Axe of the Dwarf Lords (Magic Axe)

This is a short-handled axe backed with a clawed hammer head, the blade is pierced with intricate runes etched and plated in gold. The axe head seems extraordinarily flimsy until tested, when the cunning work of the carving and the temper of the steel show the weapon's true strength. The hammer is made to look like an erupting volcano with the flames forming the head's jagged prongs.
Legend says that the axe of the Dwarf Lords is the last of the Five Great Tools forged by the First King, after the brutal pick, the Earthheart forge, the anvil of songs, and the shaping hammer. With these, Silvervein Moradinson crafted the fierce axe, the finest of the five.
Silvervein passed the axe on to the Second King, and so it went through the generations, until it became known as the axe of the Dwarf Lords, symbol of the One Clan.
The One Clan was shattered and the age of the High Kings broken when Brassbeard slew his uncle, King Irontooth of Moradinson, out of greed for the axe. The dwarves fell into the chaos of civil war, and when all had ended, the axe of the Dwarf Lords was lost forever.
The axe's power lies as much in what it symbolizes as in its magic, for over the centuries a legend has sprung up that the return of the axe heralds the return of the High Kings and a new Dwarven Age.
Adventures involving the axe can have the player characters finding the weapon. Only dwarven PCs should have any idea of the weapon's importance; to others it is merely a powerful weapon. From here the PCs can be plunged into an adventure of dwarven intrigue and greed as rivals attempt to take possession of the axe. The duergar may even attempt to steal it for their own.
The axe should not resurface without cause, so during all of the intrigue the PCs should discover a great threat to the dwarves. The clans might need to be united or the shade of Silvervein summoned to lead a last battle against the foe.
Constant Powers: The axe is a +3 weapon, functioning both as a sword of sharpness and as a hammer +3 dwarven thrower. It grants dwarven detection and vision abilities at double the normal chance or range.
Invoked Powers: The axe can summon one 16 HD earth elemental (1/week).
Random Powers: Three from Artifact Table 1-10: Elemental Earth.
Curse: Nondwarf characters permanently lose 1 point of Charisma when first they touch the axe. There is a 20% chance that any magical item possessed or touched by the owner is permanently negated. Finally, artifact transformation changes the owner into a dwarf, losing all abilities not allowed that race.
Suggested Means of Destruction:
* The axe must be melted down within the flames of the Earthheart forge.
* It must be freely given to the deities of the orcs.
* Moradin, the dwarf deity, must be wounded by it.
Category:Encyclopedia Magica Magic Items
Category:Magic Items
Category:Magic Axe
Category:Magic Weapons