'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 stripped of grace and exiled across the Sea of Fog after some quarrel with Marika ; most fell in foreign campaigns, were swallowed by the Sea, or returned home as madmen long before the Erdtree's call. 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 Red Letters trade in named quarry, and old champions whose grace has not yet returned are the easiest commission. The Tarnished may invade Istvan's forest hollow on the Manor's behalf and kill him for a recusant's reward, or leave him be and meet him later as a Spirit Ash, wizened, summoned to fight beside the next generation that has come to do what his could not. Either ending is the canon's bleak commentary on what survives the Shattering : an old man with rust-scaled armor, alone in a glade, knowing the next visitor either has his name on a paper or will need his ghost.