Asmodeus and the young Maiden Fair.

[IrishIronGut94]

So I am DM'ing a campaign, going on 2 and half years now. Good group, low drama, what more could I ask for?
To top it all off this campaign was my very first attempt at being a Game Master, So these guys really are champs.

Pushing praising my group aside for now, let me get to the meat of this thread. So presently in the story, the parties Human Barbarian Lagatha Splittoe, has just signed her soul (willingly) to The Lord of the Nine Hells himself, Asmodeus. In exchange for a powerful axe that will grant Lagatha with the strength needed to slay all her foes. (The axe itself it a homebrew magic-item, which comes from the earliest days of the Blood War, when Asmodeus slew an Ancient Demon Lord, Balor the first of the Balorkin. After Asmodeus slew the ancient Demon, he took his large iron axe as a trophy.)

So the scene ended with a Lagatha holding a copy of her contract and a wicked looking, beyond ancient, black iron axe. in the front room of the parities newly acquired mansion they got for stopping a coup in a halfling city. (I plan on doing a tier-lvl system that will grow in power as Lagatha also rises in lvls. Lagatha is currently lvl 10 fyi)

My situation: I find myself caught a little out in the open on where to go from here, with the present relationships between the Party and Lagatha, with her new pact in effect. On top of not really knowing how to describe the physical and spiritual changes that would happen.

How you can help: I am open to suggestions, questions and advice for a new DM. This is kinda an open-ended topic as really the sky's the limit with this one.

 

[MNblockhead]

He would not give such a weapon for a soul. Her having the ax must advance some plan of his. First, make the weapon intelligent--a reflection of Asmodeus will. Narratively, it would make it feel different than just another powerful weapon. Mechanically, it gives you a way to shape outcomes, which the only reason the Lord of Hell would give it to someone.

Perhaps, he expects it to be stolen by some powerful rival, giving him an excuse to attack that rival.

Perhaps the weapon finds ways to create foes. Foes that would never have been Lagatha's foes--and were not the intended foes she needed the power to slay--but by the strict terms of her contract, they are foes even if she never wanted them as foes. And she does have the power to slay them, even though she never intended nor wanted to.

I see a 15th-level Lagatha, sitting at the head of an army, maybe including questionable/evil allies and looking across the field to the opposing army, that has members of her family, her home tribe, and prior comrades--and she realizes why one doesn't make a deal with devils.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Hej. I pounced on the "strength needed to slay her foes". The axe is also cursed. It changes her Strength score to match that of the foe she last struck.

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[Blue]

Perhaps the weapon finds ways to create foes. Foes that would never have been Lagatha's foes--and were not the intended foes she needed the power to slay--but by the strict terms of her contract, they are foes even if she never wanted them as foes. And she does have the power to slay them, even though she never intended nor wanted to.

I see a 15th-level Lagatha, sitting at the head of an army, maybe including questionable/evil allies and looking across the field to the opposing army, that has members of her family, her home tribe, and prior comrades--and she realizes why one doesn't make a deal with devils.

Oh, I love this. Keep exactly to the words of the bargain while at the same time damning her.

The axe has a horrendous reputation, and is known to church scholars that it will corrupt the wielder, or perhaps bring back the body (sans soul) if she dies as a powerful evil force with the axe.

While controlling the wielder is a bit much for overriding player agency, maybe make it intelligent and tells her of treasures and other temptations - which involve committing eviler and eviler acts to get. (Which you actually hope she'll realize what is happening.)

Tell the player that the axe is amplifying feelings of distrust and anger towards those that would steal Lagatha's axe or thwart her plans, ask the player if they would play those up. That doesn't seem like a stretch for a barbarian.

Inquisitors of good churches, chapters of paladins, what have you - at first investigating this unholy artifact and then actively opposing her carrying it. While her and the party are trying to clear their name and take on more and more heroic quests to prove she's the master of the axe and not the other way around.

That last bit is a way to use an evil artifact as a hook to encourage players to do more selfless heroics in the campaign. I love things like that.