Sokkarl's Maw

"Bad enough to lose Murdu, but to loose that demonic monster of a weapon of his upon the mortals... How do we ever recover from this? "

— Tarl, the All Father

It looks ugly. Dangerous. It all but screams "Run Away!" at every creature it sees, but strangely no mortal ever does. That's part of it's power - no matter how dangerous it is, no matter how terrifying it's reputation, no matter how well prepared mortals believe they are to face it, they all fall prey to the mesmerizing magic of this bloody instrument of death.
What is it? The great axe Sokkarl's Maw .
Sokkarl's Maw is more than steel of course - for steel brings nothing but a cold, clean death. Bloody, painful perhaps, but just death. It doesn't eat your soul. It won't snack on your worst nightmares and seed them with worse. It won't stab you in the back when you least expect it, or take over your soul and torture you for eternity. But the Maw is not made of simple clean steel at all.
It is made of the remains of a demon.

The Battles of Gods

In the Time of the Voices, before the Time of Humans, Sokkarl was a demon lord, highest of those who kill for joy. Under his guidance, the demons plagued the lands of mortals, ravening and destroying every living soul and every material thing in their paths. Much in fact, like the eldritch. But where the eldritch are destroyers, and terrifying because they are other, demons are destroyers who are terrifying because they embody our own malevolence.
Sokkarl was Lord of the Demons, able to call the countless hordes of the ravenors and control them. He was intelligent and powerful and bent these talents to serve his favorite pastimes - torture and death. He used pain and insanity to drive his demon armies into unspeakable acts of genocide and destruction. Stars untold, with worlds filled with people unsung died to Sokkarl under his relentless aggression. Even today, this path of destruction is seen in the Broad Way of the Dark in the Southern sky where no light dwells.
Tarl, the All Father, and the other Voices could not allow this detruction of the Place and their brother Sol to stand. They met together and united with a common purpose to oppose Sakkarl's demons. They brought forth champions and created the celestials as their soldiers. They embued these warriors for good with power unimaginable to oppose evil in all it's forms. The Voices took their soldiers and their warfare to the heavens where Sokkarl led his endless hordes, and opposed him for eons amongst the stars. World after world fell to the battle in the night sky, shattering the stars into brilliant dust as the celestials and Voices battled the demons, strivig to contain the destruction of the Place. Every night, the battle drew closer, and the peoples of Arrhynsia cowered in dread fearing the demons who opposed their gods, and the destruction painted upon the night sky.
And so one night, their fear became reality. Murdu, Lord of the Sword, the champion of the god Lameravis dealt the Lord of Demons a mighty blow. The sky filled with a brilliant light, and Sokkarl was cast down from the heavens into the Sourthern Wastes. There he faced Saynleh the dragon god who chased him from the heart of battle. The dragon god wrapped his serpentine body around the monster demon, broke his back, and crushed his neck in his powerful jaws. For a hundred years, Saynleh wrested with Sokkarl, while bloody war between celestials and demons raged in the heavens above their heads turning night into day. And Sokkarl's blood mingled with the blood from the wounds he dealt Saynleh, and these became fire and ran out onto the land scorching it and rendering it useless for living things. And they struggled mightily against each other, leveling cities and towns, even the very mountains of the Draak'thor Massiff.
Then Lord Murdu, broke free from battle and came to the aid of the dragon lord, and brought his great sword to bear upon the body of the demon lord. And Sokkarl died, his body broken, and all the life spilt from it making the South a wasteland.
And seeing their lord had died, the demons went to flee, but the celestials contained them and cast them into the Abyss at the command of the All Father. And there they met the devils who do evil but cling to order, and see no profit in needless destruction. And the devils will have none of the demons, and so they wrestle for power and dominion, each over the other and over mortals.
And when Sokkarl had died, Lameravis and Jiisho caused a great fire to burn, and it consumed the body of Sokkarl leaving behind only the steel of his bones. And Lord Murdu took the bones of Sokkarl into his hands and he sang to them and formed them into a great battle axe, and he called it Sokkarl's Maw. And it acknowledged only Lord Murdu who carried it in a sling made from metal from the heart of a star upon his back and he ruled it with a will of steel.
When Larisa consort of Lameravis betrayed the Voice and the Council of Consorts, and emasculated Murdu in his bed and killed the god, Sokkarl's Maw was taken and fell into the hands of foolish mortals whose minds cannot control the malevolence of the demonic blade. Sentient and malevolent, it plays a clever waiting game to move from army to army offering power on the battlefield to overcome the bearer's foes, yet plotting all the time it's bearer's decease. And why not? It seeks only the joy of destruction and has no friends, only foes. Warrior after warrior fell to it's corruption and turned to evil, until the War of the Eternals when it was finally destroyed.
RPG Play with Sokkarl's Maw

RPG Gameplay with Sokkarl's Maw

Sokkarl's Maw and it's unique sheath weigh 20 lbs. Sokkarl's Maw can only be sheathed in it's unique sheath or alternately in a sheath made of the skin of a once living sentient person.
Sokkarl's Maw can only be wielded by character's of L10 or above without them being at risk to falling under the Demon's Shadow.

Demon's Shadow

Effect
When a character is effected by Demon's Shadow, they must maintain secrecy that they are enthralled to the Maw, and will, up to 1x per day, immediately obey any command given to them by the Maw (GM) with the exception of commands to kill themselves or their party members. Demons Shadow is a persistent effect until broken by a third party casting Greater Restoration upon the affected character. A character who is under the protection of a "protection from evil or good" spell at the beginning of a day is immune to Demon's Shadow until the beginning of the next day.
Becoming Effected
At the beginning of each day, Sokkarl's Maw will attempt to gain control of it's bearer. The bearer rolls a DC22 saving throw of 1d20 + character level + CON. On failed save the bearer is under the Demon's Shadow until it is dispelled. If the character fails three times without Demon's Shadow being dispelled, the effect becomes permanent and cannot be dispelled.
At the beginning of each day, every character of L12 or below who is in the presence of Sokkarl's Maw when it is not in possession of a character of L10 or above, has a 1d20 chance of becoming enchanted by the axe and becomming effected by Demons Shadow.

Battle Damage

Sokkarls Maw is a two handed reach weapon requiring an attack roll of 1d20+modifiers (STR or CON), and doing 2d6 bludgeoning plus 2d8 piercing plus 2d4+CHR psychic damage on a hit, and 2d4+CHR psychic damage on a save.

Legendary Effect: Sokkarl's Revenge

Invoking
When the edge of the axe is unsheathed, at random intervals (every 2d6 hours, rolled secretly by the GM) Sokkarl's Maw will cast a spell of destruction. This effect can be invoked deliberately by the player, but will always be invoked automatically at the end of the interval period if it has not already been invoked or if the weapon has not been sheathed. When invoked, Sokkarl's Revenge will be targeted at: (1d20) the bearer (1-2), the closest 3 of his/her allies (3-5), 6 neutral bystanders (6-8), up to 12 adversary henchmen (9-16), or the BBEG (17-20). No modifiers apply.
If the bearer is effected by Demon's Shadow, the Maw (GM) will choose the target of Sokkarl's Revenge to the benefit of it's own demonic objectives. If Sokkarl's Maw is currently annoyed with the bearer, the normal targeting odds are inverted.
Damage
Sokkarl's Revenge causes 5(d6+holders charisma modifier) necrotic damage (no saving throws) to each character targeted. If the target is immune or resistant to necrotic damage the spell causes half the rolled damage in psychic damage.
Every time Sokkarl's Maw is sheathed, if Sokkarl's Revenge has not yet been used, the weapon has a 1d20 chance to invoke the effect.