Cursed Starting Equipment
The liklihood for beginning the game with cursed equipment seems to be extremely high - at least as high as randomly found equipment. Wouldn't you have known if an axe you have been holding was cursed?
Anyways, what I'm really saying here is that it would make more sense if you always started with neutral equipment, because not knowing when you start that both your axe and shield could be cursed seems a little silly.