The Tree of Woe

The Tree of Woe is a great iron shaft set in a pool of lava from which intermittent bars extend like angular branches. Green steel cages dangle from these limbs, and in each cage languishes a prisoner condemned to eternal suffering and deathless agony, for the Tree slowly sinks into the lava, sometimes by as much as an inch each day, until both cages and prisoners are consumed. The Baatezu constantly add to its height as well, crafting more cages to replace those lost to the fire.

Those imprisoned suffer first from thirst then the unremitting heat. And when their cage grows close to the lava, the bars become searing hot as the fire seeps in. Many Baatezu gather to watch the last hours of the condemned, as they try and hang from the red hot bars for as long as possible. There’s always a fiendish hawker or three selling ale to watchers or things to throw at the prisoners, or running a sweepstake on how long each unfortunate will cling to their cage. Imps also frequent the Tree, rattling cages and swinging from the iron branches to speed its decent. These imps are the only official guardians of the Tree of Woe, but usually prove more than sufficient at deterring rescuers and alerting the authorities if a prisoner attempts to escape.

Those who sink into the fiery lake find first their flesh burning, then their souls. Some magic keeps the poor berks ‘alive’ (if that’s really the right term) and screaming as they're consumed and possibly forever after. The dull echo of slowly fading cries can certainly be heard by those passing and by those imprisoned above, many of whom go mad contemplating such a fate. It’s unknown how long victims suffer or if the lava pool even has a bottom. The Baatezu claim they burn forever even once they’ve sunk so deep that their screams can no longer be heard.

The Dark of Things

The first of these vile constructions was seen in the city of Dis but the sad fact is that there’s more than one Tree of Woe. They are found on appropriately hot layers across the Planes of evil, and there’s a few in the nastier end of Neutral too. The dark of this is that with typical Baatezu ingenuity, the Tree of Woe is actually a franchise.

It was set up a few thousand years ago by an enterprising lesser Baatezu called Hisiipar, who has since earned promotion to Osyluth. He alone knows the magic that can find an appropriate location and help enchant and control the decent of the cages. He sells them in modular green steel segments to other fiends in exchange for a yearly cut of their profits. The Trees also create jink from the betting, the hawkers, and fiends paying for the imprisonment of poor berks, and Hisiipar takes a cut of it all. He uses magic to enforce these arrangements, and has a stash of enchanted contracts hidden somewhere in Dis.

There are Trees of Woe in Dis, Avernus, Malbolge, Phlegethos, the hot layers of Gehenna, and three in the City of Brass. Parts are constantly shipped across the Planes from a forge in Hisiipar's home city of Dis. When shipping supplies off Baator, the Osyluth often uses merchants who have no idea what they’re carrying, and good-hearted adventurers who have no idea what they guard. Even after millennia, this still amuses him no end.

Hisiipar is a rather jovial Osyluth, new to his station and still struggling to find a place in the lower ranks of his kind. The Trees are a legacy of his old life and monetarilly little more than a diversion now, but they made his reputation back in the old days and he’s rather fond of them.

Current Chant

With the Factions’ stranglehold on Sigil gone, Hisiipar is looking to expand. He would dearly love to somehow get a Tree or two erected in the Cage if only he can find a suitably fiery portal to link it to. Undeterred by problems, he’s recently been making overtures to agents of Shemeska the Marauder and the new City Guard, trying to get a Tree of Woe erected near the Courts or Prison. Having arranged a period of 'detached duty' in Sigil, he’s now a common sight in the Lady’s Ward, though usually disguised in human form, living it up and trying to rub shoulders with the Golden Lords.

Campaign Use

Hisiipar enjoys using unwitting dupes to move his supplies, and it’s likely that this will be the first encounter PCs will have with his operation. He’s actually more protective of his little sideline than its worth would seem to deserve, and he’ll take it personally if anyone starts causing damage to his side project. A canny cutter could draw his attention from the devil’s more important projects by messing with his hobby.