'Armor worn by Old Knight Istvan. The corroded metal is reinforced with rock-hard scales, making it highly effective against non-physical attacks. Istvan is one of a few wizened Tarnished who survive to this day.' Istvan is one of the canon's last witnesses to the original Tarnished cohort. The Tarnished are a generation of warriors whom Marika herself divested of grace and drove from the Lands Between, across the Sea of Fog; they waged war and died in lands afar, fated to return only after death, when what she once claimed was given back. Istvan returned. He hides in Limgrave, in scaled armor that the centuries have corroded but never breached, and waits.

'A written request from Volcano Manor disclosing the name of a Tarnished to be hunted. "Old Knight Istvan" He can be found in Limgrave. Find the red mark on your map for the exact location.' Istvan's name has reached Tanith's house. The Manor's letters trade in named quarry, and old champions whose grace has not yet returned are the easiest commission. The Tarnished may invade Istvan's corner of Limgrave on the Manor's behalf and kill him for a recusant's reward, or ignore the letter, in which case Istvan is never met at all, left alone in his own world, a name on a paper that no one came to claim. Either ending is the canon's bleak commentary on what survives the Shattering: an old man with rust-scaled armor, alone in the hills, whose next visitor either carries his name on a paper or never comes at all.