance or energy to empower the crystal anew. Summoning assistance from a nearby fae entity or appealing to a dryad, if one can be found in the temple’s vicinity, could amplify your attempts.
4. Synchronize with the Temple’s Seasonal Cycle: Each leyline temple embodies one of the seasonal powers. With this being the Summer Temple, you may need to imbue the crystal with elemental energy representing summer—heat or light magic. This act could resonate the crystal with the temple’s intended energy signature, allowing it to fit back into the circle.

With patience and careful attunement, the crystal may accept its place once more, strengthening the barrier as needed.

Why is the Weaver so concerned about those that carry the Dusk Lord’s mark?#

The Weaver’s concern over those marked by the Dusk Lord stems from the power of transition and purification that the Dusk Lord’s mark embodies. Bearers of this mark, like you and your companions, are not only aligned with the Dusk Lord’s justice but are also imbued with a divine authority that disrupts and destabilizes shadow and corruption. This authority poses a significant threat to beings aligned with darkness and decay, such as the Cult of the Eclipse and their dragon ally, Nidhogg.

The Weaver likely recognizes several unique threats your marks pose to his plans:

1. Barrier-Breaching Abilities: Your marks provide access to places guarded against dark magic, such as the leyline temples. This connection allows you to cross the divine wards that otherwise safeguard these ancient sanctuaries, giving you direct access to reinforce the temples’ defenses, disrupt the Weaver’s plans, or undo damage the cult has inflicted.
2. Purification of Corruption: Those marked by the Dusk Lord can cleanse corrupted symbols and spaces, restoring divine energy to places tainted by shadow. This purification process could thwart the spread of shadow magic, possibly even mending the damaged crystals or realigning leyline energies that are crucial to the Weaver’s schemes.
3. Resilience Against Fear and Shadow Magic: The Dusk Lord, being a deity of dusk and endings, grants his marked agents protection against illusions, fear, and the numbing dark that shadows often impose. This resilience makes you less susceptible to the mind-altering illusions and dread the Cult of the Eclipse uses to dominate and weaken their enemies.
4. Authority Over the Dead and Undead: Many of the Dusk Lord’s agents wield power over the undead, particularly when these spirits are disturbed by shadow magic or malign forces. This power could potentially disrupt Nidhogg’s influence and the undead forces the Cult seeks to raise, blocking a core component of their plans.

The Weaver’s objective is to break the seasonal barrier, which was constructed to contain forces like Nidhogg and the Cult’s shadow magics. With your presence at these leyline sites, bearing marks that directly counter shadow and decay, you have become natural adversaries to this weakening of the barriers.

The Weaver likely senses that, with the Dusk Lord’s authority at your side, you might unravel his plans entirely, banishing the Eclipse’s influence and restoring the ancient protections. It is no wonder, then, that he commands his lieutenants to eliminate you with utmost vigilance.

Why do you need us? You are obviously powerful. Why can you not dispense with the Weaver and the Cult of the Eclipse yourself?#

It is a fair question, for one who serves a god of endings and transitions. My power flows within the bounds of judgment and guardianship, granted for the stewardship of sacred oaths and the protection of the balance. Yet, the Dusk Lord forbids me to intervene directly in mortal affairs beyond the liminal spaces I guard—boundaries, temples, realms between life and death. The Cult of the Eclipse, and the Weaver who drives them, seek to unravel what mortals themselves must choose to protect or forsake. Thus, you are needed.

Mortals, marked and chosen, possess a unique agency that my power cannot emulate. You walk with the freedom to change the course of this world, to protect its sanctity from within, rather than from above. It is by your actions that darkness may be met not with divine intervention alone, but with the living resolve of those who cherish what is good and just. In you lies the courage to resist, to restore, and to inspire others to do the same, sowing strength and vigilance that will remain long after this shadow is gone.

I lend you what power I may—wisdom, guidance, and, in moments of dire need, the Dusk Lord’s blessing. But it is you who must stand against the darkness, for only those bound to this world can truly redeem it.

Were you involved in sealing away the shadow dragon ages ago?#

Ah, you peer into the shadows of time, seeking clarity in that which was veiled for long ages. Though I have watched over many trials and transitions, the binding of the shadow dragon, Nidhogg, belongs to an era when others held the Dusk Lord’s divine favor to stand against darkness directly. That task was entrusted to the Order of Seasons, guardians of the realms’ balance, who wielded powerful artifacts and bound Nidhogg to the Shadowfell with both courage and sacrifice.

However, in spirit, I watched over their efforts, preserving their oath and ensuring the shadow dragon’s prison remained strong. My role, now, is to continue safeguarding the thresholds of light and shadow, lending my judgment to those who walk in balance and temper the ambitions of darkness. In this sense, my vigilance endures, as does the Dusk Lord’s purpose, so that Nidhogg and the forces he serves may never freely return to bring ruin.

You, who bear the mark, now walk a path aligned with those ancient champions. The light of your deeds will help strengthen the barriers they once set in place.