# [[Graveknight Armor]] ![[uu-sythra.png]] **Sythra**, known as the Graveknight or "Seaweed Knight," is both a curse and a creature—a set of cursed armor that continuously creates undead to wield it. The armor cannot be killed until the armor itself is destroyed. Graveknights have butchered entire towns and castles because they are virtually unstoppable. ## Identity & Nature - A Level 10 cursed armor/undead. As long as the armor exists, it keeps creating a new undead creature to wear and wield it. - No real weakness except being undead (vulnerable to effects that harm undead). She is also affected by the [[Black Hollow Curse]] the party caused on this level. - When first encountered she appeared as a helmeted, rusted, seaweed-covered knight emerging from the water dragging a greatsword—hence the party's name "Seaweed Knight." - Speaks with an old voice that sounds almost female, at least neutral. - Knows she is **not** the original wearer—she is aware of being a creature given memories or form by the curse rather than the woman who first wore the armor. ## Background & Role - In life, Sythra served a bone devil named [[Tarcannah]] in maintaining order in [[The Gauntlight]] under [[Belcorra]]. - Her task was to keep the level orderly and ensure Belcorra's orders were followed. - Both she and Tarcannah died when [[Jafaki]] took over the level. - Her oath to maintain order has given her renewed purpose even in undeath—she clings to duty above all. - **Earlier life (recalled by [[Vayle]], Session 119)**: Before all this, Sythra was a decorated commander in [[Absalom]]'s First Guard—specifically the [[Eagle Garrison]] that protected [[Kortos]] from threats like minotaurs, harpies, and centaurs. She knew [[Otari]] and its people well, and she was also a mother. - She appears to have been defending the region at a time when people believed the deeper threat beneath the Gauntlet was already over. ## Relationship with the Party - [[Vayle]] had a past relationship with Sythra before she became a Graveknight. Vayle would complain to her about [[The Voidseekers]] and always sensed she was sympathetic to them—though in truth Sythra had infiltrated [[Belcorra]]'s organization, not the Voidseekers. - **Parallel operatives (Session 119)**: When Vayle's crew was infiltrating the Voidseekers, they invited Sythra to join that mission, but she declined without explanation. The two knew each other fairly well—described as parallel operatives on similar missions—and they parted on good terms. - **Shared children (Session 120)**: Sythra's five children are also [[Vayle]]'s. Her line survives in [[Otari]] to the present day: [[Maret]], a reclusive ghast washerwoman, is descended from it and still keeps a hair spike of a design unique to Sythra's hometown. - Now stands as one of two obstacles to reaching [[Volluk Azrinae|Volluk]]: she guards him, and the door to him is buried under rubble. - Declared the party "unintelligent creatures" and ordered them to "stay in your pens," demanding their name and purpose and stating outsiders are not permitted on this level. - [[Grumblebum|Grumble]] attempted to negotiate, offering to help reverse her curse; she dismissed the offer as "irrelevant" (one negotiation failure recorded). - [[Ashnefrotty|Ash]] asked if anything could restore her memories; she said she doesn't need them, only her duty. - When Vayle called out her name, "Sythra," she stopped briefly, then continued walking without a word. - Told the party she wouldn't chase them if they left, but would attack on sight if she saw them again. The party wisely chose to avoid rather than confront her. ## Combat Abilities - **Weaponmaster**: Extremely skilled with its greatsword, a "ruinous weapon" with special critical-hit effects. - **Acid Damage**: Drips acid that sizzles on whatever it hits. - **Electrical Cone Attack**: Can unleash an electrical cone that wipes out multiple enemies at once. - **Summoned Mount**: Can summon a fully armored black horse that sprouts wings. - **Unholy Aura**: Emanates an unholy aura; plants in the [[Mutalisks|Mutalisk]] room shrink away from her, and neither the Mutalisks nor the plants will harm her. - One of the most dangerous threats the party has faced—her ability to regenerate wielders plus these abilities makes a straight fight unwise. ## How to Destroy Her - **Respawn time**: 1–10 days after being "killed." - **Two-step process** to destroy her permanently: 1. A high-level *Remove Curse* spell or similar divine magic. 2. Physical destruction of the armor itself. - **Limitation**: [[Vayle]] can remove curses, but only for willing creatures—and Sythra is not willing. ## Mental State - Lost and mentally unbalanced, possibly due to [[Nhimbaloth]]'s corruption. - Has forgotten her own name and many details of her past. - May have genuine missing memories, or may have been given partial memories from another creature. - Despite the gaps, she clings tightly to her sense of duty. ## Unresolved Threads - **Volluk's complaint (Session 126)**: Behind his workshop door, [[Volluk Azrinae|Volluk]] told the party Sythra's work has been interrupting his own — the nature of the interruption is unclear - She named three figures who "need to fulfill their purpose": [[Sketh]] (possibly the one dissecting dwarves), [[Jafaki]] (to be "dealt with but not defeated"), and [[Volluk Azrinae|Volluk]]. - Whether her sympathy toward [[The Voidseekers]] still matters, given she infiltrated Belcorra's organization. - Whether her memories can—or should—be restored, and what she would become if they were. - What the missing piece of her armor means, and who — if anyone — she has made her gravesquire. ## Session 125 — The Gravesquire Revelation - **Auto-fail on Jafaki**: The party tried to convince Sythra that [[Jafaki]] doesn't belong on the level; she held firm that he's still doing what he was contracted to do and remains necessary for [[Belcorra]]'s plan — an outright refusal. - **Unmoved by the hair spike**: [[Vayle]] showed her the hair spike from [[Maret]]; Sythra recognized it but said it wasn't relevant, showing none of the emotion she had in past encounters. - **Missing armor piece**: [[Jaspen Bond Callistair|Bond]] noticed a piece of Sythra's armor is gone. Graveknights can gift a portion of their armor to make someone a **gravesquire** — the person stays who they always were, but the graveknight can subtly influence them and see through their eyes, and doesn't need to be wearing the armor to do it, only to *have* it. Sythra is missing a piece, and it's unclear who has it or what else the party is missing. - **Recognizes the Cloak**: She reacted to and recognized the [[Cloak of the Huntress]] Bond carries. - **Grants passage, with conditions**: She thinks the [[Vordine]] shouldn't be marching on this level and that Chafkem is not in her purview. She lets the party walk the level but warns them not to disrupt operations, and says she expects a report the next time she sees them. ## Session 131 - "Urevian Still Has Your Soul" The single biggest piece of lore the party has ever found about Sythra came from a devil trying to use her as an escape route. Cornered and out of options, [[Echbos]] teleported out of sight and invoked a contract on her by rank: *"Commander Sythra, I invoke this section and call for your aid. We will discuss payment later. I need you to help me dispatch this rubble."* She did not know the section he named. That blank response was enough for Echbos to draw a conclusion and say it out loud before vanishing: **"You're not Sythra, then. Urevian still has your soul. Stand aside."** A heavy thud followed and he was gone. What this establishes, for the first time: - **There is a contract** between the original Sythra and the [[Vordine]], detailed enough to have sections and amendments, and Echbos knew it well enough to cite one from memory. She was a *Commander* in it. - **[[General Urevian]] holds the original Sythra's soul.** Echbos stated it flatly, as a thing the Vordine simply know. - **Two oaths**: the original Sythra swore an original oath; the creature currently in the armor swore a **different** one. This finally explains the hollowness the party has run into since Session 125: the hair spike dismissed as irrelevant, the duty without the memories. She is not refusing to remember; she is bound to a different promise than the woman she was given the shape of. She then became the party's problem directly. She flew into the doorway on her summoned armored horse. Only [[Zuhri]] got through to her at all; everyone else's attempt to explain what had happened failed, and it was plain she meant to attack. - **AC 31**, matching her mount's - [[Grumblebum|Grumble]] opened with a **Sudden Charge** into the horse for 12 damage, which made it **disappear** outright - [[Ashnefrotty|Ash]] landed 12 on Sythra herself - **[[Calamity's Ruin]] has a truce with her.** [[Shawanti|Bee]] came back to the party's side but would not fight her, and called [[Dread]] away to their own problem instead - She answered with her **electrical cone** ## Session 132 - Caught Between the Party and the Zombies The fight with Sythra became a three-way brawl once the surviving [[Dreshkan|Dreshkans]] turned into zombies. - She told the party they are **disrupting operations on this level**, repeating her earlier warning from Session 125. - She moved away from [[Grumblebum|Grumble]] (who missed a reactive strike) and used ***Devastating Strike*** on two of the zombies. - The zombies attacked her, and a Tar Zombie's vomit hit her along with a Plant Zombie. - Near the end of the round she said she has to **protect her children, [[Gran]] and [[Andy]]**. Her children were previously established as five children shared with [[Vayle]] (Session 120), so who Gran and Andy are to her is unresolved. ## New Unresolved Threads - Are the Gran and Andy Sythra means the kobold friends of [[Jaspen Bond Callistair|Bond]], or other children entirely? - Where is the original Sythra's soul, and what does Urevian want it for? Does [[Vayle]] now have a reason to deal with the Vordine after openly betraying them? - What is the **different oath** the current wearer swore, and to whom? - Can the contract be invoked by someone other than a Vordine, and would a copy of it exist in Urevian's staging hall? - When and how did Calamity's Ruin negotiate a truce with her, and does it cover the party?