World of Greenstone Isles

Infernal Avenger

Weapon Artifact Legendary (this item requires attunement) [requires attunement by a creature of non-good alignment]

Description

This greatsword is forged from black metal and polished to a high gloss that always seems to reflect light in shades of red, regardless of the lighting conditions. The full length of the blade is five feet. Starting from the tapered point, the blade is double edged for the first three and a half feet of the blade's length, with a fuller on each face of the blade. At that mark a small forward guard has been forged into the blade in the form of two points at right angles on each edge. From here, the blade's fuller continues, but the edges of the final foot and a half have not been sharpened to support half-swording. The true guard of the blade is angled away from the grip, giving the wielder maximum mobility to manipulate the weapon. The double handed grip is shaped from hardwood, polished and stained crimson, with five gold-capped metal pins holding the grip to the hidden tang beneath. The grip is capped off in the base and fixed fixed with a gemstone setting in the shape of a serpent's head. The serpent appears to be biting down with its fangs wrapped around a blood red gemstone. During battle the gemstone flickers with red light, pulsing in time to the heartbeat of the wielder. Intricate etchwork carved into the guard, pommel, and blunt foot-and-a-half of the blade displays two intertwined serpents. One of the serpents, as well as key detail work around joins and the pommel's serpent head setting, are detailed in gold leaf. The other serpent remains in a high-gloss black polish.  

History

The true origins of this weapon are unknown. Even among the nine hells, the lesser demons themselves are uncertain of the weapon's origins. It is rumored that the blade was originally a holy weapon of the upper planes, tricked from some Archon or Solar by a cunning devil's cleverly worded contract, then reforged to infernal purposes. Regardless, the weapon first arises in recorded history when one of the lords of the nine hells bestowed it upon a warlock servant for the purpose of cleansing demons from an abyssal outpost on the material plane. Fueled by the infernal energies of the Nine Hells, the full power of the weapon is said to turn against the wielder in moments of weakness, and can only be fully tamed at the pleasure of the major powers of the lower planes.  

Properties

Weapon +2. You gain a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon.   Holy Weapon. When you hit a fiend or an undead creature with it, that creature takes an extra 2d8 radiant damage.   Infernal Blessing. If you reduce a hostile creature to 0 hit points with this weapon, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier + your character level (minimum of 1). These temporary hit points stack with those gained from a Warlock of the Fiend's Dark One's Blessing feature.   Cursed. This weapon is cursed, a fact that is revealed only when an identify spell is cast on the weapon or you attune to it. Attuning to the weapon curses you until you are targeted by the remove curse spell or similar magic. Sheathing, dropping, or having someone else attune to the weapon fails to end the curse. While cursed, the Infernal Avenger will punish you for your incompetence in battle. Every time you miss with an attack, the Infernal Avenger will inflict 2d6+2 force damage on you, increasing to 4d6+2 on a critical failure.   Fiendish Patrons. Any fiendish entity powerful enough to qualify as a Warlock's patron is capable of recalibrating the weapon so that the curse does not affect a given individual. Such a patron is also capable of changing the underlying weapon's shape to match that of any other melee weapon. Whether or not the patron elects to perform either action is fully at that patron's discretion.   Pact Weapon. The Infernal Avenger can be used as a Warlock's pact weapon, despite qualifying as an artifact by some measures.

Weight: 6 lb.